'THIS IS NOT A MA AND PA OPERATION'

Local News - The fastest-growing city in Canada can now add pot
capital to its long list of monikers.

"Welcome to... the marijuana capital," Barrie police Chief Wayne
Frechette said as he addressed the media from across the country at a
press conference Monday.

"This is not a ma and pa operation."

What was first believed to be Ontario's largest indoor marijuana
operation has since been dubbed as the country's largest.

After the initial rush of discovering such a huge operation, police
said it was a disappointment. They said, it was predictable.

The message from police clearly was that Canadian laws lack the teeth
to properly combat drug production in this country.

"Commercial marijuana factories have reached epidemic proportions in
Ontario," said OPP Deputy Commissioner Vaughn Collins. "Organized
crime runs most of them."

Much of Canadian-grown marijuana is destined for the United States,
making Canada the Colombia of pot production, added Collins.

By 2002, the number of grow operations in Ontario is believed to have
increased 250 per cent.

Police suspected that in 2002 alone, there were as many as 15,000
growing operations active in the province.

The fact the bust was made in Barrie and a second site in Oro-Medonte
Township was no surprise to police, who say these operations are found
just about everywhere.

"In Canada, this is high-profit and low-risk," said Collins,
suggesting sentences for drug offences in Canada are relatively low
compared to the United States.

Court records show of the nine charged in connection with the Molson
pot bust, four have previous drug convictions.

The related sentences have been suspended, fines, restitution,
probation and absolute discharge.

The harshest sentence was 90 days in jail, to be served
intermittently. That was on a charge of possession for the purpose of
trafficking.

The drug convictions for three of those four occurred, at different
times, in St. Catharines.

OPP Det. Staff Sgt. Rick Barnum, who heads the Huronia drug unit, said
he's seen a revolving-door effect over the years.

"We've caught them two or three times" in some situations, he
said.

In addition to connections to organized crime, police have seen other
major crimes associated with large operations in the past. In addition
to the theft of hydro, there is an increased threat of fire, the risk
of booby traps being present and possible careless use of toxic chemicals.

Home invasions, and even homicides, have been connected to large
marijuana factories.