Pubdate: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC) Copyright: 2005 Vancouver Courier Contact: http://www.vancourier.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474 Author: Mike Howell Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) CITY ASLEEP AT GROW-OP SWITCH The city granted business licences to at least 30 specialized garden stores without knowing they are allegedly selling equipment strictly to set up marijuana growing operations. It wasn't until city inspectors and police learned of the stores' link to the marijuana industry that the city's business licence division decided it must take action, said Barb Windsor, the city's deputy chief licensing inspector. "We've been licensing them and not realizing what these stores were doing," Windsor said. She believes a bylaw is needed to prohibit the businesses from operating. The stores are selling timing boards, electrical equipment, fertilizer and venting materials. "These are specialty stores where you just go in and shop to set up your grow-op. It's not like your normal home hardware store, where you go and get a little bit of this and a little bit of that. All of what they are selling are the components [to set up a grow-op], and you don't see your average citizen walking in to these stores." On Tuesday, city council will hear a recommendation from Windsor's department, requesting a report be conducted on the magnitude of the problem and the need for a bylaw. Windsor said a bylaw would not restrict the sale of hydroponics or goods from legitimate garden supply stores, such as Home Depot and Rona. Marijuana activist Marc Emery called the bylaw proposal ridiculous, adding that such a bylaw would likely push all the licensed garden supply stores selling to grow-ops to operate illegally. "Because we have so many grow-ops in the province of British Columbia, you're just going to drive [specialty garden stores] underground. So now you'll have underground hydroponic stores. I'm not kidding." Emery noted the stores the city plans to target are paying taxes and have business licences. Emery finds the timing of the call for a bylaw ironic since the city's drug policy coordinator released a report two weeks ago calling for the legalization and taxation of marijuana. Council will also hear Tuesday a request to continue funding the police-led Grow Busters program. It costs more than $600,000 a year and is staffed by police, firefighters, city inspectors and B.C. Hydro investigators. Since it began in 1999, the Grow Busters team has dismantled 2,135 grow-ops. Police believe the program has discouraged criminals from growing marijuana in the city, according to a city report. The drug squad busted 224 indoor marijuana farms last year, compared to 378 in 2003. Police say tips from the public are down, and there is evidence Vancouver growers have left to set up operations in the suburbs and Fraser Valley. Firefighters also say grow-op-related fires have decreased, with 10 last year compared to 24 in 2003. The city's latest bylaw to curb grow-ops was established last June. The bylaw allows the city to levy a $1,700 charge to landlords of grow-ops. The charge is the estimated cost for police, firefighters and city inspectors to dismantle a grow-op. It also applies to clandestine drug labs, where chemical drugs such as crystal methamphetamine and ecstasy are manufactured. The $1,700 penalty is on top of the $1,300 that a landlord has to pay the city to allow a former grow-op house or lab to be occupied again. A landlord must pay $840 to have his house inspected for infractions. A city inspector then notes what has to be fixed, which costs the landlord another $400 to $500 in permit fees. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth