B.C. POT TAKES ROOT IN N.B.

New Variety Of Marijuana More Beneficial To Growers, Harder For Police To Find

A new import from British Columbia is taking root in New Brunswick
forests and the RCMP aren't too happy about it.

"It's a new type of marijuana plant called B.C. Bud and we're finding
it in New Brunswick," says Kent RCMP Sgt. David Mazerolle.

This particular species of plant is harder for police to see from the
sky because it's only a couple of feet high. It's also more efficient
for those who grow it because it produces as many buds as a plant
more than triple its size.

"It grows a huge amount of buds," says Mazerolle.

This is the time of year police will find marijuana plants because
it's almost harvest season for illegal outdoor grow-ops. As they have
the last few years, RCMP districts all over the province are
descending upon hidden grow-ops and tearing the plants out of the ground.

It's known as Operation Sabot and J Division Sgt. Derek Strong says
they started a few days ago and will likely continue for the next
couple of weeks.

"It's quite simple," he explains. "An RCMP helicopter goes up in the
air with spotters to look for marijuana fields, which are extremely
visible from the air. The plants are a colour green you don't
normally see, that almost glows. That makes it hard to hide."

Strong has been up in the chopper before and says it's easy to spot a
marijuana field. Co-ordinates are then radioed to a ground team that
accesses the site with four-by-fours, all-terrain vehicles or
whatever it takes to reach it.

Occasionally the fields are so secluded the chopper has to land and
dismantle the operation, but that's rare, because the fields need to
be tended by the people growing the marijuana.

Strong says by the time the operation is over, they'll have seized
thousands of plants worth millions of dollars, much of it being grown
on Crown land.

Kent County is a prime location for outdoor grow-ops because it's a
rural area. Mazerolle says they do some investigating beforehand to
get leads on where to look, then they go after the plants. The
priority is to confiscate the marijuana and then try to go after the
person responsible and lay charges.

As of yesterday, Kent RCMP had seized 1,600 plants in the Cocagne,
Bouctouche, Richibucto and Rexton areas, worth approximately $16,000
and they were still following leads to more possible fields.
Mazerolle says the operation will continue until they've seized all they can.

Last year only about 15 to 20 of the plants seized in Kent County
were the B.C. Bud variety, but so far this year police have already
uncovered 150.

"It seems it's becoming the plant of choice for many," says
Mazerolle. "This is the first year we've seen so much."

These west coast plants are about two feet tall and have far fewer
leaves than traditional marijuana plants. The size and lack of
brightly coloured leaves makes them more difficult to see from the
air. The fact they contain so many buds makes the plant more valuable
to the grower.

The seeds can be ordered over the Internet, making them easy to obtain.

"The plant is not as bulky to handle and easier to transport," says Mazerolle.

Strong says British Columbia is usually on the forefront of new
marijuana cultivation techniques.

"It's the hotspot in Canada for growing marijuana because of its
climate and most innovations come from there," he says.

Strong and Mazerolle both say organized crime is always involved in
the large outdoor grow-ops. And while some of this marijuana is
eventually sold on the streets of New Brunswick, much of it is
destined to be exported out of the province and across the U.S. border.