Stricter drug laws called more risky
Prohibition causes grow ops, many say

The slaying of four young RCMP officers in rural Alberta is being cited by some as evidence of the dangers marijuana grow ops pose to the public and police and has brought renewed calls for tougher laws and sentences.

But what makes grow ops dangerous are Canada's marijuana laws, say many legal and narcotics experts who argue further "criminalization" would only lead to more bloodshed. Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan has said she's prepared to consider tougher penalties and noted legislation before Parliament will require a judge to provide written reasons if he or she decides not to hand out jail time to anyone convicted of running a grow op.

Federal legislation, reintroduced in November, recommends reducing penalties for possession of small amounts of pot while providing harsher sentences for marijuana growers. Anyone convicted of having more than 50 plants could be imprisoned up to 14 years.

Debate on Canada's marijuana laws has been renewed following the shooting deaths of the RCMP officers near Rochfort Bridge, Alta., Thursday during an investigation into stolen property and a marijuana grow op.

Lawyer Eugene Oscapella, former chairman of the Law Reform Commission of Canada's drug policy group, calls Ottawa's "get tough stance" in the wake of the Alberta tragedy "absurd."

"The whole reason grow ops exist is because of prohibition," Oscapella said yesterday.

"This is very simple economics and it's really appalling that the governments, not just this but the past governments, profess to have such a sophisticated understanding of economics but can't seem to grasp the fact that they've created this incredibly powerful, lucrative and violent black market in Canada."

Tougher drug laws "actually are going to make it far more dangerous for the beat cop," he said, because it is going to drive the trade "more and more out of the hands of non-violent, ma-and-pa producers and into the hands of organized crime," he said from Ottawa.

Oscapella and others caution that this week's violence is also an anomaly, with the vast majority of indoor grow ops continuing to be run by small operators for personal use.

A senior officer with the OPP's drug squad says that police rarely encounter violence during grow-op busts, facing significant resistance at only about two in every 800 search warrants they carry out.

But Det. Staff Sgt. Rick Barnum says that is due almost entirely to the training of drug squad officers, who often storm the operations without any warning to the growers.