MARIJUANA GROW OP STUDY SHOWS STARTLING FIGURES

It's generally known that marijuana grow operations and trafficking are a
big issue in British Columbia, but not much concrete research has been
published on the growing phenomenon or on the nature of the justice
system's response to this problem.

Researchers at the University College of the Fraser Valley and the
International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy
have just released the first comprehensive study on the justice system's
response to marijuana grow operations and marijuana trafficking in British
Columbia.

The independent study was released in two reports: "Marijuana Growing
Operations in British Columbia -- An Empirical Survey (1997-2000)" and
"Marijuana Trafficking Incidents in BritishColumbia (1997-2000)". The study
was conducted by faculty and students of the UCFV Criminology and Criminal
Justice department in partnership with the International Centre for
Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy. The centre is a United
Nations affiliated research institute in Vancouver.

All police jurisdictions in B.C. provided access to their files for the
purposes of the study and the RCMP provided funding support for the study.
The project involved a review of all cases of alleged marijuana cultivation
coming to the attention of the police from January 1, 1997, to December 31,
2000. In all, 11,733 case files from this four-year period were reviewed.
Over the four-year period a total of 8,010 founded cases were identified
within the 149 police jurisdictions across the province.

"The findings point at the need for the justice system, including law
enforcement, to take a more strategic approach to enforcing the law
concerning marijuana cultivation," commented UCFV professor Darryl Plecas.
"If our objective so far was to reduce the availability of marijuana in the
province, we are not succeeding," said UCFV professor Yvon Dandurand. "In
spite of the fact that we are devoting more law enforcement and other
resources each year to address the problem, there is more marijuana grown
and available in British Columbia from year to year.

"It is perhaps time to try a different response," said Dandurand.

Some of the findings of the study are:

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

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

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

- - Over the four-year period, police in B.C. seized 1.2 million marijuana
plants and 8,646 kg of harvested marijuana.

- - Ten jurisdictions in Vancouver/Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island
account for the majority of marijuana cultivation, although it occurs
across the province.

- - The typical cultivator is Caucasian (77%), male (80%), 35 years of age,
with seven prior criminal convictions, but there is an increasing incidence
of suspects of Vietnamese origin.

- - Most cases that came to police attention did so because of anonymous tips
from the public, as well as calls from landlords or neighbours.

- - The high volume of marijuana cultivation in B.C. is hindering police
capacity to respond to complaints.

- - 2,255 of founded cases led to at least one offender being convicted. This
means that 54% of those charged, and 25% of those associated with a founded
case, ended up with a conviction. Prison sentences were ordered in only 18%
of cases, with an average length of 4.5 months.

- - The frequency of marijuana trafficking offences officially recorded in
British Columbia does not seem to reflect the amount of activity that can
be assumed to be taking place given the prolific activities of marijuana
growers.

To view the entire report, see the web page at: http://www.icclr.law.ubc.ca