GARDENERS WANT SEIZED GROW-OP EQUIPMENT

A city-based gardening group wants access to hundreds of thousands of
dollars of marijuana grow operation equipment that is currently
destroyed after being seized by police.

Herb Barbolet, executive director of Farm Folk/City Folk, said the
idea comes from Winnipeg, where community groups apply to police for
access to lights, ballasts and other gear seized during indoor drug
busts.

"There is no reason why we can't do it in Vancouver," said Barbolet,
who helped create Farm Folk/City Folk in 1994 to link farmers with
city consumers. The group organizes urban markets, home delivery of
organic food and community gardens.

Barbolet first heard of the program from a New Westminster police
officer who attended a conference in Winnipeg that highlighted the
city's Growing Prospects program. "He came back and thought the idea
was so excellent he suggested it to the New Westminster Community
Economic Development Council and they called us," said Barbolet. The
project hasn't got off the ground because of turnover at the council,
so Farm Folk/City Folk is now turning its attention to Vancouver,
which had almost 400 marijuana grow-op busts last year. Barbolet
plans to speak to Mayor Philip Owen, chairman of the Vancouver Police
Board, when Owen returns from Europe at the end of this week.

Det. Scott Driemel, city police spokesman, said the idea of handing
seized equipment to community groups has merit, but several hurdles
would have to be overcome before it could work.

"You can't just seize something and give it someone else-otherwise we
would be giving all the seized bikes to orphanages," said Driemel,
adding it's up to the courts to decide what happens to equipment
seized from drug busts. Currently, the equipment is destroyed.

Driemel said the amount of gear seized from grow-op busts is
increasing dramatically. Last year saw 388 grow-op busts worth $74
million in the city, far more than the 66 worth $14.5 million in
1995. City police do not monitor stores that sell indoor growing
supplies.

Sgt. Lyle MacMillan of the Winnipeg Police Department's vice squad
said community groups interested in setting up legal indoor growing
operations apply to the police for access to seized gear.

The police do a security check on the groups and refer the file to
the federal government's Seized Property Management Directive,
responsible for destroying equipment used in drug operations.

"The federal government guy simply goes through his index to see what
equipment is available and then contacts the group and they come and
pick it up," MacMillan said.

Winnipeg's Growing Prospects, a provincially funded charity that runs
a horticultural training program for troubled youth, started the ball
rolling in 1997 when its president successfully obtained seized
growing equipment for the school he teaches at. Barbolet said the
Vancouver version of the Winnipeg project would be called the Grow
Opportunities Project.