Pubdate: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 Source: Sudbury Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2005 The Sudbury Star Contact: http://www.thesudburystar.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/608 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) POT LAWS NEED DEFINITION Clearly, the war on marijuana is an uphill battle, and one that comes with its own twists and complications Recreational marijuana use is increasing in Canadian society, across most age groups. A 2002 StatsCan survey concluded as many as 12.2 per cent of Canadians -- more than three million -- were recreational tokers, up from 7.4 per cent in 1989. No doubt there would be more users were it not for the stigma of illegality. Still, that's an awfully big -- and expanding -- market for marijuana producers, and an awful lot of people willing to skirt the law to indulge their ... uh, vice. Which explains why local police services are being kept increasingly busy pursuing marijuana grow operations and distributors in Canada. According to Statistics Canada, marijuana grow operations have more than doubled over the past decade, from 3,400 busts in 1994 to more than 8,000 last year. Increasingly, police attention has driven them further into hiding and into the wilderness. And into the North. In 2004, the Joint Forces Drug Unit -- consisting of Greater Sudbury Police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Ontario Provincial Police -- seized more than $17 million worth of plants in Greater Sudbury. Police estimate that at best, they find and disrupt 10 per cent of the pot production in the North, although that is an optimistic goal. That means the production and distribution of marijuana is worth more than $170 million in this area alone. Clearly, the war on marijuana is an uphill battle, and one that comes with its own twists and complications. Many are sophisticated operations encompassing large fields with thousands of plants, or hydroponic operations using several homes in an area. As a Sudbury Star feature story pointed out on Saturday, these operations have themselves become a danger in the North. The level of investment in these operations and the degree of security that surrounds them make them dangerous neighbours. Often homes have been illegally and sometimes unsafely rewired to power the lights (which taxpayers pay for) and many premises have been booby-trapped to keep unwanted visitors away. These dangers add to the difficulty police face in fighting the war on drugs. To be sure, it's a fine line police must walk. The production and distribution of marijuana is becoming harder to interrupt, largely because demand for marijuana in Canada continues to increase. At the same time, while users of marijuana are clearly breaking the law as it is written, they're not breaking the law as it is enforced. Most simple possession charges have been thrown out of court across Canada, so much so that since 2002 police and prosecutors have all but stopped pursuing them. It's a clear contradiction: Police work hard to crack down on the supply of marijuana, while the courts all but ignore the demand side. The same 2002 StatsCan survey said that almost half of Canadians favour legalization while more -- some surveys say seven in 10 -- want decriminalization. The federal Liberals have been promising the latter for three years; it's time to stop stalling and move this legislation forward. While it won't make the Joint Forces Drug Unit's job any easier, it would go a long way to finally giving some definition to Canada's wayward drug laws. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom