MUCH SMOKE SURROUNDS SENATE'S REPORT ON POT

While pro-marijuana advocates are rejoicing over a Senate recommendation
that pot be treated the same as cigarettes or alcohol, a local member of
the Marijuana Party of Canada is not so jubilant.

This week, a committee headed by Conservative Sen. Pierre Claude Nolin
recommended that possession of cannabis be made legal for people 16 and
older and be regulated as are liquor and cigarettes.

Norm Siefken of the Marijuana Party has been active in local politics, and
told the Abbotsford News Thursday "a lot of people are totally jubilant
about it.

"But I'm cautiously optimistic about it," he continued. "Nothing is going
to happen unless Jean Chretien allows it to happen. He's a big-time whiskey
drinker.

"He's a symbol of the old generation that opposes marijuana. But as far as
selling it like alcohol or tobacco, that's what most of the Canadian people
have been asking for for a long time."

Police officials have gone on record as opposing any move towards legalization.

Abbotsford Chief Ian Mackenzie said the Senate recommendation does not come
as a surprise, as the federal justice minister has made similar comments.
"But we do have a concern with it, no doubt about it," he told the
Abbotsford News yesterday.

"The police will enforce the law. I don't think there is definitive
evidence that marijuana is not a problematic drug, or does not lead to
other drugs." Said Siefken: "For the police it's the make-work program.
Eighty per cent of the arrests under the Controlled Drug and Substances Act
are marijuana-related. They're feathering their own nests."

Siefken will be in charge of fellow marijuana advocate Tim Felger's
campaign for the job of Abbotsford mayor in the Nov. 16 civic election.

Fraser Valley (Canadian Alliance) MP Chuck Strahl held a February town hall
meeting in Chilliwack on the issue, and used his household mailout to pose
the question: "Should the Criminal Code of Canada be changed regarding
punishments for marijuana?"

He told the Abbotsford News: "On the process side of this, a House of
Commons committee studied the same subject, and they will table their
report in November.

"The committee has travelled extensively, and as MPs go, the debate for
them is in November."

The MP said it was obvious in his survey that there are two groups of people.

"On one side there are those who want it decriminalized or legalized," he
said. This is a slim majority in Strahl's survey.

"The other group, close to half, say the laws should stay as they are."

Meanwhile, most people reached a consensus on the medical use of marijuana,
and believe it should be allowed, said Strahl.

As to it being made legal for sale to those older than 16, Strahl said: "I
don't believe it should. Right now you can't sell a cigarette to anyone at
16, or liquor.

"There should be a signal that should be sent about drug use generally, and
the proper way to send that signal is to change the law to provide for
summary conviction," he said.

"The better way is to take it out of the Criminal Code."

In June, researchers at the University College of the Fraser Valley (UCFV)
and the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice
Policy completed a first comprehensive study on the justice system's
response to marijuana grow operations and marijuana trafficking in British
Columbia.

It was released in two reports: Marijuana Growing Operations in British
Columbia - An Empirical Survey (1997-2000) and Marijuana Trafficking
Incidents in British Columbia (1997-2000).

It found Abbotsford ranks in the top 10 of B.C. cultivation centres.

Some other findings of the study included:

* The number of marijuana grow-ops coming to the attention of the police is
increasing by 36 per cent each year.

* The average size of grow-ops discovered is increasing by 40 per cent per
year.

* The average dollar value of the grow-ops discovered is between $100,000
and $130,000.

In Abbotsford, the report lists a 196 per cent increase in marijuana
cultivation files opened by police between 1997 and 2000.

In Chilliwack, that number is 200 per cent, and in Delta, a staggering
1,293 per cent.

When the report was released, UCFV Prof. Darryl Plecas told the Abbotsford
News: "The average person involved is 35 years old and has a 13-year
criminal history. This report says we're talking a collection of criminals
here.

"The tragedy occurs when young offenders or minority groups are drafted
into trafficking - they're the ones with the greatest risk of getting caught."