CITY GOING TOO FAR

Witch hunt. Police state. Overzealous. Heavy handed. All of these
terms -- and probably a lot more we couldn't print -- are being used
to describe the City of Coquitlam's approach to rooting out marijuana
grow operations.

The city's public safety inspection team has certainly been busy.
During the last six months of 2007, members inspected 128 homes that
had been flagged because of high energy consumption -- finding 88
grow-ops, 24 suspected grow-ops and 14 cases where a grow-op was not suspected.

In the first half of 2008, there have also been cases where
inspections have yielded no evidence of a grow-op. The problem is
that some of these homeowners are being asked to pay a $5,000
inspection fee because the city found wiring or other faults.

It must be stressful enough to have a team of bylaw inspectors,
firefighters and police officers show up at your home, search it and
then plaster a bright red "do not occupy" notice on the front door --
as neighbours wonder what you've been up to.

But if a grow-op is not found, the matter should end there.

If the city is worried about lawsuits in case a wiring or other
deficiency -- one that's not related to a grow-op -- causes a fire,
bylaw officials could give homeowners a choice.

Either they sign a waiver absolving the city of responsibility or
they have the problem fixed and pay an inspection fee. We're thinking
something less than $5,000, which seems absurd. The whole point of
these inspections should be to shut down grow-ops, not go on a
fishing expedition for poorly wired homes.

And before the legalize-marijuana lobby starts writing letters about
how the problem could be avoided if pot were legal, we agree.

Pot, however, is not legal. And illegal grow-ops pose a huge fire
hazard. That means the inspection approach to shutting down grow-ops
is a good thing -- when one key ingredient is factored in: common sense.