Gangs likely behind local drug bust

Almost everyone across the globe has heard of - even in passing - the high quality marijuana from British Columbia, commonly known as B.C. Bud.

So it comes as no surprise another high profile drug bust recently took place on Highway 16 between the B.C. border and Hinton.

Highway 16 is one of the only year-round access roads from B.C. to the rest of Canada. Last month, Brett Allan Hanas was stopped along Highway 16 in Hinton and was found with about 600 marijuana plants as well as seven and a half pounds of ready-to-smoke marijuana.

Staff Sgt. Blair McDonald of the Hinton RCMP detachment would not confirm that Hanas was traveling from B.C. but said, “in general terms there’s only so many ways to get from B.C. to Alberta and Highway 16 happens to be one of the main ones.” Although “some [drugs busts] are larger, some are smaller,” said McDonald, “this is a fairly large one.” The Hinton RCMP detachment makes more than ten of these finds a year, estimated Sgt. McDonald.

When traveling with enough marijuana to roll 315,000 joints, a number given by the Hinton RCMP, questions of gang activity undoubtedly arise. “A lot of it is centered around various elements of organized crime,” said Wayne Oakes, RCMP spokesman. “When you get into wholesale production... The majority of grows in excess of 100 plants, would be linked to an organized crime network, not just ‘buddy smoking the dope,’ unless there’s medical exemptions,” said Sgt. Lorne Adamitz, with the drugs/organized crime awareness services of the RCMP.

Adamitz, who’s been to more than 400 marijuana grow operations during his involvement with the ‘green team’ as it is known, said that in cases like the Hinton seizure, “organized crime is involved and it’s not Johnny smoking his own doobie. B.C. bud... it has an international reputation for being of high quality. So when you look at dollar value and penalties and everything else, marijuana is going down to the States and being traded for guns and cocaine to come north. Organized crime will look at any avenue to make money,” emphasized Adamitz.

Adamitz said that many people get too focused on the ‘it’s just marijuana’ end of things and lose the big picture. “Organized crime is not concerned about having good electrical systems to code [in their grow-op houses]... they’re there to make a buck and move on,” he said. Grow-ops destroy homes by drilling holes into foundations to steal electricity, chemicals are used in production processes, holes are cut into ceilings and roofs to vent the heat out from high heat lamps and there’s lots of moisture, so mould begins to grow, said Adamitz.

“Now you and your honey want to buy your dream home,” said Adamitz, “you got a good deal on it and you have a kid and all of a sudden you see mould coming out, you find all these electrical problems and all of a sudden your kid is coughing and developing a rash. Is it just marijuana anymore?” asked Adamitz rhetorically.

According to criminology professor, Jana Grekul, from the University of Alberta, “pot is a ‘sure thing,’” she said via email, when it comes to making money for organized crime or gangs. “Canada has a reputation (B.C. in particular) for producing some of the best pot available. So why not cash in on a sure thing - from a purely business perspective,” she wrote. “Harder drugs often involve more labour, more risk of detection,” she added.

Connected to the ‘is it just pot anymore’ argument proffered by Adamitz: does the user consider that they are supporting organized crime? “I hardly think that a user considers where it comes from, who produces it, the risks involved in getting it to him/her,” wrote Grekul. “Just like most of us don’t consider where the goods we buy at Walmart come from, or who suffers in the production of these goods, or what impact the things we do have on the environment... why would consumers of pot be any different,” she wrote. Grekul summed up the consumer perspective on the origins of marijuana by writing “Hey, great pot for a great price... I’ll take it!”

Asked whether legal punishments are too lean to deter marijuana use and gang activity, Oakes said that he doesn’t “know a single person that has ever been sent to jail for simple possession of marijuana.” Cpl. Tony Dolhan of the Jasper RCMP detachment said that when you get a stiffer fine for drinking in public than for simple possession of marijuana, “it’s not a deterrence.”

Cpl. Dolhan also went on to say that even though the initial punishment may seem light, there are long-term effects that people are unaware of. Some of those effects are found at the border. “Drugs are drugs” as far as the U.S. is concerned, said Cpl. Dolhan. “They don’t care if you smoke a joint or you’re the biggest drug dealer in the country,” so it’s hard to get into the U.S. if you’ve had even a minor drug offence, he said.

