MESSAGE MIXED ON POT, SAY COPS, POLICY ADVISERS

Canadians are getting mixed messages about the dangers of pot and consensus
is needed to clear the air, say police and drug policy analysts.

"The lines are blurred. That's the problem the Canadian Police Association
has said exists all along," said CPA vice-president Sgt. Glen Hayden.

Debate flared up over cannabis last September, after a special Senate
committee recommended legalization.

"We're sending a mixed message out to everybody, to our young people and to
the community," said Hayden, also a former Edmonton drug section officer.

The CPA and other stakeholders have to meet and formulate a unified drug
policy for Canada, said Hayden.

"There is a common ground, the average cop and people with organizations
like mine, each wants to do the best they can for society," said Eugene
Oscapella, of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy. "We disagree, and
quite strongly, but at least we're talking."

Hayden said making a new drug legal would compound social problems. But
according to Oscapella, criminalizing pot caused new problems that exist
only because it was made illegal. "Drug prohibition really is a creature of
the 20th century, and it has been a phenomenal failure," he said.

Last weekend, Det. Clayton Sach of the Edmonton police's Green Team - that
specializes in busting cannabis growing operations - said the team is
swamped. He also said he thought Canada may have the same challenges it did
during the prohibition of alcohol. Police are frustrated and a veteran
officer like Sach is a good example of how some officers feel, said Hayden.
"He better than anyone would know; he's seen the kind of sentencing and the
kind of loopholes that put these guys back on the street," said Hayden.

Early yesterday, the Green Team seized 18 cannabis plants, worth about
$18,000, from a 1512 147 Ave. home.

"To estimate how many grows there are in Edmonton would just about be
impossible," said Det. Darren Derko. More tips from neighbours would help,
he said. "You can see even by this neighbourhood, new house and the small
grow in the garage, it's quite common in a lot of neighbourhoods."

Robert Bryn-John Young, 30, has been charged with possession for the
purposes of trafficking, production and other possession charges.