Pubdate: Mon, 27 Nov 2006
Source: Evening News, The (CN NS)
Copyright: The Evening News 2006
Contact:  http://www.newglasgownews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3343
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

NEED FOR A PLAN THAT WORKS

At one time it was a huge nuisance to law enforcement officers, but 
in past years marijuana growing has turned into big-league crime that 
potentially costs lives.

Experts are reporting a boom in the illegal activity that poses a 
danger to both police officers and the public in general.

Not only do these operations pose a serious fire and health risk to 
neighbours unknowingly forced to breathe in potentially harmful mould 
spores, some are heavily guarded by booby traps and armed thugs, 
police officials were reported to say in a recent article from The 
Canadian Press.

Roughly six per cent of the approximately 8,000 marijuana grow 
operations investigated annually by police involve firearms, while 
2.4 per cent of them involve other types of hazards or booby traps, 
said Derek Ogden, RCMP chief superintendent and head of the drug and 
organized crime unit.

In most cases, these measures are taken by the growers to protect 
their crop from being ripped off by so-called pot pirates.

At the same time, over the past couple of decades, the product itself 
has changed. More sophisticated breeding techniques have yielded a 
drug far more potent - and thus dangerous to health and safety - than 
the weed of yesteryear.

It's cause for alarm that will have many examining whether the fight 
has maintained the best focus.

The obvious answer would be to see that law enforcement agencies 
receive sufficient funding and resources to detect and shut down such 
operations.

But this recent boom of such grow-ops suggests nailing them is only 
going to get more difficult. That will have many advocating other 
alternatives: such as controlled production and sales of the product, 
thus taking it out of the hands of the criminals.

It's a horrendous thought, since society doesn't need more 
mind-ravaging substances around. But the government will have to 
explore its options and come up with a plan that works.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman