Pubdate: Thu, 11 Oct 2007
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 The Province
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: CanWest News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

COPS TAKE 4.8M JOINTS OUT OF CIRCULATION

KAMLOOPS -- Nearly 20,000 marijuana plants being grown on Crown land 
were uprooted in the B.C. Interior after 10 RCMP detachments teamed 
up to search and destroy outdoor grow-ops.

Clearwater RCMP Cpl. Mike Savage said the plants could have produced 
more than 4.8 million joints "that would have ended up in our streets 
and into the hands of our children."

An additional 36 kilograms of dried and harvested bud were 
"eradicated," he said.

Some of the grow-op sites were so remote police had to be transported 
by helicopter, where the plants were cut down and moved to disposal 
sites, said Savage. Police also used ATVs and four-wheel drives.

Officers from Ashcroft, Barriere, Chase, Clearwater, Kamloops, 
Lillooet, Lytton and Salmon Arm began the project in early August and 
finished in late September.

Charges against three people are pending in one case.

Savage said marijuana cultivation in B.C. is a $6-billion-a-year 
industry. The industry is usually linked to organized crime, he said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman