LOGIC GOES UP IN SMOKE

News that B.C.'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 is legalized.

Recently a study done by the University College of the Fraser Valley
showed indoor marijuana grow operations were still doing a thriving
business. This despite the fact that communities like Chilliwack and
Surrey 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 B.C.'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 at a corner
store won't end this 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 pot operations are the thin edge of an organized
crime wedge. Grow ops are the money end of operations that feed other
illegal activities in communities.

As Plecas said, "The only thing that's going to turn this around is
more active types of (court) sentences.

"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."