Pubdate: Wed, 12 Oct 2005
Source: Chilliwack Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 Chilliwack Times
Contact:  http://www.chilliwacktimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1357
Author: Mike Chouinard
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

CITY TARGETS HYDROPONIC SALES

The city is adding another weapon to its arsenal for its ongoing battle 
with grow-ops.

At their last regular meeting, council directed staff to investigate the 
possibility of trying to control hydroponic sales to make it life difficult 
for indoor grow-ops to set up shop.

Coun. Sharon Gaetz, who chairs the city's public safety advisory committee, 
brought up the issue after attending the annual general meeting of the 
Union of British Columbia Municipalities in late September. At the AGM, the 
City of Abbotsford made a motion calling for tougher regulation of 
hydroponic sales, an idea that UBCM delegates endorsed.

When Gaetz mentioned the possibility to her colleagues on council at the 
last meeting, the mayor suggested she make a motion to get the city to look 
into establishing some regulations to control hydroponic sales.

"That's the way we've always done things in Chilliwack: Let's get started, 
let's get busy," she said.

Gaetz said it is not possible to prohibit the sale of hydroponic equipment, 
particularly as the items can be used for legitimate agricultural purposes, 
such as growing tomatoes. Rather the plan would be to regulate the sales by 
calling for information from the purchaser such as who they are and what 
they intend to use the product.

The hope is that this will make it harder for marijuana producers to get 
the necessary equipment.

"We want to shut them down. One of the ways to do that is to limit their 
supply," Gaetz said.

She sees the regulations working along the lines of the recent XTRACT 
system that came on-line in the city to keep track of goods coming into 
second-hand stores and pawn shops. A police database helps determine if 
items have been reported stolen. Gaetz would like to see whether the 
database can be adapted to help keep track of who might be using the 
equipment and for what purpose.

The link between hydroponic sales and the marijuana trade seems to go 
hand-in-hand. The recent growth of hydroponic stores in B.C. was cited in a 
much publicized study on grow-ops by the University College of the Fraser 
Valley's criminology department this spring.

"We've had a 50-per-cent increase in hydroponic stores since 2000," Gaetz 
said. "There's something about the loopholes in B.C. that's allowing that 
to happen."

The report states that between 2000 and 2004 the number of hydroponic 
stores grew from 101 to 149 locations. It also points out the rate of 
growth is higher than rates in a couple of B.C.'s closest neighbours. 
Compared with Washington State, the rate here was six times higher and 
almost four times higher than that of Alberta. This translates into 3.53 
hydroponic outlets for every 100,000 people in B.C., compared with 0.91 for 
Alberta and 0.57 for Washington State.

"Marijuana growing operations have not only grown in size over the past 
seven years, the sophistication of the operations also appears to be 
increasing. In the last three years of this study, it appears that more 
specialized equipment (i.e. timers, advanced hydroponic systems, electrical 
bypasses) are being used," the report states.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D