LEGALIZATION VS ENFORCEMENT: THE ETERNAL MARIJUANA DEBATE

Would legalizing pot eliminate organized crime's involvement in the booming
indoor pot growing industry?

Well-known B.C. marijuana activist Marc Emery says yes, while RCMP Staff
Sgt. Chuck Doucette, the force's provincial drug awareness coordinator,
says the answer is a better coordinated campaign of law enforcement.

Emery predicts decriminalization of marijuana will see pot growers switch
to greenhouses.

"Once it's legal, you'll never see a grow op in a house again," Emery told
The Leader.

"No one in their right mind would grow indoors in a house - it's much too
expensive."

Doucette disagreed, saying as long as pot is illegal in the U.S., organized
crime will be very much involved in smuggling it across the border.

"The majority of marijuana grown in Canada goes to the United States,"
Doucette estimated.

"You can legalize it in Canada all you want, but they (organized crime)
will continue to sell it in the States, and the reality is they will
(continue to) bring in cocaine and guns and all kinds of illegal
paraphernalia (into Canada)."

Emery agreed organized crime would still be involved in Canadian pot
growing if marijuana remained illegal in the U.S. but it would be limited
to cross-border smuggling.

"It wouldn't be our (Canada's) responsibility," Emery said.

Emery predicted legalizing pot in Canada would force the U.S. to do the
same "six months to a year" afterwards.

Doucette and Emery were reacting to a recently completed Surrey RCMP Drug
Section study that projected there are 3,500 to 4,500 indoor marijuana
growing operations in the city, as much as six per cent of the city's total
housing stock.

New homes are increasingly popular pot growing sites, with operators
preferring to buy rather than rent, the study indicates.

Emery, founder and president of the B.C. Marijuana Party, and a former
candidate for Vancouver mayor, claimed the trend toward buying instead of
renting has been encouraged by Surrey's low housing prices and the
municipality's recent crackdown on landlords who rent to growers.

"You can buy property cheaper in Surrey than you can anywhere else in the
Lower Mainland," Emery said.

"There's a high level of availability."

Emery said his information is that the pot trade in Surrey is dominated by
Vietnamese growers, who don't buy the houses outright, preferring to take
out a mortgage.

That way, if the house is raided and seized as proceeds of crime, the
grower is only out of pocket his down payment and monthly installments,
Emery said.

"They've learned the value of leveraging."

Emery complained police concerns about the potential hazards posed by grow
ops have been overblown, saying most are run by people who are determined
to keep a low profile.

"Those are the best kinds of neighbours," Emery said.

"They're not harmful. They don't want to get noticed."

Sgt. Doucette disagreed.

"That works really well until the place blows up because they had propane
inside and wiring not done by professional electricians."

While not every pot smoker graduates to hard drugs like cocaine and heroin,
studies show every hard drug user first started with marijuana, Doucette
argued.

The key to quelling the booming trade, he says, is a coordinated effort by
all levels of government and law enforcement, rather than the piecemeal
approach that has been used.

"There has never been a war on drugs in Canada," Doucette commented.

"When I think of a war, I think of clearly defined targets. I think of
unlimited resources and a coordinated effort ... under the strong
leadership of one general. We have none of those in Canada."

Doucette described the City of Surrey's current crackdown on drug use in
Whalley as a "skirmish," not a true war on drugs.