GROW-OP HOUSE SEIZURE WELCOMED BY ABBOTSFORD

Real justice, at last, has been administered by Judge Jill Rounthwaite
to a pair of large scale pot growers.

There is a reason marijuana grow-ops have been springing up on every
street in Abbotsford and Mission - the penalties have been laughably
low. As our own MP Randy White told the House of Commons n February of
2004, some growers leave court with penalties as low as a $500 fine.
This has been a crime that pays.

Until now.

For the first time, an Abbotsford building used for a grow-op has been
ordered to be forfeited to the Crown.

A home on St. Andrew's court owned by Khai Thoi Huynh and Muoi Suu Ta
was being used as a "large, moderately sophisticated commercial
operation, operating on an ongoing basis for a considerable period of
time," according to her Honour.

Judge Rounthwaite estimated that the grow-op owners could have
realistically produced $250,000 worth of B.C. Bud in the home in the
single year they owned it.

That's well worth the risk of a $500 fine to anyone on the wrong side
off the law.

But losing the house puts at least a little more sting into getting
caught in this illegal enterprise. Forfeiting property should get
other pot-grower's attention.

Grow-ops are a serious crime problem in Abbotsford, as the overall
drug trade is largely responsible for the surge in gun crime in this
community.

The City of Abbotsford has been doing all it can to fight this
problem, under the new Grow-Op Public Safety Pilot Project. The city
uses the authority available to municipalities to cut off water to
grow ops, and stop people from living in these buildings. The city
also puts the onus on owners to bring a building modified for grow-ops
back to building code.

Public support for the program has been tremendous.

So too must the public support the action taken by Judge Rounthwaite,
as the slow-moving wheels of justice grind a little finer.