SURREY - Jaws dropped at a recent Tory meeting in Fleetwood when RCMP Chief Supt. Bud Mercer told a crowd that marijuana growers in B.C. are being convicted as many as seven times or more before seeing the inside of a jail.

Mercer referred to a recent report issued by the University of the Fraser Valley's criminology department and the International Centre for Urban Research Studies.

The study indicates only 17 per cent of offenders caught with 100 plants or less are sentenced to prison after seven prior convictions, and then for only 4.8 months on average. Of those found with more than 100 plants, only 29 per cent of offenders with seven convictions under their belt are sentenced to prison, with the average sentence being 5.8 months.

The report also indicated that 49 per cent of B.C.'s convicted marijuana growers would get five or more years in jail if convicted in Washington state, which hardly has any growing operations compared with B.C.