Grow busts booed

Police should focus on issues like violent crimes and forget about busting
marijuana grow operations, critics say. The federal government is moving
towards decriminalizing small stashes of marijuana, put still plans to
impose stiff sentences for those who grow or sell the weed.

The police and courts are spending far too much time and expense busting
grow operations, said Peter Rosenthal, a law professor at the University of
Toronto specializing in policing.

"If they are going to decriminalize possession then they should
decriminalize production or how are people going to get it ... why harass
them now?" Rosenthal said.

"There is a huge amount of money spent on (pot) enforcement that could go
towards other programs."

When police bust grow operations they keep the price of pot high and more
people will want to get into the business, said Marc Emery, the Canadian
millionaire dubbed "The Prince of Pot" for his role in this country's
marijuana movement.


Pubdate: Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Contact: editor@sunpub.com
Website: http://www.canoe.com/NewsStand/TorontoSun/home.html
Author: Kevin Connor