MINISTER PROMOTES MANDATORY DRUG SENTENCES

Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson was in Vancouver yesterday to
drum up support for a bill that would impose mandatory sentences for
drug producers and traffickers.

"Illicit drug production is the No. 1 source of income for gangs and
organized crime," said Nicholson after touring a mock grow-op at the
fire department's training facility. The fake pot plants were green
plastic bags sitting on bamboo stems.

"Drug labs and grow-ops . threaten the safety of B.C.'s
neighbourhoods and particularly our children."

Insp. Brad Desmaris, of Vancouver's gangs and drug squad, said police
find families with children living in grow-ops and meth labs about 30
per cent of the time.

Nicholson met with groups like the Vancouver Board of Trade to gain
support for Bill C-15.

It has been held up in the Senate, which adjourned before the bill
could be passed.