Pubdate: Sat, 22 Jan 2011
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2011 Times Colonist
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html
Website: http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Douglas Quan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

HOMEOWNERS FUMING OVER GROW-OP SEARCH LAW

A controversial B.C. law that allows municipalities to inspect homes 
using large amounts of electricity has helped make neighbourhoods 
safer and thwarted marijuana-grow operations, says a criminology 
professor whose research triggered the law.

But his comments are unlikely to move outraged citizens in one 
community, who are girding for a fight with their local council and 
threatening a class-action lawsuit -- complaining that they've been 
slapped with unjust and excessive inspection fees and unfairly 
labelled as criminals.

A change in 2006 to the B.C. Safety Standards Act gave municipalities 
direct access to electricity-consumption data from B.C. Hydro, and 
the ability to identify homes with unusually high power usage. Armed 
with that data, public-safety teams, consisting of building, fire and 
electrical experts, have been inspecting some of these properties 
after giving homeowners 24- to 48-hours notice.

The inspectors typically look for tampered wiring and plumbing, 
overloaded circuits, mould buildup, pesticides, holes in walls and 
extra ventilation ducts -- possible indications of a grow op.

But even if a grow op isn't found -- which is the case most of the 
time -- authorities can still find that a home is in violation of 
safety bylaws and require the homeowner to fix the problems.

"There has been a tendency for people to view this as nothing more 
[than] a backdoor to get at grow ops. This a complete 
misrepresentation," said Darryl Plecas, a criminology professor at 
the University of the Fraser Valley.

While the bylaws have helped make a dent in the number of grow ops, 
the driving force behind them is safety, said Plecas, whose research 
has found that grow-ops constitute a fire hazard because of the way 
electrical wiring is configured.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom