Pubdate: Thu, 27 Sep 2007
Source: NOW Magazine (CN ON)
Copyright: 2007 NOW Communications Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nowtoronto.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/282
Author: Matt Mernagh
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

TIME FOR CITY TO GROW OP

City's Crackdown On Grow Ops Doesn't Protect Medical Pot Growers

After three hours punching each other silly over issues like amending 
the fireworks bylaw, the licensing and standards committee is finally 
ready to hear my deputation September 11.

I'm here on behalf of the Canadian Cannabis Society to speak to the 
final agenda item: how the city plans to police pot and divvy up the 
proceeds of grow op busts.

At the start of the meeting, I hear chair Howard Moscoe say 
offhandedly that he's thankful no one is speaking on the proposed bylaw.

A city staffer informs him otherwise.

Under the proposed bylaw, there will be a blanket prohibition on 
growing weed inside city limits. And when Toronto Police Services, 
the OPP or the RCMP notify the city that a property owner, wittingly 
or unwittingly, has a grow op on the premises, the owner will be 
fined via the assessment rolls.

And the definition of "grow op"? It will be up to the police to 
decide if city inspectors are needed. As written, the bylaw makes no 
accommodation for med pot users or compassion clubs, which are 
serving 5,000 people.

A first-time offender would be dinged with a $5,000 fine, $25,000 for 
a second offence and a mind-boggling $100,000 for a third charge, as 
well as substantial public health, building and fire inspection fees.

But won't this set of perks for popping potheads create a system ripe 
for abuse? Particularly when prohibition of grow ops outlaws even the 
legal kind growing for medical pot?

Getting ready to speak, I check my stage attire: 100 per cent hemp 
dress shoes, soft brown pants, matching shirt and hemp bag.

When Moscoe calls the agenda item, I'm already standing at the table 
with Toronto Compassion Centre outreach coordinator Tracy Curley and 
membership director Chad Cooke, a Health Canada legal med cannabis cardholder.

The councillors seem bewildered. And when Moscoe gives me the 
go-ahead to start, he's almost pleading, as if to say, "Please keep 
it short, potheads" the first appearance of the cannabis community at 
City Hall and we're warned we may get cut down like our beloved plants.

I blast off by asking the committee to be proactive and ensure that 
Health Canada legal growers aren't inadvertently snagged in the 
proposed bylaw. Health Canada certainly isn't going to protect us 
from prosecution.

I go further. The city, I say, could eliminate gangs, violence and 
guns and keep libraries and pools open by instituting a licensing 
system to grow pot. Residentially licensed and industrial-sized ganja 
gardens could be allowed in city-zoned cannabis growing areas.

Seeing committee member Rob Ford nudge colleague Mike Del Grande, I 
pause. "Imagine the increase in safety and lawful activity if we 
chose to regulate this industry."

Did this bong hitter befuddle them? Not a single question. Moscoe 
passes a motion to receive our deputation. Before I'm even 
comfortably seated back in the audience, the bylaw passes.

As he votes, Moscoe tells us he believes the bylaw will have no 
effect on us medicinal growers, since it only targets grow ops with 
500 plants or more.

But there's no exemption in the fine print. A week later, Del Grande 
e-mails me to say he's forwarding my suggestion for an amendment to 
legal services. Stay tuned.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom