GROW-OP PROBLEM WON'T WITHER AWAY

Pot Cultivation Rife Right Across Canada

A few days ago a city police officer told me that taking apart hydroponic
marijuana-growing operations was a lot of work.

He said that's because there are so few officers actually doing it --
processing those arrested, detailing the seized evidence, dismantling the
grow, bagging up the dope.

He then said police are aware of a number of suspected small-time grow
operations in the city, but don't get to them because they're too busy
doing the bigger ones, the ones located in residential neighbourhoods.

There have been 22 of those grows uprooted by police so far this year. Last
year, police found 108. The marijuana seized so far this year had a street
value of about $4 million.

The last large seizure was Feb. 17 at a house on Pritchard Avenue. Police
found 211 plants worth about $354,480. A man and a woman face charges of
marijuana production.

That seizure came on the heels of three others: one on Truro Street, one on
Marble Avenue and one on Eaglemere Drive. The one on Truro had 30 plants,
the one on Marble had 600 plants and the one on Eaglemere had 668 plants.
Add those four seizures up and you've got 1,500 plants give or take a few
stalks. That's a lot of pot.

Then I read this out of the Edmonton Journal:

"A police tactical unit found about 5,600 marijuana plants in a warehouse
Thursday (Feb. 12) afternoon, making the bust one of the biggest in the
city's history.

"The warehouse at 9370 48th St. was masquerading as a cabinet-making business.

"Police entered the building about 4:30 p.m. and inside found an elaborate
power and ventilation system -- including two generators and a number of
fuse boxes, said Cpl. Lorne Adamitz of the RCMP-Edmonton Police's Green
Team. Six people were arrested. The street value of the pot was estimated
to be $5.6 million.

" 'There's nothing amateur about this,' Adamitz said. 'The numbers we're
talking about here, if we look at the poundage of marijuana that can be
produced from it, it's obviously not going to go to some street-level
dealer." Then there was this from the Ottawa Police Service Feb. 19:

"This afternoon, the Ottawa Police Drug Unit executed two search warrants
on grow operations in the West End of Ottawa.

"At approximately two this afternoon, the Tactical Team and the Drug Unit
entered a residence on Berrigan St. (where) 622 plants in various stages of
growth (valued at approximately $622,000) were seized as well as hydroponic
equipment valued at $50,000. Hydro was bypassed.

"The second house was on North Harrow St. (where) 276 plants valued at
$276,000 were seized, as well as approximately $30,000 of hydroponic
equipment. Hydro was bypassed."

But seizures like the ones we're seeing in Winnipeg and across the country
may be a thing of the past. Maybe.

Paul Martin's Liberals have retabled the revamped cannabis reform bill that
decriminalizes the possession of small amounts of marijuana. One to three
plants would be punishable by fines of $500 for adults and $250 for people
under 17 years old.

And possession of 15 grams or less of marijuana under the new bill would be
like a ticketing offence, carrying fines of $100 to $400.

This is small-time stuff. The big penalties are reserved for traffickers
and growers. Anyone caught with four to 25 plants would face a maximum fine
of $25,000 and up to 18 months in jail as a summary offence. Police would
also have the discretion to make it an indictable offence, making it a
maximum sentence of five years in prison.

And someone caught with 26 to 50 plants would face up to 10 years in
prison. Bigger growers could get bigger prison time: The proposed maximum
penalty would double to 14 years for possession of more than 50 marijuana
plants.

Will this put grow operations out of business? Will it ease the workload of
police in Canada? Will it dry up the supply of pot? Will it root out
organized crime?

If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, what are you smoking?