Pubdate: Tue, 05 Dec 2006
Source: North York Mirror (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 North York Mirror
Contact:  http://www.insidetoronto.ca/to/northy/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2202

THINK ABOUT GROW-OPS NEXT TIME YOU USE POT

Do you ever wonder about the lack of surprise or outrage at the 
discovery of a massive pot-growing operation in a North York highrise 
last month? There have been several such marijuana grow-ops 
discovered in North York in recent years. They are all over the GTA.

Of course there is shock and even grave concern among those who find 
they've been living beside such operations. These places are fire 
traps from wiring rigged to avoid detection of grow lamps' heavy 
electrical use, a sure sign to authorities of a possible grow-op.

They are potential health hazards from mould. And, being illegal, 
there's the possibility that they are being guarded or targeted by 
people with guns, or who are involved in other types of crime.

There was appropriate concern expressed by the local councillor, 
Giorgio Mammoliti (Ward 7, York West), and by the provincial 
Opposition leader, John Tory, about the effect this grow-op has on 
other people living in the building. (Police seized 6,000 marijuana 
plants valued at more than $6 million at the building at 2600 
Sheppard Ave. W. Three men, including the building's superintendent, 
face charges.)

Tory called for a protocol to help the other occupants of the 
building, to have health, building and fire inspectors on the scene 
within 24 hours. There's also money in the province's crime victims 
compensation fund that could be accessed, Tory pointed out.

Not many others seem concerned.

One reason for the apparent lack of concern may be the large number 
of Canadians who smoke pot, using it as a recreational drug not 
unlike alcohol. In 2004, the Canadian Addiction Survey, the first 
major study of drug and alcohol use in Canada in a decade, reported 
that 14 per cent of Canadians said they had used cannabis in the past 
year, up from 7.4 per cent in 1994. If there are 30 million people in 
Canada, that's four million of us using marijuana. If the numbers are 
still rising as they did between 1994 and 2004, those numbers have 
only grown by 2006, with 2007 just around the corner.

In a city of 2.5 million people like Toronto, that's more than 
300,000 people using marijuana. Take in the suburbs and about five 
million of us, there are 600,000 or more people using marijuana each 
year in the GTA.

That's a lot of people with a fairly casual concern for the law, and 
what effect use of this illegal drug is having by fostering an 
explosion of grow-ops across the city.

In fact some of you may be reading this editorial right now.

To you we would say that, yes, we could fully legalize marijuana. And 
perhaps if we had politicians or a population with enough courage to 
push for this, we would.

But until that day, perhaps you should consider what your pot smoking 
does to others when people are willing to break the law to grow it 
for you. It's not a pretty picture.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine