POT TRADED FOR COKE

Canuck Growers Bring Narcotic Back From U.S.

THE OPP is getting ready to release one of the most in-depth,
comprehensive and "eye-opening" projects ever done which shows
marijuana harvested from an epidemic of grow houses is going south in
direct trade for cocaine. The full details of project Long Haul won't
be released to the public until some time next week, but Det.
Staff-Sgt. Rick Barnum of the OPP Drug Enforcement Section says the
results are "mind-boggling."

Through the course of a year, the OPP in conjunction with U.S. and
Canadian border officials and the B.C. criminal organization unit
traced the pattern of marijuana that was exchanged for cocaine bound
for the streets of Ontario.

'Blew Me Away'

"Long Haul really opened my eyes to the incredible amount of cocaine
that is coming (for) the marijuana that is grown here," Barnum said.
"It blew me away. I never would have believed that it was so big.
Pound after pound after pound of coke is hitting our streets in
exchange for our marijuana -- Long Haul proves it."

Thousands of pounds of marijuana are crossing the U.S. borders from
Canada by truckload, boat and plane on a weekly basis, he says.

The project highlights one fact that drug cops already suspected but
couldn't prove -- Canada is a virtual playground for grow operators
because of the lax sentencing compared to the U.S.

In one year, the study showed that about 2,000 grow houses operate in
the entire U.S. compared to 25,000 in Ontario -- with about 15,000 of
those in the Greater Toronto Area.

"It doesn't make sense for the bad guys to grow it there (in the U.S.)
because they will get put away," Barnum said. "They may as well grow
it in Canada where you can get away with it."

Barnum says intelligence and undercover tactics to bust grow houses
are not enough and it is up to judges to stop the plague of grow-ops.

'Open Their Eyes'

"We can't just keep kicking down doors and busting these places --
that's like sucking the water out of a swimming pool with a straw," he
says. "Our judges need to open their eyes to the reality of what this
costs our society."

It is not the laws that need to change, he said. Canada's laws are
already stiff -- a conviction for production of marijuana carries a
maximum sentence of seven years while a conviction for possession for
the purpose of trafficking carries a maximum life sentence.

"We're not looking for tougher laws -- we're looking at getting judges
to apply the laws we already have," Barnum says.