FASCINATING TOUR OF WORLD OF MARIJUANA

Bud Inc. Inside Canada's Marijuana Industry By Ian Mulgrew Random
House Canada , 274 pages , $35

ON a sunny beach beside the Pacific Ocean, a crowd of normally calm
nudists angrily encircled two undercover police officers and their
disrobed captive, a well-known vendor of marijuana edibles named Watermelon.

"Vancouver's pot diva," the popular baker/entertainer was the target
of an RCMP covert operation and had just sold them a pot cookie at
Vancouver's counter-culture mecca Wreck Beach.

She was charged with trafficking in cannabis resin, had her day in
court and thankfully won, free to walk nude among us once more.

This ridiculous situation is just one aspect of the underground, and
sometimes right out in the open, cannabis economy as described by Ian
Mulgrew in Bud Inc. -- Inside Canada's Marijuana Industry. It typifies
the absurdity of the laws and why, according to Mulgrew, "It's time to
admit that marijuana prohibition is a failure."

With his remarkable contacts, Mulgrew would be well positioned to
enter the industry himself. Instead, he is a journalist, a veteran of
CBC TV and legal affairs columnist for the Vancouver Sun. In this, his
fifth book, he weaves his extensive connections in the B.C. marijuana
trade into the ultimate tour of a colourful, yet dangerous, world.

He is grateful for marijuana, having supplied it to his ailing mother
to counter the nauseous effects of her chemotherapy. His research is
solid and the numbers are dizzying, especially if you've just smoked
one.

B.C. has long had a reputation as the weed refuge of Canada and sure
enough, in 2003, only 10 per cent of those convicted of cultivation of
marijuana received jail sentences, and for less than five months, on
average.

This is not much of a deterrent considering that in just three months,
he writes, "a closet, a basement, a barn or a bathroom anywhere can
produce a down payment on a house."

So little wonder then, that conservative police figures show that
"B.C. Bud" is now the province's biggest export, representing five per
cent of the total economy. The book rightfully complains that
"taxpayers must deal with the problems of the illicit pot industry but
receive no benefit."

This wealth often goes to the most ruthless, tightening their
influence on society. Many resonating comparisons are made with
American alcohol prohibition and its painful legacy.

Mulgrew incorporates stories of B.C.'s biggest drug-world players,
some of them poised to thrive in a legal environment with their
skills, but they don't all have happy endings. Bud Inc. virtually
overflows with interesting players: growers, activists, smugglers,
dealers and a few demons, as well.

Much history makes it into the book, considering it's less than 300
pages. For example, the era of B.C. Bud began with Vietnam draft
dodgers bringing their horticultural skills into the mountains.

Bud Inc. is a fascinating read, and current, with mention of the U.S.
extradition woes of marijuana crusader Marc Emery and his colleagues,
plus the fiery life span of Da Kine, the pot cafe that briefly lit up
East Vancouver. Occasionally, the book suffers from B.C. boosterism,
reading like a promotional piece for the province's pot, pipes, and
well, just the West Coast in general. It may be the most significant
area in Canada's cannabis culture, but from a national perspective,
there is only a glance eastward.

Mulgrew can be forgiven; he makes arguments that need to be heard and
acted upon. As we hover closer than ever to legalization
(decriminalization just won't do, according to the community),
remember one thing: this book would have been illegal in Canada before
October 1994, when merely distributing literature seen to be promoting
drugs was enough to land you in the joint.