POT LAWS WON'T SLOW HARVEST

Getting busted with a few joints in your pocket won't leave you with a
criminal record if a federal Liberal bid to decriminalize small amounts of
pot is passed by Parliament.

But neither will such a bill stem the explosion of marijuana
grow-operations in Richmond and Lower Mainland, says Canadian Alliance MP
for Delta-South Richmond John Cummins.

"It's one of those issues that I don't think has been thought out as
clearly as it should have been," Cummins said Tuesday after the legislation
was introduced in the House of Commons. "I think the first priority really
has to be addressing these grow-operations. That's the biggest problem out
here right now."

Under the Liberal bill, possessing a small amount of marijuana will land
you a fine, but no criminal charges. It also calls for a decrease in the
maximum jail sentence imposed for growers with less than 25 plants, from
seven years to five.

Cummins said that sends the wrong message to those engaged in the marijuana
trade.

"It's an indicator that the government isn't taking these issues
seriously," he said. "And this is a serious matter."

Busting grow-ops in Richmond is full-time work for the marijuana production
unit of the RCMP.

Some 50 cases have gone forward to be dealt with in the courts since the
team was introduced last September - a fraction of the illegal grows police
know are out there.

Of those, said Corp. Sanjaya Wijayakoon, head of the Richmond unit, only
about one in 20 cases are of the smalltime mom-and-pop variety. The
overwhelming majority, he said, "are all organized-crime related on some
level."

Wijayakoon can never see a day when his line of work will run dry.

Demographically, teenagers, age 13 to 19 years, make up a huge portion of
those buying and smoking pot and it's unlikely, he said, that government
will ever completely legalize their access.

"So there will always be this huge, huge black market."