LANDMARK POT STUDY POINTS OUT FUTILITY OF CURRENT LAWS

Here we grow again.

A UCFV study on marijuana grow operations in B.C. has found that -
surprise! - there are a staggering number of such plantations in Lotusland,
more than previously thought.

The study found that the number of grow-ops coming to the attention of
police is increasing by 36 per cent each year, the average size of grow-ops
busted by cops is increasing by 40 per cent per year and the average dollar
value of the grow-ops discovered is between $100,000 and $130,000.

The study - which was undertaken by the college's criminology and criminal
justice department in partnership with the International Centre for
Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy and which received funding
support from the RCMP - also found that "the high volume of marijuana
cultivation in B.C. is hindering police capacity to respond to complaints."

UCFV professor Yves Dandurand noted that, in spite of the fact that more
money is being spent on combatting grow-ops, more and more pot is available
in B.C. each year.

"It is," Dandurand said, "perhaps time to try a different response." Indeed
it is, and pouring more money into a futile effort to eradicate the evil
weed is not the response needed. Nor is it time, as Solicitor-General Rich
Coleman suggested Thursday, to introduce minimum sentencing for those
convicted of growing marijuana.

And we hardly need the actions of the Chilliwack RCMP, which announced this
week an enforcement clampdown on marijuana, a campaign that includes
spending another $160,000 on two more cops to help ferret out the green.

This comprehensive study, which reviewed all cases of alleged marijuana
cultivation in a four-year period between 1997 and 2000, comes a month
after the release of a Senate committee report that lends ammunition to the
argument for the decriminalization, if not outright legalization, of pot.

In short, the Senate committee found that there is no evidence to suggest
that marijuana is a gateway drug, that there is no evidence that marijuana
is a mind-altering, addictive drug and that smoking pot does not lead users
to commit crime.

The Chilliwack RCMP justify the hard line by noting that organized crime is
behind marijuana grow operations.

As a toker might say, "Well, duh!" Of course it is - precisely because of
pot's illegality! Just as organized crime was behind speakeasies during
prohibition. And just as organized crime is behind everything else society
deems illegal.

Take away its criminality and you take away sky-high prices and you take
away today's version of Al Capone. Can it be any clearer?