POT GROWERS EYE EUROPEAN SALES

Vancouver bud could soon be smoked in Paris or Amsterdam as local growers
find ways to deal with tighter security along the U.S. border.

Cpl. Scott Rintoul, RCMP's Vancouver-based drug awareness officer, said the
U.S. government's increased focus on border security and renewed war on
drugs is forcing the city's estimated 20,000 marijuana grower/exporters to
change tactics.

"It's business as usual. It's just not business as it was before Sept. 11;
they've changed methods and destinations," Rintoul said. "They've had to go
further east to cross the border in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Air traffic
is limited and taking it in vehicles across manned border crossings is
pretty much a no-no."

B.C. bud is turning up in Toronto and Montreal in increasing volume and
could be stashed into cargo containers for a trip across the Atlantic,
according to Rintoul.

"Is it possible it's going to Europe? Very much so. We've got it going to
Ontario. Law enforcement officers there are already starting to shake their
heads at the volume."

Michael Jones, Toronto Port Authority's deputy harbour master, said it's
more likely B.C. bud would be shipped out of Montreal or Halifax because
their container traffic is much greater than Toronto's.

"I haven't heard of any seizures in those ports, but anything is possible,"
Jones said.

Rintoul said U.S. border guards are reporting fewer, but larger, seizures
because growers are putting more effort into single shipments instead of
getting several people to smuggle smaller volumes.

"Before, there would be 10- or 50-pound seizures. Now they are getting
300-pound seizures and smugglers are starting to cross through the bush
more, rather than at border crossings."

Despite the changes to smuggling patterns, criminal gangs are still able to
sell their wares and some have taken to exchanging marijuana for guns or
cocaine and ecstasy instead of cash.

As a result, Rintoul thinks the province's estimated $6-billion marijuana
industry will remain intact.

"Some organizations are bringing money back, particularly the Vietnamese
and Chinese gangs, but the biker gangs are bringing back cocaine. They deal
commodity only. The marijuana goes across and they exchange it for cocaine
or guns."

In the U.S., bringing even the smallest amount of pot over the line is
considered a major crime, usually resulting in prison time for those caught.

In the past two weeks, border guards have arrested three groups of American
teen smugglers heading back into the U.S. from Canada at the Blaine border
crossing.