CAPE BRETON DRUG TRADE BLOSSOMING, ACCORDING TO REGIONAL POLICE

Details on Cape Breton's growing drug trade were revealed during a police
commission meeting in Sydney Tuesday.

During the session, the street crime unit of the Cape Breton Regional
Police Service presented its intelligence report on a marijuana growing
investigation it conducted between July and October.

Commission members were told local marijuana is of such a high grade it
could soon rival pot grown on the West Coast.

"Because of the way they're growing it, the quality of plants are
phenomenal," said Chief Edgar MacLeod.

He said local weed has a high amount of the compound THC - the chemical
that gives pot its "buzz."

The commissioners were also told, "marijuana is developing into the soft
drug of choice over hashish and hash oil. The price of local marijuana
(about $20 a gram) remains high which, attributes to the quality of the
local market."

The large amounts of money generated from the high-quality pot is causing
police problems in their efforts to battle the local drug trade.

The report said profits, "allow for local dealers to purchase high-tech
equipment, large areas of secluded properties and several modes of vehicles
to travel to isolated areas to produce their crops."