HYDROPONIC MERCHANTS BLAST 'STUPID' BYLAW

The BC Hydroponic Merchants Association will go to court if
necessary to stop a proposed Chilliwack bylaw that aims to regulate
the sale of hydroponic equipment and drug paraphernalia, says legal
counsel for the association.

"Our instructions are to fight this bylaw right to the Supreme Court
of Canada, if necessary," lawyer Jonathan Baker said yesterday.

He said the association has put Chilliwack city officials on notice
that it will defend legitimate hydroponic merchants at a public
hearing Monday night when the proposed bylaw is expected to return
for council approval.

Baker said the bylaw, which would require buyers to provide picture
ID before sales of hydroponic equipment or drug paraphernalia is
"modelled after the Stalinist approach to legislation, totally out
of place in a democratic society."

"It's incompetently put together and conceptually stupid," he said.

But City Councillor Sharon Gaetz, who chairs the public safety
advisory committee, said the purpose of the public hearing is to
hear opposing views, and that changes could be made to the proposed
bylaw to further protect legitimate hydroponic merchants.

She said similar fears were raised, but did not materialize, when
council approved bylaws to stem the growth of marijuana grow-ops
here and the selling of stolen goods at pawnbrokers' shops.

"It's no one's intention at City Hall ... to make life difficult for
honest people," she said.

The bylaw would require businesses selling hydroponic equipment and
drug paraphernalia to obtain a $1,000 licence fee and require buyers
to provide picture ID and proof of residence for a registry
available to police authorities.

Baker said that requirement is a "parody of the Stalinist approach
to legislation" and, if a hydroponic store is in fact run by
organized crime or frequented by the criminal element, "how
intelligent is it to (require) information that is

vulnerable to ID theft."

He also said the bylaw is "defamatory" toward legitimate hydroponic
merchants by suggesting their business may be linked to an illegal
activity rather than supplying the legitimate greenhouse industry or
home gardeners growing tomatoes.

He said under the bylaw a person buying a fan to grow tomatoes "is
going to be subject to an inspection because they may have a
(marijuana) grow-op in the house."

Police officers should "kick in doors" of illegal grow-ops, he said,
but "to have the police apparently involved in the drafting of

legislation is not always a good idea - and this (bylaw) is a good example."

"It does not deal with the problem they seek to deal with," he
added, "and will not have the slightest impact on the problem of grow-ops."

Baker said if the bylaw is approved in its current form, the
association will take the city to court seeking damages for any
business lost as a result.