A couple of weeks ago, my column was about the big business of Halloween. At this time of year, it would be remiss not to report on what is arguably the biggest business in British Columbia.

Reports suggest that ''B.C. Bud'' has become such an entrenched part of our economy that it will always be a permanent fixture. A business economics professor at UBC was even quoted as saying, “I'm not aware of anywhere in North America where a single industry would be this important.”

Interesting factoids have the number of grow-ops in B.C. estimated between 15,000 and 30,000. At the low end these businesses employ around 100,000 people, which makes up roughly five per cent of the workforce. If you consider the province's massive logging, mining and oil and gas industries, those sectors combined employ approximately 55,000. Looking at other industries, it would appear that only the manufacturing sector, at 205,000 workers, is larger than the marijuana industry. Accounting only for economic activity directly related to marijuana growing, this sector could represent as much as five per cent of the provincial economy. What is the dollar value on something like that? Depending on the source, this translates into anything from $5 billion to $7billion. The impact could be considerably larger if measured on the same basis as other sectors, however, due to the clandestine nature of the product, it is difficult to put true numbers on the economic impact. Numbers like these are used to make the argument to legalize marijuana in British Columbia. In fact, recent polls have the majority of residents in favour of doing just that. What are the taxes on $5 billion? Ziplock baggies full. Legalization though, is unlikely to happen in the foreseeab1e future. The majority of those polled who are in favour of legalization have not yet said they would support legal commercial production.

Joyce Jackson is the owner of Lonnie's For Her and Him, an executive member of Nelson Business Association and a director on the Nelson & District Chamber of Commerce Board.