For gangs, punishment isn’t really a concern. “I think it’s more of a cost-benefit/advantage-disadvantage weighing of options,” wrote Grekul. “Chances of getting caught are slim and the chances of making good money are big. It’s not that the punishments are insignificant so much as the benefits are great and the chances of detection relatively small,” she wrote.

We have a “chemical-loving culture in some ways,” said Adamitz. The police seargent, who also debates marijuana legalization proponents, said that although pot is organic, that’s no justification for legalization. “Am I shoving the bud in my ear and it hits my brain, or does smoke and chemical have to go to my lungs to get to the brain? It’s not like chewing lettuce,” he said.

Adamitz also discussed brain development in terms of baking a cake. If you follow the instruction for baking a cake, you’ll get a good cake, he said, but if you start messing with the ingredients, you’ll still get a cake, but it won’t be a very good one, said Adamitz. He also cautioned that pot today is not the pot of the 1960s or 1970s. “It’s potency has increased,” said Adamitz, we’re looking at 5 or 10 fold increases in potency.”

According to Grekul, “polls show the majority of Canadians believe that marijuana possession (and use) should be decriminalized. Other surveys show that many Canadians use it regularly and it’s not just teens and ‘pothead’, it’s middle class professionals.

In Jasper, “we do find a lot of pot use,” said Cpl. Dolhan. “We find the mentality and the belief in the community is [that] it’s a recreational drug, it’s not harmful and it’s not a big deal and it’s okay,” he said.

“Everybody still believes that marijuana is a minor drug and it’s not a bad thing and it’s okay in moderation,” said Cpl. Dolhan. “Well, you’re getting that from a drug dealer. Most marijuana we’re finding is laced with hard drugs to get people hooked because they know people believe, or want to believe, that it’s not a harmful drug,” he said.

“The impact on society that is resulting from narcotics or illegal drug activity will not change until the public starts to be aware and admits to the reality of it rather than putting their head in the sand,” said Dolhan. “One of the problems we have is parents minimizing to their children. When you have adults saying ‘it’s not a big deal, I do dope, you can too and I’m perfectly fine now’, is asinine and ludicrous for the simple fact that if you’re 40-years-old and you do a little bit of recreational marijuana and it doesn’t affect you like at the age of 40 because you have some maturity and not too much because you’re still doing drugs, but saying my 13-year-old son can smoke it with me because he’s going to understand not to abuse it, how stupid are we?,” Dolhan asked.

So how about legalizing marijuana? “We have certain international obligations. So whatever we do in Canada,” we have to be aware how that complements our international agreements, said Adamitz.

There are three crimes associated with drugs, said Adamitz. “One is possession of the drug. If you legalize it, you no longer have that crime,” he said.

“The next crime is economic. If you develop a habit or dependency, how are you going to derive the funds?,” asked Adamitz. Break and enters, car thefts and other petty crimes, he said. “If we legalize the drugs, will that increase?,” he said.

The third crime, according to Adamitz is “psycho-pharmacological. If I am in an altered state induced by a drug, what is my tendency to behave rationally?... will the number of sexual assaults increase, will the number of assaults increase?,” he said. Although realizing that those are “extreme cases, “what about the number of impaired drivers,” asked Adamitz. “If we legalize it, will we increase that?” he said.

For organized crime, decriminalization of marijuana would probably not have an impact, wrote Grekul. Legalization “might affect the source, but that just means criminal organizations will find another product to focus their attention on,” she wrote.

“Organized crime will always find ways to make money,” said Adamitz, whether that is through pot, harder drugs, contraband cigarettes, counterfeit Viagra, batteries and insurance fraud. Additionally, “if you legalize it... you may decrease prices in Canada, but are you going to inspire other people to produce it to ship it even more and you’ve reduced any deterrent,” said Adamitz. Teenagers will always push the boundaries you set, so if you legalize pot, where will the next boundary be?,” he asked.

“As long as ‘Joe-citizen’ wants to fulfill his penchant for pot, or speed, or child pornography or prostitution, there will be a group in place to provide it. If you want to get rid of criminal organizations, you have to get rid of the reason they exist: to provide goods and services for which there is a demand and which are illegal,” wrote Grekul.