FEDS TARGET GROW-OPS

Deputy PM Tells Judges To Get Tough

OTTAWA - Canada's pot reform laws will toughen penalties to combat
dangerous marijuana grow-ops -- but judges also need a lesson about
the gravity of the crime, says Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan.
Responding to a Sun Media story about chronically lenient sentences
for large-scale growing operators, the deputy prime minister said more
judicial education is required.

"We need to help judges understand how absolutely serious this is --
the social costs, the economic costs, and quite truthfully, the danger
to the lives and safety of first responders when they go into these
houses," she told Sun Media. "This is not a crime that should be taken
lightly. This is not a victimless crime."

Surprised by statistics from B.C. showing the odds of going to jail
are less than 1-in-100, McLellan noted the retabled marijuana
decriminalization bill doubles the maximum prison term for grow-ops.

It also requires judges to issue written reasons for not giving a jail
sentence when there are "aggravating" factors such as booby traps,
repeat offences or established links to organized crime.

"One of the reasons we're amending the Criminal Code is because we
believe this is a serious crime, and we believe courts must treat it
as a serious crime," McLellan said.

But Conservative Justice critic Vic Toews slammed the cannabis reform
bill as "inadequate" and "more lip service than action." The crackdown
is a Liberal ploy to give the appearance of tackling the problem, he
charged.