LARGE OPERATORS HAVE IT EASY

Criminal Code too soft: justice minister

Ottawa must toughen up the Criminal Code to crack down on illegal grow
operations, says provincial Justice Minister Gord Mackintosh. "There has to
be tougher penalties for large-scale grow ops," Mackintosh said yesterday.
"And where organized crime is connected to it, I think there has to be a
stronger Criminal Code response.

MAXIMUM PENALTY

"This serious concern is shared by many of my colleagues across Canada."

The maximum penalty under the federal Criminal Code for running a grow op is
seven years.

Tory justice critic Gerald Hawranik said Manitoba is on its way to becoming
the marijuana-growing capital of Canada.

"We're the murder capital of Canada, maybe we're going to be the pot capital
of Canada," Hawranik said.

Hawranik said Mackintosh has to provide more funding to get additional cops
on the street to battle the problem. The 20 new officers the city will get
with new funding from the province during the next two years "isn't going to
do it," he said.

Winnipeg police uncovered 108 grow ops last year and 82 in 2002.

This year's figures were unavailable yesterday. At last count, in late
October, police had found 87 grows.

1,500 PLANTS

At that time, Winnipeg Police Association president Loren Schinkel estimated
there were 700 to 1,000 grow ops in the city.

The second largest grow op discovered in Winnipeg this year was uncovered in
late September on the city's northeastern edge near Kilcona Park. Cops found
nearly 1,500 plants worth $1.63 million in a residence at 75 Countryside
Way. A 27-year-old man is facing charges.