WEBSITE BUSTED FOR MARIJUANA SEED SALES

The owner of a Glebe store that sells marijuana seeds says he will be
cautiously assessing the future of his business, after the RCMP shut
down a Montreal-based Internet company for selling seeds, and charged
seven people.

"It seems like the winds of tolerance have been blowing in our
direction for the past number of years, but they may have shifted a
bit," said Mike Foster, the owner of Crosstown Traffic on Bank
Street. He would not say whether he would continue to sell seeds at
his store, which opened in 1992.

Heaven's Stairway has operated brazenly online since 1998 and is
currently listed on Quebec's business registry, but the RCMP
announced yesterday they had shut it down, calling the large-scale
bust the first of its kind in Canada. Owner Richard Baghdadlian, 38,
and six others have been charged with importing and trafficking in
marijuana and conspiracy to do the same.

Sgt. Andre Potvin of the RCMP said there is evidence the company sold
seeds to customers all over North America and to several other
foreign countries.

Mr. Foster said he was waiting to see whether the major issue with
Heaven's Stairway was shipping seeds across the border, or that they
were selling seeds at all. His store's website states prominently
that they do not ship to the U.S. "under any circumstances."

Dawn Moore, an assistant law professor at Carleton University, said
drug busts make for excellent public-relations opportunities for police.

"In general, drug laws are always a great way to show that law
enforcement is working. These high-level drug busts have a certain
appeal to the populace, because it's a very visible way to say, 'Oh
look, we got the bad guys'," she said.