GIVING UP THE FIGHT ON POT NOT AN OPTION

News that British Columbia's indoor pot business is still flourishing
is a message to some that it's time to give up the fight over
marijuana grow operations.

They claim it's a battle that can never be won; that simple surrender
is the only option.

That's a naive suggestion.

It's naive because it is based on the assumption that the powers that
drive the multi-billion dollar illegal marijuana trade will simply go
away if the drug were legalized.

Two weeks ago a study done by the University College of the Fraser
Valley (UCFV) showed indoor marijuana grow operations were still doing
a thriving business.

This despite the fact that communities like Chilliwack have developed
tough new strategies to combat the problem. Indeed, the study found
that Chilliwack has more grow-ops per capita than any community in
British Columbia.

From 1997 to 2003, the study found, cases in Chilliwack grew 214 per
cent.

Granted, the study's findings were compiled before the city introduced
its new municipal regulations that can impose a $10,000 fine on
property owners caught with a grow-op on their premises. But UCFV
criminology professor Darryl Plecas, main author of the report, doubts
the bylaw will have much impact.

When a single crop of marijuana can reap $300,000, he says, a $10,000
fine will not provide much of a deterrent.

Nonetheless, giving up the fight is not an option. It is simplistic to
assume that legalization of marijuana will end the proliferation of
indoor grow operations. Most of the product produced in British
Columbia's $6 billion marijuana trade heads south, where it's sold, or
exchanged for drugs like cocaine. This lucrative commerce is driven by
organized crime, and organized crime is driven by money.

The fact that the recreational pot smoker might be able to pick up a
joint one day at a corner store won't end this lucrative export production.

What it would do is effectively close the borders with our largest
trading partner.

If border crossings have become difficult in this post-9/11 world,
imagine what they would be like if Canada legalized a drug that most
Americans believe is dangerous.

Instead, Canada has to look at its own laws.

The courts have to see that large-scale marijuana operations are the
thin edge of an organized crime wedge.

Although usually run by low-level operatives, grow-ops are the money
end of operations that feed other illegal activities in our
communities. As Darryl Plecas told The Progress, "The only thing
that's going to turn this around is more active types of (court)
sentences," he said.

"We don't want to lose our compassion and understanding at some point
for growers, but we've got to stop being stupid about it and recognize
it's an economic crime with major connections to organized crime."