Pubdate: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 Source: Langley Advance (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc. Contact: http://www.langleyadvance.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1248 Author: Matthew Claxton Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Marijuana - Canada) CRIME: INSPECTIONS DEVISED TO FOIL TOWNSHIP GROW-OPS Landlords might be the new front-line soldiers against pot growers under a proposed bylaw. Four yearly inspections by a landlord should be enough to disrupt the careers of would-be marijuana growers in Langley. That's what Township councillors are hoping, after they sent a new anti-pot bylaw to public hearing at Monday's council meeting. The new bylaw will require landlords to inspect their properties at least once every three months to check for methamphetamine labs and grow operations. Because it takes about four months to grow a crop of marijuana from seedling to harvest, the inspections should catch growers in the act, or drive them away. If a landlord does the regular inspections and discovers a grow op, he or she is off the hook for any police costs. The bylaw also requires property owners to tell any potential future buyers that the property once held a grow-op or drug lab. Councillor Steve Ferguson called it a "the good, the bad and the ugly" bylaw. It should separate good landlords - those who already check their properties for grow-ops - from the bad absentee landlords who allow the practice to go on, Ferguson said. It also addresses the ugly effects a former drug house can have on later residents. Dangerous chemicals are used in creating meth, and pesticides and mold are commonly left in the wake of an indoor marijuana farm. The bylaw is almost identical to ones already passed in several nearby municipalities. The question of the three-month inspections bothered Coun. Mel Kositsky. "How do we know if they're doing this?" Kositsky asked. He wanted to know if the Township would require every landlord to register every time they inspected a property. Administrator Mark Bakken said the Township hopes landlords keep their own records. Coun. Kim Richter raised a few questions about the bylaw, including whether tenants could challenge it as too intrusive. However, under the province's Residential Tenancy Act, landlords have the right to inspect their properties, as long as they provide written notice ahead of time. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake