COPS PEG POT'S PROFITABILITY

Edmonton's fast-growing marijuana market is worth over $600 million a year,
police say.

But that doesn't mean there are grow-ops on every street corner.

"Those numbers are going to look like 'holy smokes,' " said Edmonton Det.
Darren Derko, a member of the combined Edmonton Police Service and RCMP
drug-busting Green Team.

But Derko stressed that each grow operation can pump out three to five
crops a year, with varying numbers of plants. Further, a plant's value
depends on its quality.

So it's really tough to tell exactly what the industry is worth in
Edmonton; it's not like police can do a survey of growers. Nonetheless, the
police's educated guess is in the $600-million range.

"Yeah, I'd say Edmonton could probably put out that much dope, yeah," Derko
said.

And it's not all otherwise law-abiding citizens growing a couple of plants
for their weekend parties.

"If there's money to be made - and there is a lot of money to be made -
you're going to find some of these big criminal organizations are involved
in it, they have their hands in it," Derko said.

In 2002, Edmonton police seized $14 million worth of pot plants. That
ballooned to $31 million last year, according to police.

The dope isn't just for local tokers. A lot of it heads to the United
States, Derko said.

University of Alberta criminology professor Keith Spencer said it's a safe
assumption the pot industry in Edmonton will continue to grow.

As long as it's illegal and people want it, there will be someone to grow
it, Spencer said.

"You don't eliminate the activities at all, you just change the shape of
them. Just the act of making highly demanded goods and services illegal,
you create a market for them," Spencer added.

Derko said Calgary is "probably doing about three times as many grow-ops as
we are."