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The420Guy
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No. 3 Supplier to the U.S.
Canada trails only the corruption-riddled regimes of Mexico and Colombia as the top supplier of killer-quality weed to the U.S., says Ontario's Public Safety and Security Commissioner.
"That's not something to be proud of," Bob Runciman told The Sun. "We can see the United States wanting us to play a more active role in dealing with this."
Runciman - meeting with provincial and federal justice ministers in Calgary this week - plans to push for minimum sentences for pot house operators once he's there.
Police now cite "catch and release justice" as a key problem in the proliferation of marijuana-growing operations, Runciman said.
Edmonton's Sgt. Glen Hayden agreed.
"I've seen it for years," he said. "I was in the drug section until about eight months ago for eight years. I'm too familiar with it."
Edmonton's drug section busted somewhere between 60 and 90 growing operations in 2000 and 2001, sometimes raiding one home a week, Hayden said. Cops in Ontario estimate indoor marijuana growing is a $1-billion a year business there, the third-largest agricultural cash crop.
Operators usually rent houses, steal power and leave the place in shambles and a fire hazard, police said.
Offenders in the U.S. are usually handed stiff jail terms, but it's not unusual for convicted growers in Canada to get a conditional sentence or short jail term.
However, Hayden said he thinks changing the access local police departments have to the proceeds of crime they seize will do far more to curb growing operations than stiffer penalties.
Canada's proceeds-of-crime legislation was fashioned to prevent cops from targeting people because they're rich, Hayden said.
"But in the same vein, if he's rich and he's making all kinds of proceeds from drugs, why wouldn't we target him? Why wouldn't we use his resources to target someone else down the road? It's something we don't have when it comes to budget time."
Senator Tommy Banks - part of a Senate subcommittee that recently recommended criminal code exemptions for licensed growers of marijuana and simple possession - wants anyone illegally growing marijuana jailed and their assets seized.
"I'm talking about the big ones, the hydroponic ones where there are mass-producing," he said. "They should always be illegal when they're not properly licensed and properly regulated."
As for Canada's ranking as the third-largest supplier of quality weed, Banks said the situation is "horrible."
"The grow operations that I'm talking about, that I regard as criminal and whose stuff ought to be forfeited, are the ones that are for profit, that are for criminal activity."
Pubdate: Sun, 03 Nov 2002
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2002, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact: letters@edm.sunpub.com
Website: Under Construction fyiedmonton.com
Canada trails only the corruption-riddled regimes of Mexico and Colombia as the top supplier of killer-quality weed to the U.S., says Ontario's Public Safety and Security Commissioner.
"That's not something to be proud of," Bob Runciman told The Sun. "We can see the United States wanting us to play a more active role in dealing with this."
Runciman - meeting with provincial and federal justice ministers in Calgary this week - plans to push for minimum sentences for pot house operators once he's there.
Police now cite "catch and release justice" as a key problem in the proliferation of marijuana-growing operations, Runciman said.
Edmonton's Sgt. Glen Hayden agreed.
"I've seen it for years," he said. "I was in the drug section until about eight months ago for eight years. I'm too familiar with it."
Edmonton's drug section busted somewhere between 60 and 90 growing operations in 2000 and 2001, sometimes raiding one home a week, Hayden said. Cops in Ontario estimate indoor marijuana growing is a $1-billion a year business there, the third-largest agricultural cash crop.
Operators usually rent houses, steal power and leave the place in shambles and a fire hazard, police said.
Offenders in the U.S. are usually handed stiff jail terms, but it's not unusual for convicted growers in Canada to get a conditional sentence or short jail term.
However, Hayden said he thinks changing the access local police departments have to the proceeds of crime they seize will do far more to curb growing operations than stiffer penalties.
Canada's proceeds-of-crime legislation was fashioned to prevent cops from targeting people because they're rich, Hayden said.
"But in the same vein, if he's rich and he's making all kinds of proceeds from drugs, why wouldn't we target him? Why wouldn't we use his resources to target someone else down the road? It's something we don't have when it comes to budget time."
Senator Tommy Banks - part of a Senate subcommittee that recently recommended criminal code exemptions for licensed growers of marijuana and simple possession - wants anyone illegally growing marijuana jailed and their assets seized.
"I'm talking about the big ones, the hydroponic ones where there are mass-producing," he said. "They should always be illegal when they're not properly licensed and properly regulated."
As for Canada's ranking as the third-largest supplier of quality weed, Banks said the situation is "horrible."
"The grow operations that I'm talking about, that I regard as criminal and whose stuff ought to be forfeited, are the ones that are for profit, that are for criminal activity."
Pubdate: Sun, 03 Nov 2002
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2002, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact: letters@edm.sunpub.com
Website: Under Construction fyiedmonton.com
