IT'S A POT OF GOLD

Marijuana Big Business in Ontario

Canada is third only to Mexico and Colombia as a supplier of high-grade
marijuana to the United States market, Public Safety and Security
Commissioner Bob Runciman says.

"That's not something to be proud of," Runciman told Sun Media. "We can see
the United States wanting us to play a more active role in dealing with this."

Runciman will push the federal government to bring in minimum sentences for
pot house operators when he meets with his federal and provincial justice
ministers in Calgary this week.

Runciman said local police officers cite "catch and release justice" as a
key problem in the proliferation of pot houses.

Police suspect there are more than 100 grow houses in Peel Region alone.

Operators usually rent houses, steal hydro and leave the place in shambles
and a fire hazard.

Offenders in the United States are usually handed stiff jail terms, but
it's not unusual in Ontario for convicted growers to get a conditional
sentence or short jail term.

"If you look at some of the penalties versus the potential profits ... it's
a high profit-low risk business," Runciman said. "Somebody described it as
a plague."

Organized crime, especially bikers, are believed behind many of the grow
houses.

Police estimate that indoor marijuana growing is a $1 billion-a-year
business in Ontario and the province's third-largest agricultural cash crop.

Police services in Ontario executed about 160 warrants for marijuana
growing in 2000, and 650 warrants the following year.

Runciman said police services are becoming reluctant to put in the
time-consuming work required to bust a pot lab when the grower gets such a
relatively light sentence.

It's estimated a small crop of 50 plants will yield annual profits of $55,000.

Offenders can get 60 to 90-day jail sentences but more typically a
conditional sentence.

An average size crop of 300 plants can net its grower $350,000 annually and
a jail sentence of up to nine months. But it's not unusual to get a
conditional sentence.

The penalty for someone caught with a large crop of 20,000 plants, which
can produce $30 million annually, is an 18-month jail term.

Runciman said the sentences are far less severe than in the United States,
where drug crimes can net the offender a life term.