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Meanwhile, critics charge, the proceeds of the industry continue to feed what a recent editorial in the Vancouver Sun newspaper called the "monster" of organised crime.Īs early as 2000, RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli warned this "monster" was threatening to destabilise Canada's parliamentary system.īut police insist tougher sentences, not legalisation of cannabis, is what is needed. He says he fears tougher enforcement will lead to a burgeoning prison population, but have little impact on the illicit industry. There are empires built around it - not only organised crime, but government bureaucracies, police departments, privatised prison industries in the US, pharmaceutical and drug-testing companies. "You have to look at Prohibition as an industry: the crime-control industry. Mr Oscapella also argues that some sectors have an interest in maintaining what he calls the "Prohibition" on marijuana in Canada. Some 85% of marijuana grown in BC is estimated to be exported into the US, though total border seizures of marijuana only amount to about 3% of that discovered entering the US from Mexico. Mr Oscapella suggests Canada is fearful of crossing the US government, which he says has threatened to slow bilateral trade worth about US$1bn per day. Most marijuana cultivation now takes place indoors, under lights (image: RCMP) "It's hypocrisy, it's cowardice," he says - a charge the justice ministry declined to comment on. "There have been studies galore in Canada and elsewhere looking at this issue - it's politics that's stopping and not logic," says lawyer Eugene Oscapella, a founding member of the independent Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy. In fact, several government committees tasked with evaluating Canada's drug laws have recommended legalisation of marijuana - from the 1972 Le Dain Commission to the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs which reported in September 2002.Ī recent survey suggested 51% of Canadians supported decriminalisation of marijuana. Instead of spending half a billion Canadian dollars each year tackling illicit drug use, Professor Easton argues, federal authorities have an alternative: "Tax and trade it like any other normal commodity." The proportion of respondents who admitted to using cannabis in the previous year was 14.1% - compared with 9.7% of Britons and 10.6% of Americans in equivalent surveys. In 2004, the Canadian Addiction Survey found 44.5% of Canadians reported using cannabis at least once - up from 23.3% in 1989. "But has criminalisation been successful in deterring consumption? The answer is surely no," he says. He and other pro-reform experts accept that there is growing evidence of a link between heavy cannabis use and mental health problems in some people. "I don't advocate smoking anything - I think it's bad for you!" says Stephen Easton, professor of economics and a senior scholar at the conservative Fraser Institute think tank, who has studied the industry in detail. It said it would ensure mandatory minimum prison sentences and large fines for serious drug offenders, including growers.īut critics of tougher law enforcement insist it is doomed to failure - and has failed. In contrast to the previous Liberal administration, which sought unsuccessfully to reduce penalties for possession, the new Conservative government pledged in its election manifesto to steer Canada "off the road to drug legalisation". He says judges facing a backlog of cases in the courts "have to be given the means to deal with the problem. The Canadian police: 'We are drowning in the numbers' He calls for greater deterrents, pointing out that in BC only about 10% of those convicted of growing marijuana face jail terms (the figure is higher in other provinces), with most offenders getting a fine or suspended sentence. He says smugglers have access to "transport vehicles, planes, helicopters. "Cannabis is the biggest issue facing law enforcement now," says Inspector Paul Nadeau of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The federal police reported in 2002 that the cultivation industry had reached levels "that could be deemed epidemic in the provinces of BC, Ontario, and Quebec" - and they also warn that almost every large-scale operation these days is linked in varying degrees to organised crime. The Canadian statistics agency reports that in 2004 there were more than 8,000 cultivation offences recorded - up from 3,400 in 1994.Įxperts deduce that the true number of grow-ops is much greater, as even large seizures seem to have little effect on the price of marijuana. Most of today's grow-ops are indoors, using artificial light to produce stronger strains of cannabis. Lawyer and policy expert Eugene Oscapellaīut over the intervening decades, the industry has changed.