HUGE POT BUST NETS MORE CALLS

Word of a $5.6-million marijuana grow operation busted on the south side
earlier this month has netted police a pile of tips about other possible
pot grow operations. "We had a good rush of calls," city Det. Clayton Sach
of the joint RCMP-Edmonton police Green Team said yesterday. "Publicity is
always good."

Sach said the team got about half a dozen calls after the Feb. 12 raid on a
warehouse near 93 Avenue and 48 Street.

"We're still working on (the tips)," Sach said. "I'm not saying they're all
going to be fruitful, but we'll see."

Sach wouldn't get into specifics about the tips or where exactly the
potential pot operations exist because they're under investigation.

"Some in Edmonton. Some outside," said Sach.

Police said inside that warehouse they found a cannabis-growing operation
with more than 5,600 plants.

Meanwhile, Statistics Canada reported Monday that police across the nation
laid a record number of drug-related charges in 2002 and most offences
involved marijuana.

Seventy-five per cent of 93,000 drug-related incidents in 2002 involved
pot. Almost three-quarters of those were possession offences, and more than
half of those convicted were fined.

"I am surprised," said Sach, adding he doesn't believe drug bust numbers
involving marijuana are that high in Edmonton for the city police drug section.

"We're seeing out of this office probably 10% to 20% (of drug busts being
marijuana). Now that's the drug section," said Sach. "Now what the
uniformed guys are doing, I don't know."