GROW-OPS AND METH LABS TARGETS OF BYLAW

A proposed bylaw to help authorities detect marijuana grow operations
and crystal meth-amphetamine labs was presented for consideration to
Sooke District Council's Committee of the Whole on February 19.

The document is called Nuisance (Controlled Substance) Property Bylaw
No. 268, and if adopted would replace the Unsightly Premises Bylaw No.
1 1991 inherited by the District from the Capital Regional District
upon incorporation. Legal advice, however, would first be required to
ensure the new bylaw incorporates the same regulations contained in
the existing bylaw.

The Crystal Meth Victoria Society made a presentation to Sooke Council
in March 2006, urging the adoption of a controlled substance bylaw
"...to allow building inspectors, police and the fire chief to inspect
private property for its use as grow ops and crystal meth labs. The
bylaw proposes to apply the costs of dismantling labs to property owners."

The proposed bylaw, which had not been reviewed by municipal lawyers,
is similar to bylaws adopted by municipalities in the lower mainland.

RCMP Staff Sergeant Roger Plamondon was involved in presentation of
the draft bylaw to the Committee of the Whole, and was on hand to
describe police concerns with regard to grow-ops and meth labs.

The Staff Sergeant indicated police currently have the ability to
discover which residences are consuming inordinately high amounts of
electricity, thus raising suspicion of illegal activity.

Plamondon also related some of the frustration felt by
police.

Although he said no meth labs had yet been dealt with in the Sooke
area, he indicated they could be operating here. Plamondon said
whatever the likelihood of finding these enterprises, the warnings and
protocols required make the chances of arresting the perpetrators
relatively slim. He likes the draft bylaw for the help it could
provide law enforcement in battling illicit drug operations.

"If we're going in under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in
could be weeks, it could be months or a year before there's enough
information to actually go in and obtain a search warrant to go into a
grow operation," said Plamondon.

"With the particular bylaw the municipality is looking at, and I think
it's an extremely good one, is that grow ops or crystal meth labs can
be very time consuming, they can eat up a lot of finite human
resources and the dollars that are attached to it because premises
have to be secured in some cases.

"In other cases it might mean bringing in other officers or even a Haz
Mat (hazardous materials) team from another municipality. So all this
(proposed bylaw) does is says to the homeowner that if there's a grow
op in your residence there's going to be a cost associated with it.

"The good thing about this is that it doesn't fall back on the
taxpayer to foot the bills associated with fire costs, electrical
inspections, home inspections, police attendance in those particular
situations."

Sooke Fire Chief Bob Kelsey (as well as Director of Corporate
Services, Bonnie Sprinkling) was also involved in presenting the
proposed bylaw. Kelseys interest relates to the extreme risk of fire
and explosion associated with grow ops and meth labs.

While firefighting is always risky, Kelsey said the improvised wiring
and hazardous chemicals common to these drug making efforts presents
added danger.

"If we have to attend we could be tied up for quite some time," said
Kelsey. "One -- before we could make entry, two -- on the cleanup
process... it just goes on and on.

"The biggest risk is fire and explosions and electrical. The last grow
op we were in had bare wires not going to a breaker box... there's
just no safety. In a regular house fire, quite often we can shut the
breakers off." The chief described a high risk of electrocution and
injury related to poisonous chemicals faced by department members in
fighting meth lab or grow op fires.

Kelsey said the expense of a clean up could go from tens to hundreds
of thousands of dollars... money that local taxpayers have been on the
hook for in some situations.

Council agreed to review the proposed bylaw.