Pubdate: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 Source: Burnaby Newsleader (CN BC) Copyright: 2003 Burnaby Newsleader Contact: http://www.burnabynewsleader.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1315 Author: Tom Fletcher Note: Tom Fletcher is editor of the Maple Ridge News Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada) SPEED UP DECRIMINALIZATION Talk about your mortgage helpers. Around the Lower Mainland, there is a new trend in marijuana grow operations. Upscale homes, some of them brand new, are occupied by bright lights and blowers instead of bikes and basketball hoops. A new hillside subdivision in Maple Ridge has already produced two grow operations that make poor use of the spectacular Fraser Valley view. Similarly, the Hillcrest neighbourhood in Langley has produced an astonishing 12 grow operation raids in a little over a year, and a single block in north Surrey has had six of 12 houses linked to the trade. Const. Tim Shields of the Surrey RCMP explains the economics of this residential ranching, starting with buying a house for cash: "They won't even dicker on the price - they'll harvest three or four times, then sell the house at a significantly reduced rate so it moves quickly, and then they have legitimate money." The house is usually damaged, with moisture and mould inside and often dangerous bootleg wiring on the outside. But that's not the only hazard. RCMP figure the major players by far in these large-scale operations are Vietnamese gangs, which make our local Hells Angels look like chamber of commerce material by comparison. Courts mostly levy fines on this activity, but it's too easy to place the blame on them. Judges save the jail cells for violent offences, as they should. B.C. Solicitor General Rich Coleman complained this week that even seven-time offenders escape jail, but is jail really going to deter these gangsters? Even if it would, the trend in federal law is going the other way. The federal government, in its typically irresponsible style, is toying with decriminalization for small amounts of pot. Remember, this is the same Liberal government that opened a medical marijuana mine in Saskatchewan, and mismanaged it. It's also the same Liberal government that appoints all the high court judges, no pun intended. Decriminalization would at least weaken the grip of large-scale criminal gangs who finance nastier things with monster crops of marijuana. Ottawa should get on with it. Save the jail cells for dealers of heroin, cocaine and crystal meth. Tom Fletcher is editor of the Maple Ridge News - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake