Pubdate: Fri, 07 Apr 2000 Source: South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) Copyright: 2000 South China Morning Post Publishers Limited. Contact: http://www.scmp.com/ Section: World Author: Stanley Oziewicz $5B MARIJUANA TRADE A DEADLY GROWTH INDUSTRY Vancouver police are investigating the death of a Vietnamese immigrant in an upmarket neighbourhood to determine if the killing is part of a gangland war in the C$1 billion (HK$5.4 billion) a year marijuana trade. Inside the Burnaby home of John Ly, 24, whose beaten body was found earlier this week on his doorstep, police turned up a hydroponic marijuana-growing operation. The killing, which officers have linked to bloody rivalry between Vietnamese factions, is one of dozens in recent years directly attributable to the lucrative cross-border marijuana trade. Booming hydroponic technology and organised crime, including Vietnamese motorcycle gangs, have fuelled the multibillion-dollar enterprise. Last year, the Economist said thousands of British Columbia indoor pot-growing operations "exported" several hundred tonnes southwards. British Columbia "pot" is highly prized because of its high tetrahydrocannabinol content. It fetches about US$6,000 (HK$46,600) per 0.5kg across Canada's largely unsecured border with the United States. So large is the export trade that last year Canada only narrowly avoided being placed on the US Government's blacklist of drug-source countries that include Colombia and Afghanistan. How large is the residential pot-growing business in the lower British Columbia mainland? A day after Ly's body was found, police conducted a raid in Nanaimo, a city of 73,000 on Vancouver Island. They arrested 10 people after finding more than 1,000 marijuana plants in four flats at a single block. But police say that is only a drop in the bucket. In the first nine months of last year, about 4,500 people across Canada were charged with cultivating marijuana. More than half were residents of the nation's most westerly province. Police say that about 7,000 homes in the Vancouver region alone are used to cultivate marijuana. Several weeks ago, nearly 100 officers in the area raided 24 houses, seizing more than 2,000 plants with an estimated value of C$1.4 million. The province has long been known as a haven for devotees of pot culture. In addition, tolerance of cannabis smoking is general among the population. And about two-thirds of the province' residents favour decriminalising simple marijuana possession. Police say that even average growers can make about C$10,000 a month for cultivating plants. Those caught usually plead guilty and accept fines ranging from C$500 to $3,000. Such penalties are viewed as the cost of doing business. "You have to take the profit out of it to control it," said an observer. "It's just like Prohibition or the Irish Sweepstakes . . . the Government couldn't stop it, so they took it over." - --- MAP posted-by: Eric Ernst