HIGH TIMES IN CALGARY

Cops Try to Weed Out Budding Entrepreneurs

Ten years ago, Calgary's marijuana producers were primarily
hazy-brained amateurs using how-to books to grow bad weed in closets
and basements.

"Some plants were so bad they were almost petrified ... rock-hard and
brown plants," Staff Sgt. Roger Chaffin chuckles.

"They were always cause for a good laugh."

Using too many or too few lights installed in shoddy infrastructure,
growers would often wind up with pathetic produce, sky-high
electricity bills and, eventually, police at their door.

High times have changed.

Today's growing operations, or "grows" as Chaffin and fellow-members
of the Calgary Police drug unit call them, rarely produce anything but
world-class weed using high-tech electronics.

Today's growers have knowledge and money and intricate networks of
distributors, drivers and dealers.

Today's growers make millions of dollars.

And police, simply, have trouble keeping up.

As Chaffin put it bluntly: "They are everywhere."

Canada grows have become an estimated billion-dollar-a-year business,
and a major thorn in America's side.

In a statement about two weeks ago, U.S. President George Bush said he
was "concerned that Canada has become ... an increasing source of
high-potency marijuana" among other drugs.

CALGARY GREEN TEAM

They aren't the only ones.

Seeing a boom of pot production on the horizon, Calgary cops in 2000
formed a so-called Green Team to, well, weed out weed.

They have studied extensively with B.C.'s crack marijuana cops, and
even south of the border, where they are members of the U.S.
Clandestine Labs Investigators Association.

Since 2000, the specialized group of seven has raided nearly 200
homes, laid more than 400 charges and confiscated six homes.

They've also taken millions of dollars worth of pot off the streets,
including hundreds of ready-to-bud plants in three separate raids just
last week.

And still they have yet to make a dent in production.

To put the booming popularity of weed production in perspective, in
the year 2000, Calgary cops snuffed out $4.5 million in pot. They
nearly doubled that in 2001, and again last year with $17.2 million.

They also raid about 60 homes a year, but that's only a fraction of
the 300 tips called in from the public.

"I would say that's it's not representative of half the crops in
Calgary. I'd say that's only a small fraction of what's out there."

So why the growing interest in growing?

Money. Lots of it.

It's no secret Canada's marijuana is some of the most highly
sought-after product in the world, with high levels of Delta-9
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) -- marijuana's active ingredient.

BIG BAD BUCKS

A study released by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency indicates
Canadian-grown weed has a THC content hovering between 15% and 25%,
considerably more than the 2% pot of the 1970s.

According to the DEA report, one pound of high-grade Canadian bud,
which sells for about $2,000 in Canada, sells for $3,000 US only hours
across the border.

In California, that same pound can sell for $6,000 US and as much as
$8,000 US in New York, the report states.

It's even traded for cocaine.

And with new technology, growers are realizing bigger crops than ever,
and they're able to mask the smell more effectively.

Statistics released by the federal government show the average grower
tending a 50-plant crop can harvest three crops a year and realize
annual profits of $225,000.

"They're getting a pound off each plant in some cases," Chaffin says.
"Years ago, they might have gotten three ounces."

More growers are also employing professional electricians to bypass
electrical metres and tap directly into the raw power, thus
eliminating the huge power bill spikes police look for.

A spokesman for Enmax admitted it's a problem in Calgary, costing them
thousands of dollars a year.

"We have methods out there to determine abnormal spikes ... (but)
they're not as precise," Tony McCallum told the Sun.

Along with the vast money to be made from selling pot, comes organized
crime.

Mounties have long suspected motorcycle gangs of being active in the
trade, but new RCMP intelligence suggests Vietnamese gangs are quickly
gaining ground.

HISTORIC BUSTS

Organized groups are suspected behind a recent bust in Chestermere,
where 10 homes -- seven in the same cul de sac -- were relieved of
nearly $5 million in weed and equipment.

Police raided three more homes, believed to be connected, in Arbour
Lake and confiscated more than $1 million more in bud.

Last month, police seized a truck carrying a major haul of weed and
cocaine -- more than $20 million -- destined for the U.S.

It was one of the biggest busts in Alberta history.

Organized elements, it seems, have seen the long-term
profits.

"And if you do it properly, you see the pot of gold at the end of the
rainbow. That's what we're up against," said Chaffin.

Besides having more money to work with, organized criminals also sport
bigger networks to distribute the illicit herb.

And to top off police frustration are Canada's changing pot laws, and
the judicial system's new attitude toward marijuana.

"(Growers) used to get consistent jail time, more and more are now
getting conditional sentences," Chaffin says.

But police remain determined.

"Every time we take out a grow, there's somebody that isn't exposed to
the potential for a home invasion," Chaffin says.

"Success isn't measured by jail time.

"Success is still measured, for us, one investigation at a time."