Have Canada’s medical marijuana regulations grown into a mess of tangled weed(s)?

The path to controlling marijuana in Canada could soon lead the federal government through a jungle of potted plants tucked into basements, particularly in British Columbia.

New federal regulations announced this week are meant to better control medical production, stopping legal grow operations in private homes.

But according to reports, implementing the changes could mean dismantling an underground industry in B.C., whereby some legal growers are supporting their families selling weed on the streets.

Thirty minutes on Skype with a doctor launched a B.C. man's marijuana business that nets him about $120,000 a year, a licensed grower told the CBC.

[ Related: Medical marijuana lets B.C. growers earn thousands on streets ]

His basement full of marijuana plants is perfectly legal under the "Personal Use Production" licence the government issued him and thousands of other Canadians. But then, police say, many of these growers sell the drug to a middle man, who sells it to others illegally.

For police officers trying to navigate these tangled laws, enforcement at the receiving end is like trying to stop smoke from filling a room. It isn't working, they told the broadcaster, in part because it's very hard to track, inspect and regulate grow-ops in private homes.

The new regulations should end that problem when the government stops producing and selling medical marijuana and revokes permission to grow weed at home, licensing only select growers.

But is reversal the best approach?

Not according to Sensible BC, an organization that is calling for the decriminalization of marijuana in the province to save police officers from spending their time and money chasing after marijuana possession. The campaign's director, Dana Larsen, points out that B.C. has the highest arrest rate for marijuana possession in the country.

[ Related: Medical marijuana growers upset with new rules ]

"Decriminalization of possession will take marijuana users off the front lines of the war on drugs, and allows police to redirect their resources towards serious crimes," Larsen wrote recently on a Vancouver Sun community blog.

Even with the new regulations, hurdles remain, such as the hassle of medical marijuana users having to order their weed through the mail. It seems possible they might find an easier source, like a neighbour's basement.