Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jun 2003
Source: Coquitlam Now, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2003Lower Mainland Publishing Group, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.thenownews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1340
Author: Ron Devitt
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)

CITIES WANT THEIR CUT ON GROW OPS

Mayors from Port Moody and Coquitlam want a piece of the pie - the 
lucrative grow-op pie, which the federal and provincial government recently 
stuck their fingers in.

A grow-op seized in a Surrey residence last week became the first home in 
B.C. to be turned over to the Crown, with both the federal and provincial 
government sharing the assets.

Two weeks ago, Port Moody Police seized 864 pounds of marijuana with an 
estimated $1-million street value from six upscale homes on Heritage 
Mountain. Last week, Coquitlam RCMP raided a large commercial grow-op in a 
3,300-square-foot home on Falcon Drive. RCMP seized 300 marijuana plants 
and grow-op equipment on two separate warrants.

Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini and Coquitlam Mayor Jon Kingsbury are 
letting the federal and provincial governments know that cities carrying 
out the drug busts and seizures should be compensated with the seized 
property assets.

"We figure we should have all of it," Kingsbury said of any property assets 
seized within a municipality. "There are big inequities coming out of our 
communities, and this is another inequity."

He said one-third of Coquitlam's annual budget goes to pay for policing, in 
this case, the RCMP.

Port Moody's annual budget is around $20 million, of which $4.5 million is 
spent on its municipal police force budget. Add fire and rescue services to 
the figure and it accounts for almost one-third of the entire budget.

"We would like to recover the costs," Trasolini said. "What we're saying is 
allocate these funds where the costs have been incurred."

And, Trasolini said, there is a lot of time and resources put into finding 
and busting grow-ops.

"It's not a simple matter to take down a grow-op. And it goes to the 
courts, for what, a slap on the wrist?" he said. "I think you have to 
measure the investment Port Moody puts into that part of the law."

Trasolini said the municipal level of government is the "forgotten level" 
of government.

"We are at the mercy of the senior governments," Trasolini said. "We pay 
for policing, we pay for parks and recreation and street work and yet we 
are the level of government that is forgotten when issues like this are 
dealt with."

Port Moody city council recently enacted a controlled substance property 
bylaw, allowing the city to bill property owners found with grow operations 
directly for any police costs associated with disassembly, removal, 
transportation, storage and disposal of grow equipment and drugs.

Trasolini said the seizing of property assets is another weapon in the 
fight against drug cultivators.

In 2001, a bill was passed allowing the Crown to seize all property used in 
committing a crime. Lyse Cantin, federal justice department B.C. region 
spokesperson, said the legislation was changed to allow for the seizure and 
forfeiture of real property found to be used in the commission of a crime.

"So its given us a real avenue to deal with real property," Cantin said. 
"Certainly it opened new doors for the Crown when it comes to handling real 
property, to make it a lot easier to deal with the proceeds of crime."

And, she said, it adds another weapon to the arsenal against illegal grow 
operations.

"All these are parts of a multi-pronged attack on grow operations in the 
Lower Mainland," Cantin said.

Under the legislation, property seized by work done by the provincial Crown 
goes to the province, while the federal government gets revenue from sales 
on cases it has worked.

"It depends how much work each side did and who did what in each part of 
the investigation," Cantin said.

She said if the municipalities are to get a share it will likely have to 
come from the province.

"There's no room in there for changing that in the law," Cantin said. "It's 
locked in there. The provincial government, on the other hand, takes care 
of municipalities, so they could look at that."
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