B.C. LOSING THE WAR ON DRUG GANGS

One area of B.C. business investment that's seen a boom in rural areas
is organized crime.

You may have heard the saga of Likely, east of Williams Lake. Last
fall, RCMP confirmed a two-year investigation found eight properties
with buildings fitted for large-scale marijuana growing. At least one
was seized under civil forfeiture legislation, a powerful new tool in
targeting proceeds of crime. Nine Lower Mainland residents were charged.

Are there more Likelys out there? No doubt the gangs learned about the
hazards of creating a cluster in one place.

Before New Year, police used snowmobiles to raid a property near
Clearwater, north of Kamloops. They say it was a machine shed with
industrial-style wiring that seemed ready for a grow-op.

Houston RCMP filled their holding cells with seized hydroponic
equipment, says RCMP commissioner Gary Bass, who spoke to a conference
on the hazards of grow-ops in Surrey last May.

The problem goes beyond marijuana, a relatively benign
drug.

The popularity of "B.C. bud" has led to many new players in the
cocaine trade, Bass said. Even small groups have ties to bikers in
southern B.C. who have lucrative bud-for-blow arrangements leading to
South America.

When bullets fly in B.C. communities, there are generally hard drugs,
often cocaine, involved.

Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis spearheaded a new approach, that targets
safety hazards of bad wiring and high electricity consumption.

In 2006, the B.C. government passed legislation allowing
municipalities to obtain hydro records showing high-consumption
properties, then inspect them.

Recent hydro records show a 20 per cent drop in high-consumption
properties around the Lower Mainland, but Garis fears the problem has
moved to more remote sites.

Gangs adapt quickly, buying power instead of stealing it, or going off
the grid with generators. Small towns have few police resources, and
can't afford electrical inspection teams.

Garis points to a recent survey of hydroponic equipment stores, which
found more than 80 all over B.C., compared to 13 in Alberta and nine
in Washington state. Police, firefighters and business groups called
on the B.C. government to require an electrical permit for buyers of
high-powered lights and hydroponic gear. So far the government is
non-commital.

I asked Solicitor General John van Dongen why. He said his priority
lately has been finding ways to regulate another illicit trade, metal
theft. (A court decision two years ago said municipalities can't
require pawn shops or scrap dealers to record sellers' identities.)
He's also concerned about restricting legitimate hydroponic farming.

"I'm going to take a bit more time to look at the hydroponic issue,"
he said.

Garis says other provinces are acting. In 2006, Manitoba agreed to pay
for electrical inspections, instead of leaving it to communities that
can't afford it, as B.C. is doing.

"We're a world crime super power predicated on marijuana," a
frustrated Garis told me. "Eighty per cent of what we're growing here
is being distributed corporately to other provinces, the United States
and elsewhere.

"We've made a booming business out of it, because we're resting on our
laurels, saying, oh, we don't want to regulate, and yet this thing
just spirals out of control. It's ridiculous."

Tom Fletcher is legislative reporter and columnist for Black Press
newspapers.