NEW GROW OP BYLAW INVITES DRUG PRODUCERS

Re: Article on the passing of the new marijuana bylaw

A good detective has to think like a crook to catch a crook. A good
general has to think what the enemy will likely do and try to out-think him.

With this new bylaw I feel that any law-abiding landlord who suspects
or finds a grow op on his premises will not report it because he has
everything to lose and nothing to gain. He will keep quiet, evict the
tenants, clean up his house or apartment and rent it again. The grow
op or meth lab people are not stupid and will know this.

Although the city says that they are trying to target the one per
cent of landlords who look the other way, I feel that they are
missing the target and spraying bullets everywhere. As I see it,
everybody else is getting hit except the guilty people.

People who may have never thought of having a meth lab or grow op now
can have one with no fear of a landlord reporting them. This bylaw is
only going to make criminals out of the honest people because the
honest landlord can't afford the rules of this bylaw. So in their own
best interest (called self-preservation) and to save themselves the
potential of thousands of dollars in extra costs, they will probably
say nothing and perhaps wisely so.

The police can say that the bylaw is working because there will be
fewer reports of grow ops or meth labs, but in reality there could
potentially be more because the grow operators now know that even if
the landlords find out about it, due to this bylaw, they will be too
afraid to report it. I can even see where the users will be happier
because the market will be flooded and the price of meth and grass
will come down. Young people that could not afford it before will be
able to get high for half the price.

The city should be rewarding landlords and owners of rental
properties for reporting grow ops, not penalizing them by subjecting
them to thousands of dollars in costs for cleanup, inspections, loss
of revenue, rising insurance costs or, the potential for the
cancellation of their insurance which could result in their mortgage
being called in. Then if you can't get insurance you can't get a
mortgage -- result, loss of house.

So, in closing, I ask you, what honest citizen in their right mind
would subject themselves to such financial losses to report a grow op
or meth lab to the proper authorities? When, by doing so, he has a
lot more to lose than to gain and the criminals keep getting away with it.

I don't believe Inspector Fudge's comments that this will send a
clear message that we "won't tolerate grow ops in our city" -- I
think the message he's sending them is "Come on down and grow your
marijuana here because it won't cost you a thing!"

Harvey McEvoy

Penticton