FEDS TOO SOFT ON DRUGS: COPS

Stiff Minimum Sentences Urged For Growers

OTTAWA -- Criminals are getting off too easy as neighbourhoods across
Canada are endangered by huge secret pot-growing operations, police groups
charged yesterday.

The Liberal government's possible decriminalization of marijuana will only
make things worse, charged David Griffin, executive director of the
Canadian Police Association.

Griffin and others called on the federal government to beef up the Criminal
Code and impose minimum jail time for those convicted of turning 50,000
Canadian homes into marijuana "grow houses," including what he said were an
estimated 10,000 in the Toronto area.

'WALKING AWAY'

The operations, which can generate up to $500,000 a year a house, are
mainly controlled by crime gangs. Much of the marijuana is smuggled into
the United States.

"We'd like to see some minimum sentences to give judges direction that this
is a serious crime," Griffin said. "In B.C. (these offenders) are literally
walking away."

If Justice Minister Martin Cauchon actually decriminalizes pot, that would
further dilute the seriousness of the offence of running a grow house,
Griffin argued.

The calls for action came just days after a series of police raids across
Canada -- code-named Operation Greensweep 3 -- netted more than 73,000
plants valued at $73 million.

Grow houses are fire hazards because of heavy lighting, which uses an
average of $1,500 a month in electricity stolen from local utilities by
bypassing meters. They are also filled with chemical fumes and mould.

"It's quite discouraging for law enforcement when we are seeing conditional
sentences and even fines," said Sgt. Mike Laviolette, an Ottawa police
officer seconded to the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada.

Det. Mike Klimm of York Regional Police said sentences for possession for
the purpose of trafficking and production of a controlled substance run
between seven and 15 years in the United States.

"Up until recently, in Ontario we were getting conditional sentences like
house arrest. We're now starting to see real jail terms from nine months to
a year for first offence. They're starting to understand. The judiciary is
listening," KIimm said.