[Hobbes]

'Glut' drops price of B.C. pot

By CP

THE PRICE of B.C. bud is plunging as the United States tightens its border and more growers try to cash in on the green gold. Marijuana supplies in B.C. are outstripping demand, forcing the price of bulk sales down, according to a report out of Kelowna.

A pound of pot grown in the province fetched $2,200 to $2,600 two years ago, RCMP Cpl. Ray Patelle of the E Division's drug section, says.

Now, the price has dropped to as low as $1,500.

"There's a glut in the B.C. market," Patelle said.

"There's still just as much demand in the U.S. for this product, but there's so much pot in B.C., the price is down."

Pot smugglers have been curtailed by extra security at the border since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In some places, U.S. border patrols have tripled.

American authorities seized 295 loads of marijuana from smugglers entering from B.C. last year, Mike Milne, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said. The seizures totalled 9,286 kilos, a 23% increase from the year before.

The drop in price is likely affecting the provinces economy.

Assuming the traffickers use their profits to buy goods in B.C., the province could be losing millions of dollars a year in sales tax.

Patelle estimates thousands of grow operations are operating in the Okanagan, 700 to 900 of them in the Kelowna area alone.