Pubdate: Fri, 04 Mar 2005
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Page: A1 - Front Page
Copyright: 2005, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Authors: Campbell Clark and Colin Freeze
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Rochfort+Bridge
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

IN THE LINE OF DUTY: FOUR MOUNTIES SLAIN: THE FALLOUT

OTTAWA, TORONTO -- The federal government promised last night to consider 
tougher laws against marijuana grow operations, and possibly more money for 
police, only hours after the deaths of four RCMP officers.

Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan said she had met briefly with Justice 
Minister Irwin Cotler and the two agreed to consider changes to a bill 
already before the House of Commons. She did not provide specifics.

They "want to take a look at that legislation, and we want to determine 
whether we have the right tools in place," she said. "There is a question 
of resources, clearly, and that is something as a government that we need 
to take up with the national force. Obviously local police forces and 
others are on the front lines of this every day as well."

Police have been warning for the past few years that the proliferation of 
marijuana grow-ops is leading to increased violence. Grow-ops are no longer 
the domain of casual dealers, they say, but of hardened gangsters and 
organized crime.

According to a recent RCMP report, marijuana seizures are six times what 
they were a decade ago.

In Ontario, police say that as many as 10,000 children have lived in homes 
that have been converted into marijuana factories in the past five years.

Ms. McLellan said yesterday the proposed law to decriminalize marijuana, 
currently before the House of Commons justice committee, already contains 
measures to stiffen penalties for grow-operators, but that there are 
questions about whether the police have the tools they need to combat the 
problem.

"There is a resource issue, but I think there is also an issue around do we 
have the right laws in place, have we given the RCMP and other forces the 
right tools they need to deal with what is an amazing growth, quite 
truthfully, in these operations."

That assessment of grow-ops as a major crime danger was echoed less than an 
hour later by RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli, who called them a 
serious threat.

"This is really a plague on our society," he said.

He said, however, that while police forces face limited resources, there 
are laws in place to allow them to crack down on marijuana growers.

"We have laws. We have the means to do it."

Ms. McLellan balked at immediately promising more cash for police 
investigations of grow operations, saying the government handed out 
additional funding when Ottawa outlined a national drug strategy two years ago.

But now the spectre of four dead Mounties, who were gunned down while 
investigating an increasingly routine type of crime scene, is haunting 
police precincts across the country.

"It's going to send a shiver down everyone's spine," Vancouver Police 
Inspector Val Harrison said yesterday.

"We've been trying to say these things are dangerous. We routinely find 
weapons."

While police are rarely injured in drug busts, many felt it was only a 
matter of time. Grow operations have flourished in recent years as courts 
handed out only fines and light sentences to offenders, most of whom police 
regard as members of dangerous criminal groups.

Canada has introduced legislation that would decriminalize marijuana 
possession, but the proposed law would also increase the maximum penalties 
for people caught growing large amounts.

Still, sentences for growers are almost always on the lighter end of the scale. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake