POLICE RAID MAPLE RIDGE MEDICAL MARIJUANA GROWOP

Police seized 1,744 pot plants from a house in Maple Ridge Thursday
which was licensed to grow marijuana.

The bust in the 12000-block of Skillen Street follows a four-month
long investigation that found the a resident of the home was allegedly
growing more marijuana than allowed.

"To my knowledge, this is the first case that involves a place where
someone has a license to grow marijuana legally, where police have
seized marijuana from," said RCMP Insp. Derren Lench.

"Obviously the person, or persons, involved in the growing operation
were exceeding the amount that could be legally grown, and we will be
presenting this as evidence in the courts."

Police arrested a 41-year-old man who was in the home at the time of
the search. He has been released from police custody.

Police continue to investigate and Lench expects charges to be
laid.

There are around a half-dozen or so known legal growers in Maple
Ridge.

They are a select bunch of 4,869 people in Canada authorized to
possess the narcotic plant under Marijuana Medical Access
Regulations.

Currently, 85 per cent of those authorized have 25 plants or
less.

Michelle Rainey, a Maple Ridge resident and vice-president of the B.C.
Marijuana Party, was disheartened to hear about the bust.

"It's disappointing," she said.

"We need to follow the guidelines. That's what they are there for. But
at the same time, we need Health Canada to work with us and clarify
what we are entitled to when it comes to clones."

Rainey said most growers restart their cannabis crop by using
"clones," or smaller plants, instead of seeds. Using clones, however,
often pushes legal growers over their allowed limit.

"Many patients are facing this problem and this is something we have
to work out with Health Canada," Rainey added.