COLEMAN WANTS TO GET TOUGHER ON POT GROWERS

Marijuana grow operations are the basis of organized crime, and the
punishment for those caught for growing is a "joke," said Solicitor General
Rich Coleman.

Coleman was in Abbotsford yesterday, speaking at a Chamber of Commerce
breakfast during a "dialogue on crime."

In the Fraser Valley this year, 3,000 to 4,000 grow operations will be
taken down, whereas Whatcom County, located immediately south in Washington
state, will see approximately 10 grows busted.

However, someone arrested on a first offence in Washington will face three
months jail and have their assets seized. In B.C., it will take seven
repeat offences before one is sentenced to jail time, said Coleman.

Noting the punishment is a "joke," Coleman said Canada needs to adopt
tougher penalties for grow operations.

"Grow-ops are the basis of organized crime," he said, noting that money
earned from grow-ops is used by Hells Angels and Asian gangs to run
methamphetamine labs and launder money.

"These people don't care about your community," said Coleman.

He is working to make it possible for the revenue ministry to seize the
assets of someone caught running an illegal grow operation, with the onus
is on the owner to prove they paid for their belongings with legal money.

Legislation is expected to be introduced in the spring of 2004.

"We have to go after the root of organized crime in B.C.," Coleman said.

"We have to go after the grow operations."

A meeting scheduled in Quebec later this month will also work at toughening
punishment for grow operators.

In addition to grow operations, Coleman addressed steps being taken to make
B.C.'s police forces the "most modern in North America."

In the next two years, PRIME, a records management system, will be
implemented and will allow police officers to get real-time information
about a house they are visiting or a person they are querying.

In one situation two years ago, a man was checked by police outside a small
community, and nothing was amiss when he was checked through police
records. Two hours later, he killed his wife.

There had been a court order prohibiting the man from being in the
community, but the officer was not aware of it, said Coleman. "In the
future, they'll know about those orders (with PRIME),"he said.

PRIME is expected to be running in Abbotsford next spring.