OTTAWA AIMS TO GET TOUGH ON MARIJUANA GROW-OPS

Ministers to consider changes to bill before the House

Ottawa and Toronto - The federal government promised last night to
consider tougher laws against marijuana grow operations, and possibly
more money for police, only hours after the deaths of four RCMP officers.

Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan said she had met briefly with
Justice Minister Irwin Cotler and the two agreed to consider changes
to a bill already before the House of Commons. She did not provide
specifics.

They "want to take a look at that legislation, and we want to
determine whether we have the right tools in place," she said. "There
is a question of resources, clearly, and that is something as a
government that we need to take up with the national force. Obviously
local police forces and others are on the front lines of this everyday
as well."

Police have been warning for the past few years that the proliferation
of marijuana grow-ops is leading to increased violence. Grow-ops are
no longer the domain of casual dealers, they say, but of hardened
gangsters and organized crime.

According to a recent RCMP report, marijuana seizures are six times
what they were a decade ago.

In Ontario, police say that as many as 10,000 children have lived in
homes that have been converted into marijuana factories in the past
five years.

Ms. McLellan said yesterday the proposed law to decriminalize
marijuana, currently before the House of Commons justice committee,
already contains measures to stiffen penalties for grow-operators, but
that there are questions about whether the police have the tools they
need to combat the problem.

"There is a resource issue, but I think there is also an issue around
do we have the right laws in place, have we given the RCMP and other
forces the right tools they need to deal with what is an amazing
growth, quite truthfully, in these operations."

That assessment of grow-ops as a major crime danger was echoed less
than an hour later by RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli, who
called them a serious threat.

"This is really a plague on our society," he said.

He said, however, that while police forces face limited resources,
there are laws in place to allow them to crack down on marijuana growers.

"We have laws. We have the means to do it."

Ms. McLellan balked at immediately promising more cash for police
investigations of grow operations, saying the government handed out
additional funding when Ottawa outlined a national drug strategy two
years ago.

But now the spectre of four dead Mounties, who were gunned down while
investigating an increasingly routine type of crime scene, is haunting
police precincts across the country.

"It's going to send a shiver down everyone's spine," Vancouver Police
Inspector Val Harrison said yesterday.

"We've been trying to say these things are dangerous. We routinely
find weapons."

While police are rarely injured in drug busts, many felt it was only a
matter of time. Grow operations have flourished in recent years as
courts handed out only fines and light sentences to offenders, most of
whom police regard as members of dangerous criminal groups.

Canada has introduced legislation that would decriminalize marijuana
possession, but the proposed law would also increase the maximum
penalties for people caught growing large amounts.

Still, sentences for growers are almost always on the lighter end of
the scale.