Pubdate: Fri, 03 Feb 2006
Source: Chilliwack Progress (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 The Chilliwack Progress
Contact:  http://www.theprogress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/562
Author: Robert Freeman
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?228 (Paraphernalia)

HYDROPONIC MERCHANTS BLAST 'STUPID' BYLAW

The BC Hydroponic Merchants Association will go to  court if 
necessary to stop a proposed Chilliwack bylaw  that aims to regulate 
the sale of hydroponic equipment  and drug paraphernalia, says legal 
counsel for the  association.

"Our instructions are to fight this bylaw right to the  Supreme Court 
of Canada, if necessary," lawyer Jonathan  Baker said yesterday.

He said the association has put Chilliwack city  officials on notice 
that it will defend legitimate  hydroponic merchants at a public 
hearing Monday night  when the proposed bylaw is expected to return 
for  council approval.

Baker said the bylaw, which would require buyers to  provide picture 
ID before sales of hydroponic equipment  or drug paraphernalia is 
"modelled after the Stalinist  approach to legislation, totally out 
of place in a  democratic society."

"It's incompetently put together and conceptually  stupid," he said.

But City Councillor Sharon Gaetz, who chairs the public  safety 
advisory committee, said the purpose of the  public hearing is to 
hear opposing views, and that  changes could be made to the proposed 
bylaw to further  protect legitimate hydroponic merchants.

She said similar fears were raised, but did not  materialize, when 
council approved bylaws to stem the  growth of marijuana grow-ops 
here and the selling of  stolen goods at pawnbrokers' shops.

"It's no one's intention at City Hall ... to make life  difficult for 
honest people," she said.

The bylaw would require businesses selling hydroponic  equipment and 
drug paraphernalia to obtain a $1,000  licence fee and require buyers 
to provide picture ID  and proof of residence for a registry 
available to  police authorities.

Baker said that requirement is a "parody of the  Stalinist approach 
to legislation" and, if a hydroponic  store is in fact run by 
organized crime or frequented  by the criminal element, "how 
intelligent is it to  (require) information that is

vulnerable to ID theft."

He also said the bylaw is "defamatory" toward  legitimate hydroponic 
merchants by suggesting their  business may be linked to an illegal 
activity rather  than supplying the legitimate greenhouse industry or 
home gardeners growing tomatoes.

He said under the bylaw a person buying a fan to grow  tomatoes "is 
going to be subject to an inspection  because they may have a 
(marijuana) grow-op in the  house."

Police officers should "kick in doors" of illegal  grow-ops, he said, 
but "to have the police apparently  involved in the drafting of

legislation is not always a good idea - and this  (bylaw) is a good example."

"It does not deal with the problem they seek to deal  with," he 
added, "and will not have the slightest  impact on the problem of grow-ops."

Baker said if the bylaw is approved in its current  form, the 
association will take the city to court  seeking damages for any 
business lost as a result.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom