Pubdate: Tue, 01 Mar 2005
Source: Chilliwack Progress (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Chilliwack Progress
Contact:  http://www.theprogress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/562
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

NEIGHBOURHOODS NO PLACE FOR GROW-OPS

The notice stapled to the garage door confirmed suspicions.

The house, a fashionable bungalow in a nice neighbourhood, had been busted 
as a grow-op a few days earlier and closed by city staff.

Under the city's tough new anti grow-op bylaw, the notices flapping in the 
spring breeze were part of a program aimed at protecting public safety, and 
penalizing owners for illegal activity that occurs on their property.

Last week city staff and local police held a press conference to outline 
the bylaw's effectiveness. (City bylaw pounding pot growers, Progress, Feb 25.)

Under the new law, nearly $50,000 in fines and $60,000 in fees has been 
assessed since September. The average home grow-op owner, said city staff, 
can expect $7,000 in fees and from $3,000 to $10,000 in costs to make the 
house habitable again.

The aim of the bylaw, the city contends, is to hurt marijuana growers where 
it counts - in the pocket book. The majority of the marijuana grow 
operations proliferating in the Lower Mainland (there are an estimated 
1,200 in Chilliwack) are linked to organized crime, police argue. And the 
best way to battle organized crime is to make it more costly to do business.

Since the bylaw was enacted, several other communities in the region have 
taken notice. They see it as a useful tool in battling the growing trend of 
illegal grow operations in residential districts.

But bylaws and police enforcement are not the only tactics that need to be 
employed if neighbourhoods hope to resist the infiltration of illegal 
activity. Residents must take responsibility for their neighbourhoods by 
participating in programs like BlockWatch.

Grow-ops have no place in residential neighbourhoods. They are dangerous 
(one in 10 catch fire), and they can attract people most family 
neighbourhoods can do without.

The city's innovative approach is making it hard for organized crime to do 
business in Chilliwack. But residents also have an important role to play 
by ensuring their street does not become the newest home to crime.
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MAP posted-by: Beth