GROWING WEED NO LONGER SMALL, PRIVATE VENTURE

At least a quarter of the marijuana grown in New Brunswick finds its
way into the hands of organized crime, Staff Sgt. Robert Power of the
RCMP's drug enforcement section said Monday.

Power said that while 75 per cent of provincial grow operations are
"mom-and-pop" productions, the remainder goes to marijuana brokers.

"Anything that's 100 plants or more is significant and, eventually,
the marijuana finds its way to marijuana brokers, or individuals
known in the drug milieu to be purchasers of the production of these
grows-ops."

Power said these people buy from as many as 10 growers and then
resell the drugs on the street through drug-marketing networks.

His comments come in the midst of the force's busy period.

Last week, marijuana plants with a potential street value of more
than $5 million were seized by RCMP in western and southern New Brunswick.

To date, RCMP have seized more than 10,000 plants.

Although final figures aren't in, numbers may be on the increase.
Anything more specific will not be available until the growing season
ends in a few weeks, said the staff sergeant.

Marijuana, meanwhile, represents a significant source of revenue for
organized crime, Power said, because it's a "high-profit, low-risk"
criminal activity.

More marijuana grow operations are being discovered because of the
relationship the RCMP has developed with communities.

"Our intelligence gathering is getting better," Power said. "As a
result, we are locating and finding more grows."

Power said it would be inaccurate to suggest that recent seizures
will eliminate such operations in the province. But at least a
portion of what is available to young people is being removed through
the force's eradication program, he said.

Courts have been handing down tougher sentences for those involved in
grow ops, Power said, and that is good news.

A Lake George man suspected of growing pot was sentenced in
provincial court in June to a year behind bars.

"I think what is alarming is the attitude of some people that
marijuana is a soft drug and is not a threat to our communities,"
Power said. The reality is that marijuana is one of the main staples
in the organized crime groups within the province.

"It is certainly a cornerstone in the organized-crime aspect of crime
in New Brunswick."

Russell Barth of the Ottawa-based Patients Against Ignorance and
Discrimination on Cannabis and a federal medical marijuana licence
holder, said the RCMP knows perfectly well that regulation would be a
safer, cheaper and more effective way of controlling marijuana than
prohibition.

"But they refuse to listen to reason," Barth said Monday. "They are
being willfully ignorant of the facts."

Barth said if more people used marijuana, there would be less use of
pharmaceuticals, alcohol, tobacco, and hard drugs.

Regulation would free up police for other things, such as cracking
down on child pornography and speeders, he said.

"The only thing that makes pot growers criminals is the fact that pot
is illegal. If it was legal, people wouldn't have to go out into the
woods to grow secret crops."