HIT THE GROW-OPS

U.S. drug czar John Walters is worried about Canadian marijuana "grow-ops."
He says that high-potency marijuana cultivated on this side of the border
is flooding into the United States and he questions whether criminal
sanctions for marijuana growers and traffickers are tough enough here. He
may have a point.

One recent look at sentencing in British Columbia found that just one in
seven of those nabbed for running grow-ops went to jail. In Calgary,
meanwhile, a study found that only one in 10 were jailed.

The federal government seems to know it has a problem. If it is going to
decriminalize possession of small quantities of marijuana -- a policy that
the United States also protests -- it is going to have to show that it is
getting tough on growers and sellers at the same time. "We are putting the
onus on the courts -- the judiciary, in a sense -- to take this crime
seriously," said Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan last week.

But the onus is on Ottawa, too. It must follow through on its promise to
toughen sanctions against drug trafficking and growing. It must also make
it clear that, though it has decided -- rightly -- to stop throwing the
book at people for possessing small amounts, it is not condoning the use of
marijuana.