Pubdate: Mon, 07 May 2001 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2001 The Vancouver Sun Page A4 Contact: http://www.vancouversun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Jim Bronskill Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) U.S. Marijuana Traffickers Establishing Bases In B.C. OTTAWA - Several American marijuana-trafficking syndicates are using British Columbia as a centre of operations to smuggle potent "B.C. Bud" to the United States, reveals a new intelligence report. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration report says cannabis cultivation in B.C. has become a billion-dollar industry that will "encourage expansion of the marijuana trade" in North America. The recently released report, by the DEA's intelligence division, was completed last December, based in part on information from the RCMP and other Canadian authorities. The analysis provides new insight into the lucrative B.C. marijuana business, including the extent of U.S. involvement in the phenomenon. Although the term B.C. Bud refers to the bud of the female cannabis plant, rich in the psychoactive chemical THC, it has become synonymous with high-grade Canadian pot, notes the DEA report. Canadian growers employ the most current methods, using high-tech equipment to electronically regulate temperature, light and nutrients in hydroponic greenhouses. Marijuana grown under these conditions contains a percentage of THC ranging from 15% to as much as 25%, far more than the naturally grown cannabis plants of the 1970s. Authorities estimate there are as many as 3,000 hydroponic greenhouses in the Vancouver area, housed largely in rental properties. Indoor cultivation has spread to other regions of Canada, including the Prairie provinces, Ontario and Quebec, where premier pot is marketed as "Quebec Gold." In British Columbia, police intelligence indicates Canadian-based outlaw motorcycle gangs such as the Hells Angels, Vietnamese gangs, and various white and Hispanic groups smuggle marijuana into the United States. "It is important to note that no one criminal element has a monopoly on the marijuana trade," says the DEA report. "Moreover, DEA reporting suggests that several U.S.-based marijuana-trafficking organizations now are using British Columbia as a hub of operations and are exploiting the vast United States-Canadian border." Hells Angels drug-trafficking operations in the United States have experienced setbacks, but profits from those based in Canada reportedly are being used to "revitalize the gang" in the United States, notes the report. B.C Bud sells for up to $4,400 US ($6,840 Cdn) per kilogram in Vancouver, as much as $6,600 US ($10,260 Cdn) in Washington state and $13,200 US ($20,520 Cdn in California. In New York City, Canadian marijuana has sold for up to $17,600 US ($27,360 Cdn) per kilogram. "DEA officials in Portland, Maine, report that high-potency Canadian-grown marijuana is sold in the region at up to five times the price of domestic and Mexican marijuana," says the report. A cannabis grower with a 50-plant hydroponic operation who harvests three crops of 15-per cent potency a year can make $225,000 Cdn after expenses. "Canadian law-enforcement officials estimate that cannabis cultivation in British Columbia now yields a billion-dollar annual profit." Across Canada, the number of marijuana plants seized more than tripled to 954,700 in 1999 from 296,000 in 1995. Police in B.C. now raid about eight indoor growing operations a day. The number of cases jumped 30 per cent to 3,279 in 1999 from 2,351 in 1998. The U.S. Customs Service reports the amount of marijuana intercepted along the B.C.-Washington border increased nine-fold between 1994 and 1999. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager