6 Months and Big Results

Tuesday, March 08, 2011 10:37 AM

Dr. Daryl Plecas, MLA Bob Simpson, Chief Superintendent Barry Clark and Constable Michael McLaughlin

Prince George, B.C.- CRIME is the Cariboo Region Marijuana Task Force, and it is having an impact,

At the six month mark, they task force has seized 75 thousand plants and recommended charges against 30 people. More charges are in the works. The number of plants seized amounts to about 7 tonnes of marijuana that have been taken off the market.

The CRIME Task force is covering a region from Prince George to Williams Lake.

Chief Superintendent Barry Clark, the Officer in charge of North District, says it is important to keep in mind that North District covers 70% of the province’s land mass and is very sparsely populated. “I would like to personally thank the people who are bringing grow ops to our attention, we can’t do it without your support.”

Chief Superintendent Clark says grow ops often include toxic ponds which are filled with a mix of diesel fuel, and herbicides . He says the RCMP is working with its partners in dealing with the collection and removal of toxic run off.

Bob Simpson, the MLA for the Cariboo North constituency, says the grow ops prove what the people in his constituency have been saying for some time and that is that there is a problem with organized crime in his region. He is calling for more legislative action to deal with the toxic ponds and the fire threat the grow ops pose as they draw huge amounts of electricity to buildings which are not built to code and are fire risks.

He will be asking the province to “backstop the RCMP with a remediation team to help clean up the toxic ponds that are on the grow op sites.”

He is also in favour of pushing for more funding to keep the task force operation beyond its mandate which comes to a close this September. “It would be foolish to send a message to organized crime that the Task Force work is going to come to an end.” Simpson says he plans to engage in dialogue with the provincial government once the new cabinet has been sworn in next week.

Chief Superintendent Barry Clark says the vast majority of people charged in connection with the grow ops are not from the Cariboo, they are from the lower mainland and many have ties with Asian organized crime.

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Posted on Tuesday, March 08, 2011 10:37 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Slim2229 on March 8 2011 10:56 AM

All that money out of the hands of Organized Criminals. And all the people that support them by BUYING FROM THEM!
Well done, keep up the good work, and Stay Safe!

Posted by: gus on March 8 2011 10:58 AM

"Boob Simpson" sure looks like a Freudian slip to me ... :-)

Posted by: gus on March 8 2011 11:03 AM

"the vast majority of people charged in connection with the grow ops are not from the Cariboo, they are from the lower mainland"

Finally someone is looking seriously at the growth opportunities in this region. And they are connected with Asian organized crime as well. I see some backhaul opportunities for the container shipping industry. ;-)

Posted by: Boudicca on March 8 2011 11:04 AM

who cares about crack shacks and meth labs they have nothing to do with organized crime right....we give heroin addicts needles, crack heads pipes.....we give hard drug users disability benifits so they can get their fix they call it harm reduction I call it enabling drug dealers and gang activity.....war on drugs my butt.

Posted by: gus on March 8 2011 11:13 AM

"At the six month mark, they task force has seized 75 thousand plants and recommended charges against 30 people. More charges are in the works. The number of plants seized amounts to about 7 tonnes of marijuana that have been taken off the market."

So how many plants were seized in the previous ten 6 month intervals (5 year record)?

What was the total tonnes "taken off the market" ove the same 5 year timne period in 6 month increments?

What is the estimate of the impact on the market? Was the amount taken off the market 10% of the total market? 50%? 2%.

As a result of these busts, has the price in the market changed and how much if it has?

This information is totally meaningless unless it is compared to something. I gather, though, that they do not want to give that information out because it might assist the growers and distributors.

Posted by: He spoke on March 8 2011 11:23 AM

Great job guys, 7 tonnes, wow if that was dry weight, that is close to half a billion dollars.

If it is only 10%, that is a 5 billion dollar industry in Northern BC. Wow, makes the forestry secondary. Wow we almost have to legalize it, and I wonder who could be the Minister of Pot.

Well, keep up the good work. Lets see if we can do a lot more busts, Do a couple of crack houses as well, or give the participants a thousand dollars, and they will OD.

Posted by: verballabel on March 8 2011 12:08 PM

@He spoke lol!!

I can almost see the trips (no pun intended) that the Minister of Pot would have to go on!

Posted by: anothercon on March 8 2011 3:16 PM

I have noticed a lot of busts over the past months but I have not noticed any convictions. It is one thing to charge someone with breaking the law but it seems that our Court system is bogged down. I think we need a Minister for/with Conviction!

Posted by: acrider54 on March 8 2011 4:22 PM

Legalize the stuff, we could be a rich province. Wait a minute...the politicians will be rich.

Posted by: my2bits on March 8 2011 5:49 PM

How about Minister Pot Bell?

Posted by: kevin1006 on March 9 2011 11:37 AM

It will have the same effect as all the other busts over the past 30 years....... ZERO!

Insanity is defined by doing the same thing over and over and over while expecting a different result.

Humans are, sadly, truly stupid creatures.