Pubdate: Thu, 21 Oct 2010 Source: National Post (Canada) Copyright: 2010 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Marijuana - Canada) TORIES GET TOUGH ON MARIJUANA GROWERS A Conservative bill to jail offenders caught growing five or more marijuana plants was back before the Senate yesterday, a year after it made the rare move of watering down the government's proposals by raising the bar to 200 plants. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson ignored the Senate amendments when he resurrected his proposed legislation last spring, and the upper chamber, which has fewer Liberals than it did a year ago, has less muscle to balk this time around. Mr. Nicholson warned a Senate committee yesterday that amending his proposed legislation again "would severely weaken the bill" so that a person involved in organized crime could have 150 plants in several locations and escape jail nonetheless. "This is directed at traffickers, the people who would sell drugs to children," Mr. Nicholson said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake