POT REPORT OUTLINES WHAT POLICE ALREADY KNOW: WALSH

A new study on marijuana growing operations in B.C. authored by University
College of the Fraser Valley criminology staff simply confirms what police
already know.

That's the response from local law enforcement officials as the study's
results continue to make headlines and news reports.

The study, released Friday, shows police are less likely to investigate
growers, prosecutors are less likely to lay charges against them and judges
are less likely to send them to jail than in the late 1990s.

"It confirms what any good street policeman already knows, in any event,"
said Mission RCMP Insp. Pat Walsh. "This study quantifies what we already
know . . . in black and white, on paper."

UCFV criminology and criminal justice department head Darryl Plecas, also
the report's lead author, said the study points to a criminal justice
system that is failing to address the problem of marijuana grow operations
in B.C.

"It seems, no question about it, that the system is increasingly unable or
otherwise failing to respond to this problem, despite the fact that we have
every indication the problem is worsening," Plecas said. "I think we have a
criminal justice system that is very much on the brink of imploding."

Researchers reviewed all reported cases of marijuana grow operations in
B.C. from 1997 to 2003 and tracked the results of each case through the
justice system. The RCMP funded the $250,000 study.

The study found that the number of grow operations fully investigated by
police - usually meaning a search warrant is executed - has dropped from 91
per cent of cases in 1997 to 52 per cent in 2003.

In 1997, according to the study, Crown prosecutors laid charges in 96 per
cent of growing operation cases but by 2003, that number was 76 per cent.

The number of suspects charged with growing marijuana in B.C. has decreased
from 2,116 in 2000 to just 798 in 2003, despite the fact three times as
many grow operations were reported to police in 2003 than in 1997.

Of the marijuana growing cases that do get to trial, 93 per cent result in
a conviction, the study found. But judges have become more lenient with
convicted growers - from 1997 to 2003, the percentage of convicted growers
sent to jail dropped from 19 per cent to 10 per cent.

The study reviewed several other areas as well, from the description of
marijuana growing suspects to the value of marijuana seized, from the fire
and other damages caused by grow operations to the growing sophistication
of operations.

"I think [the results of the study] are interesting," said Insp. Paul
Nadeau, head of the RCMP's new Co-ordinated Marijuana Enforcement Team.

"I think we have a criminal justice system that needs a long, hard look at
how it does business."

Nadeau said the report confirms there is a large problem where marijuana
growing operations are concerned in B.C., but added several other factors
need to be looked at, such as getting stronger sentences for convicted growers.

"We're going to look at the study and at a number of different initiatives
and strategies," Nadeau said. "At the core of it is that we need a strong
deterrent [for growers]. In the end, though, this is a big problem and not
just in B.C. The numbers in Ontario are increasing so fast, I predict in
five years, they'll be ahead of B.C. [where grow operations are concerned]."

Both Nadeau and Walsh said ending the prohibition of marijuana would not
solve any of the criminal justice system's problems, despite the LeDain
Commission report in the 1970s that recommended Canada end prohibition of
marijuana, and more recently, a 2002 Senate committee on illegal drugs
recommendation that trade in marijuana be legalized and regulated.

"Studies show at least 50 per cent of what is grown here is being smuggled
into the U.S.,'" said Nadeau. "The problem doesn't just go away . . . it's
coming to a neighbourhood near you."

But local criminal lawyer John Conroy disagreed.

"I don't understand the logic - the same thing happened with prohibition of
alcohol," he said, referring to history, when Canada legalized alcohol and
the United States still prohibited it.

"Huge profits were made because of the demand of U.S. citizens - why is
this different?"

As for the study itself, Conroy said it is not an objective report.

"There's no discussion with any members of the judiciary, no judges, no
councillors . . . I think it's a biased report. I wonder if it's been peer
reviewed in terms of methodology," he said. "They're all so uptight about
marijuana, why nothing else? We see murder, robbery, rape, theft and frauds
every day - why are we looking at only treating grow operations more
seriously?"

It is important to note, said Conroy, that conditional sentence orders were
introduced as a way to reduce actual incarceration time - and the fact CSOs
were introduced as the result of a Parliamentary committee.

"A CSO is a sentence of imprisonment," Conroy said. "[Offenders] serve
their time in the community, they're subject to curfew and other conditions."

While police officers and others say harsher penalties are needed as a
deterrent to grow operators, Conroy said ". . . you simply can't point to
any evidence that harsher sentences work."

While in the New Westminster provincial courts early Thursday morning,
Conroy said he and a colleague took and impromptu survey with other
criminal attorneys and their conclusion was that there must be an invisible
team of judges handing out the sentences outlined in the report - simply
because, Conroy said, defense lawyers don't see the lenient punishments as
described in the study.

"It just seems to be police propaganda. To me, this is about employing more
cops and getting a bigger budget," Conroy said. 'Where's the objectivity?
This is stupid. It's all about police employment."

- - with files from the Vancouver Sun