GETTING THE DOPE ON HYDROPONIC SHOPPERS

Chilliwack Wants to Know WHO's Buying Products That Could Be Used To
Grow Marijuana

VANCOUVER -- The name, address and date of birth of anyone who shops
at a hydroponic store in Chilliwack, even if only to buy some
fertilizer for a home garden, may soon be entered in a police database
if a controversial bylaw is passed by its city council.

The bylaw is aimed at helping police shut down marijuana-growing
operations.

The provisions, which permit police to enter hydroponic stores without
a warrant, are being criticized by the provincial Privacy Commissioner
and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association. As well, the hydroponic
industry says it is being unfairly targeted and effectively being
asked to be police agents.

City council has called a public information meeting for Monday night
to debate the bylaw, which would require any store identified as a
"dealer of hydroponics equipment, drug paraphernalia or iodine" to
acquire a licence from the city. The cost of the licence is $1,000
annually and subject to the approval of the RCMP.

Paraphernalia is defined broadly as "materials of any kind," which may
be used to plant, propagate, cultivate, harvest, store or "otherwise
introduce into the human body" an illegal drug.

Plant food, propagation trays and indoor lights are some of the items
that could be considered drug paraphernalia under the bylaw definition.

Photo identification is required to purchase any product that fits the
definition. The hydroponics store must then record the customer's
name, address and birthdate, details about the identification, and all
the products that have been purchased. This information is to be
transmitted electronically to the RCMP "immediately after the purchase
occurs."

The regulations unfairly criminalize the hydroponics industry, said
Fonda Betts, president and co-founder of Allie's Wholesale Garden
Supply Ltd. in Langley.

Ms. Betts, whose company has an international base of clients, said 90
per cent of food products in the world are grown with hydroponics,
from large-scale operations to private organic-vegetable gardens. Many
of the items covered by the bylaw definition can be used for
legitimate crops, she said.

Hydroponics is very specialized, and smaller hydroponics operations
offer a level of knowledge and service "that you don't get at a
big-box store," she said.

Don Marsden, who sells hydroponic equipment at his garden centre in
Chilliwack, said his clients include the local orchid society.

"I am not going to ask for their date of birth; they might slap me in
the face," he said.

He also expressed concern about being required to collect information
about his customers. "Are they going to give me a gun and a badge
too?" asked Mr. Marsden, who suggested the logic behind the bylaw
could extend to asking lingerie stores to collect data on customers to
crack down on prostitution.

"The state should not be conscripting members of the public to spy on
other members of the public. That was already tried in the Soviet
Union," said Jason Gratl, president of the B.C. Civil Liberties
Association.

B.C. Privacy Commissioner David Loukidelis said yesterday he has
written to Chilliwack City Council and is asking it to conduct a
privacy-impact assessment.

He also questioned the effectiveness of the bylaw. "The bad guys are
just going to get fake ID," he said.

The Chilliwack bylaw is similar to regulations in many municipalities
that require pawn shops to collect customer data and forward the
information to police.

There are continuing court challenges to these regulations in New
Westminster and Oshawa, Ont., and Mr. Loukidelis said "co-opting
private citizens to compile information for private citizens" is part
of a broader concern for privacy commissioners.

But Sharon Gaetz, a Chilliwack city councillor, said: "If you are a
legitimate business person then you have nothing to fear."

"Our intention is not to infringe on people's privacy rights. We are
trying to protect the public," said Ms. Gaetz, who referred to an
RMCP-commissioned study that said Chilliwack had the second highest
number of marijuana grow ops in B.C.

The bylaw "has gone through a vigorous legal vetting," said Ms. Gaetz,
who predicted it would withstand any court challenge.