DRUG SENTENCES ARE GOING TO POT!

A new report on marijuana grow-ops takes a piercing look at the yawning
credibility gap between Canada's official condemnation of pot and our
reluctance to follow through.

Just the other day, you'll recall, Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan
expressed concern about the "scourge" of illegal grow-ops.

And the Liberals keep reminding Canadians that the proposed
pot-decriminalization bill will double the maximum punishment for pot
cultivation to 14 years from seven.

They could make the maximum penalty for operating a grow-op 25 years, and
it wouldn't make a whit of difference to the pot industry.

Take a guess what the average sentence length is for pot production. Five
years? Two years? Not even close.

According to a seven-year study of B.C. marijuana cultivation released
yesterday, the average sentence for those who were actually sent to prison
was 4.9 months.

Not only that but there seems to be no relation between the length of
prison sentence and a convict's previous drug conviction, notes the report
by the University College of the Fraser Valley.

Criminology professor Darryl Plecas and two other researchers reviewed
25,000 pot-cultivation cases from 1997 to 2003. They discovered that an
offender who had one previous drug-trafficking or drug-production
conviction got an average of five months in jail.

An offender with four previous convictions was only jailed for an average
of four months.

Seven past convictions? That meant a whopping three months behind bars.

The larger picture is even more disturbing. Only about 16% of pot growers
actually went to prison over the seven-year period. Conditional sentences
were imposed in almost half the cases in 2003, up from only 13% in 1997.

About one-quarter of the offenders received fines as their most serious
penalty over the time period, and another 16% were placed on probation.

The penalties aren't particularly harsh for even large grow-ups, the study
shows. The average jail sentence in cases involving less than 100 plants
for offenders with more than seven convictions was 4.8 months. For similar
offenders who'd run grow-ops with 100 plants or more, the average jail term
was 5.8 months.

"In the final analysis, the consequences for involvement in a grow
operation in British Columbia, even where a person receives a prison
sentence, are likely insufficient to reduce or prevent participation in
marijuana grow operations," says the study.

In other words, why do we bother? Interest in busting grow-ops by the
police, prosecutors and the judiciary is waning as the years go by, it seems.

The cops are less likely to fully investigate incidents, prosecutors are
less likely to proceed with charges and judges are less inclined to send
pot cultivators to jail, despite offenders becoming more prolific and
violent, says the study.

It is no wonder, then, that pot growers see no disincentive to continuing
their activities.

"The number of suspects involved in previous drug offences, particularly
marijuana production, has increased since 2000, suggesting that many of the
suspects are setting up another grow operation after they are initially
caught," the report explains.

Well, of course they are. There's a huge demand for pot, the profits are
fabulously lucrative and the penalties are laughable.

Multi-thousand-plant operations are no longer uncommon, an RCMP drug report
noted last year. Yes, these are heady days for pot growers.

And they'll continue basking in their millions, laughing at us poor working
stiffs, until Ottawa legalizes marijuana.