LIKE IT OR NOT, MAPLE RIDGE HAS A REP

Marijuana Ridge, it has a ring to it.

In the words of John McEnroe: "You cannot be serious."

Mention the name Maple Ridge and in certain cases - numerous cases -
the listener will give you a knowing look. They know, or think they
know, that you own a bad dog, a large truck, a gun, perhaps, and that
you may possibly have connections to the Hells Angels - as in 'my
mother married one,' or, 'My doctor rides a Harley.'

Oh, and if you don't actually own your own grow op, there are at
least half a dozen on your street.

Maple Ridge, eh? Sweet.

Like it or not, we have a rep, on the street.

With this background, some of us, the RCMP, council and the community
are getting their bongs in a twist over, God-forbid, a legal dope
dispensary on 224th Street. You just know this is going to send the
neighbourhood to Hades.

South Haney, gateway to gentility and urban bliss, now under threat
from a horde of prescription-bearing patients, sent by Health Canada
and the Federal Department of Justice to ruin this quaint and
tranquil village. Whatever next?

Here's what may be next. California may be about to take a deep
breath (read, inhale) and vote the wicked weed into legality. If the
legalization of ganja were to happen, the implications for British
Columbia could be interesting. For a start, could we compete in a
market where it is illegal for us to grow, yet legal for our neighbour?

California may vote on legalizing pot, by John Hoeffel (LA Times), March 23:

"L.A. County petition signatures are expected to tilt the balance for
putting an initiative on the November ballot. Governments' budget
crises may help the measure's prospects, some say.

"Fourteen years after California decided marijuana could be used as a
medicine and ignited a national movement, the state is likely to vote
on whether to take another step into the vanguard of drug
liberalization: legalizing the controversial weed for fun and profit."

The California referendum could deal a devastating blow to B.C.'s
lucrative marijuana export industry.

If it passes in November, individual growers in California will be
able to cultivate up to 25 square feet of marijuana, while local
governments would both regulate and tax the sale of cannabis.

All this just as Marc Emery, the Prince of Pot and publisher of
cannabisculture.com, heads south for a five-year term in the pen.

B.C. marijuana is said to fetch (not that I'd know, you understand)
$2,400 a pound in California.

Chances are that if California legalizes the leaf it will fetch less
than the paper it is rolled in.

According to Emery, the homegrown market will evaporate if Canadian
pot users flock to California for cheap, high-quality cannabis that
could be available for a little as $10 per ounce, compared to the
current rate of $200 in Vancouver.

The B.C. marijuana industry is supposedly worth $5 billion to $8
billion and, if legalized, presents significant taxable revenue. HST,
it would seem, is coming to a taxpayer near you just in time.

Maybe then Maple Ridge, a noted battlefield for green activists
versus the urban sprawl proponents, would have its day in the sun.

The legalization of pot could open the door to the controversial
Pelton land proposal swinging into gear - 200 acres of pot, legally
grown, would mean jobs, no change to land use, happy customers and a
delighted provincial government collecting HST on the sales of
legally grown smoke.

All that would remain would be to change our name to Marijuana Ridge.