FINE FOR GROW-OP NOT SIGNIFICANT ENOUGH DETERRENT

Given the all-out war authorities have declared on marijuana growing
operations in residential homes, a sentence handed down to a Niagara
Falls person earlier this week is puzzling.

A man was fined $5,000 after more than 280 marijuana plants worth
more than $280,000 were seized.

What's noteworthy is the penalty.

It's only $2,000 more than what a landlord has to pay for failing to
install a smoke alarm on each storey of a home, as reported in a
Review story earlier this week. A basement unit didn't have a smoke
alarm because the tenants had removed it when they left.

No doubt there were mitigating factors in both cases.

In the first, court was told the man was a first-time offender who
was paid to look after the plants. He didn't make any money from the sale.

In the second case, the smoke alarm was taken by the tenants.

The big difference is that by not having a smoke alarm you stand to
cause yourself harm.

It's a lot different in a marijuana grow operation.

As the Crown prosecutor pointed out, the illegal grow operation
created hazards for the occupants of the house. Windows has been
sealed and there was tampering to electrical wiring.

Those hazards also posed a threat to the police, firefighters and
others called in to dismantle the illegal operation.

That doesn't even take into consideration the fact illegal narcotics
that make their way to the street are also part of the grow operations.

A lot of money goes into investigating and weeding out these grow
operations. It takes a lot of people power to combat this problem,
which is reaching epidemic proportions in Canada today.

What's missing from the penalty in this case is the message of
deterrence that needs to be sent to the public.

People who get involved in these illegal operations need to know they
will be punished.

Penalizing a mere $2,000 more than someone who didn't provide a smoke
alarm doesn't send that message.