What a marvelous idea -- raiding rental houses on the suspicion they
are part of a marijuana grow operation.

Why didn't anyone think of this sooner?

But the plan doesn't go far enough. If the goal is to nip the problem
in the bud, so to speak, then we have to go to the top.

What about all these fancy houses?

How do we really know they haven't been financed in whole or in part
by the proceeds from drug transactions?

And the big parties? How do we know that drugs aren't a part of the
evening's merriment? After all, if the market wasn't there, the source
would dry up.

Therefore, I believe the proposed bylaw should include inspections of
the books for owners of houses worth more than $500,000 as well as
inspections of the houses by the drug-squad. Say, on a one-to-one
basis (one rental unit for one expensive house). As Langley councillor
Evan Williams said: "If you are not doing anything illegal you should
not have a problem with this."

Bob Poulton,
Surrey

Note: Caption under photo reads "A proposed bylaw to allow random
searches of Langley rental homes for marijuana grow operations like
this one is bunk, readers say."
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n202/a10.html