Pubdate: Wed, 14 Dec 2011 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2011 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Kelly Sinoski, Vancouver Sun LEGAL MARIJUANA GROW-OPS A MAGNET FOR CRIME, OFFICIALS WORRY VANCOUVER - The wind was howling one morning in late November when police were called to a shooting at a rural acreage in Mission, B.C. Inside the gates was a 31-year-old man with non-life threatening gunshot wounds; the victim of a home invasion aimed at stealing the medicinal marijuana crop he'd come to tend. Neighbours weren't overly surprised; not long ago another man was shot just down the road, said Cathy Erickson, who has lived on the street for 23 years. And a house on the corner was condemned after it was found housing a grow-op. "It's not the first one on this street - there's been lots of busts," Erickson said. "The big concern for us is you don't know if they're going to pick the right house when they come looking." The situation in the small B.C. community underscores a growing trend being played out across Canada, where 12,000 licences have been issued by Health Canada to allow people to grow medicinal weed. The permits allow people with certain conditions - such as glaucoma, spinal cord injuries, pain or nausea from cancer or HIV - to grow medical pot in their homes or designate someone else to grow it for them. But many municipalities, especially those in B.C. where close to 3,000 medical marijuana permits have been issued, argue the program is rife with abuse. A proliferation of grow operations has led to house fires, violent home invasions and black-market dealing - with some sanctioned growers growing far more than they need. In Chilliwack, B.C., for instance, the city knows of at least one home where there's enough medical marijuana being grown to provide each of its four licensed growers with bud for 78,000 joints a year, Mayor Sharon Gaetz said. "Obviously one person couldn't consume that amount of medical marijuana," Gaetz said. "We're afraid this is a back-door way for pot to be growing in homes and basically made legal." The situation has led to a national outcry across Canada, from Victoria to Halifax to Whitehorse, according to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Led by B.C., municipalities have lobbied the FCM for five years for change, arguing licences to cultivate medical marijuana are being given out without informing local authorities or requiring proper building permits. And as Health Canada won't release locations of medical marijuana grow operations because of privacy concerns, often the first time municipalities hear about them is when a home catches fire, is ripped off or there's a sharp spike in power use. Fire officials say in a home without a grow operation, the risk of fire is estimated to be a one-in-525 chance; if marijuana is grown in the house, the chance rises to one in 22. Jim Jessop, deputy chief of the Niagara Falls Fire Department and chairman of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs, said safety risks are multiplied at homes with marijuana grow operations - legal or otherwise - as growers often cut holes in the walls, floors and ceilings to run overhead ventilation tubes or extension cords. An Ontario firefighter was injured after falling through a floor fighting a medical marijuana fire, he said, and there's a risk firefighters could get tangled in the myriad overhead wires. The Niagara Falls fire department also had to remove children from a home a few years ago because the building was so unsound and had such noxious levels of gas and carbon dioxide it had to be closed down. Ontario firefighters are calling for Health Canada to require municipal pre- and post-inspections of homes that have housed a marijuana grow operation to ensure they are safe. Ontario passed a law requiring all homes with a marijuana grow operation to be inspected, but that doesn't help if municipal leaders don't know where they are. "We don't really care what they're growing; we just want it done safely, according to the law, and don't want members of the public or firefighters getting killed or injured in these structures," Jessop said. "There has to be a safer way of doing this." Peter Fassbender, mayor of Langley, B.C., which has lobbied the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to cancel all medical marijuana growing licences, argues the only way to address the issue is to change Health Canada policy. He and other municipalities have argued for a centralized growing and distribution facility where people who need medical marijuana can get it by prescription. "It should be that simple," he said. "We're all basically in the same boat. Health Canada has to fix what they developed." The federal agency appears to be listening. In June, Health Canada announced it is considering improvements to the Medical Marijuana Access program to "reduce the risk of abuse and exploitation by criminal elements." One of its proposals is to commercialize the growing and distribution of medicinal marijuana under tightly regulated conditions. Doctors would have to sign off on requests for medical marijuana, with individuals then sending the physician's document directly to a licensed commercial producer of their choice. Chilliwack's Gaetz said at first blush it looks like a good idea, noting: "If it truly is a drug, it needs to be sold out of a pharmacy." But she and others agree that any commercial facilities must meet municipal bylaws and zoning requirements. Municipal delegates at an FCM conference earlier this year approved a resolution demanding that Health Canada force medical marijuana applicants to also get a municipal permit to ensure grow-ops meet building safety regulations. City officials in Surrey, B.C., have also passed their own bylaw requiring medical marijuana growers to obtain municipal permits and grow in agricultural areas. Under the bylaw, if a person refuses to comply, they may be convicted of an indictable offence. Edmonton Coun. Karen Leibovici said that while the Health Canada proposal would help municipalities identify medical marijuana growing operations, she worries the government will off-load more of the responsibility and costs - particularly in terms of safety and security - of the federal program onto municipalities. "If we're moving toward a larger commercial operation and dispensaries, we need to know the implications," Leibovici said. "At the end of the day what everyone wants is to ensure that if there's a need (for medicinal marijuana), there's safe access to the product." Leibovici notes that Alberta, like B.C., is grappling with similar issues of "house destruction" due to illegal wiring, mould, structural alterations and electricity theft. The province is also seeing more grow operations, especially in Calgary and in smaller, rural areas where they are harder to detect, she added, noting Alberta has an ongoing Stop Marijuana Grow Coalition. But in many cases, municipalities' hands are tied. Police won't get involved in medical marijuana issues unless there's been some form of criminal activity, such as a noticeable theft in electricity or other breaches of local bylaws. Earlier this year, RCMP drug investigators arrested three men and seized a helicopter after raiding a Maple Ridge, B.C., property that was growing almost seven times more pot than its two medical marijuana licences permitted. They found 1,490 plants instead of the 220 permitted by two licences provided by Health Canada to grow medical pot. Supt. Brian Cantera, who heads the RCMP's Federal Drug Enforcement Branch in B.C., said that a review of the medical licence files across Canada where police have been called in showed that in about 50 per cent of the cases, the growing operation was linked to someone with a trafficking or production conviction, according to the RCMP. In about a third of the operations police investigated, he said, the licence holders were growing more marijuana than their licence permitted. The police concerns have been passed on to Health Canada. Cantera said the frustration is shared among public safety officials across Canada, all of whom are dealing with problems of electrical safety and the potential dangers to neighbourhoods where medicinal pot is being grown. In Langley, a recent city council candidate was arrested for allegedly having an illegal marijuana growing operation in his home. When it was shut down, many residents complained that the city was taking away their access to medical marijuana, even though the city couldn't confirm who had permits. "I don't think we should have mini-grows in residential neighbourhoods," Mayor Fassbender said, "It's a very difficult thing to control." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.