LEGAL GROW OPS MUST BE SAFELY OPERATED

A Health Canada licence to cultivate and smoke medical marijuana is no
green light to operate unsafe grow ops below the radar of police and
city bylaw officers. Yet, that's exactly what's happening in Calgary,
where officials have stumbled upon two dangerous legal grow ops in
recent months.

An October incident involved an explosion after two residents, one of
whom had the federal waiver, cooked a byproduct of marijuana on the
stove. They were badly burned.

In the latest incident, bylaw officers found so many violations, they
shut down the Health Canada-approved pot-growing operation, declaring
the home unfit for human habitation.

What's also disturbing is that Health Canada doesn't share the
information about where these houses are located, due to apparent
privacy reasons. Health Canada needs to work with local police and
inspectors to ensure that these licensed pot-growing operations are
monitored regularly and meeting a certain standard of safety.

Health Canada told the Herald's Sherri Zickefoose that it carries out
inspections of Alberta's 631 licensed individuals, who are allowed to
possess and grow pot for medical purposes. It wouldn't say how often,
or how many have been shut down because of safety violations.

Health Canada should work with local officials to ensure threats to
public safety are nipped in the bud, before more people get hurt.