TIME FOR CITY TO GROW OP

City's Crackdown On Grow Ops Doesn't Protect Medical Pot Growers

After three hours punching each other silly over issues like amending
the fireworks bylaw, the licensing and standards committee is finally
ready to hear my deputation September 11.

I'm here on behalf of the Canadian Cannabis Society to speak to the
final agenda item: how the city plans to police pot and divvy up the
proceeds of grow op busts.

At the start of the meeting, I hear chair Howard Moscoe say
offhandedly that he's thankful no one is speaking on the proposed bylaw.

A city staffer informs him otherwise.

Under the proposed bylaw, there will be a blanket prohibition on
growing weed inside city limits. And when Toronto Police Services,
the OPP or the RCMP notify the city that a property owner, wittingly
or unwittingly, has a grow op on the premises, the owner will be
fined via the assessment rolls.

And the definition of "grow op"? It will be up to the police to
decide if city inspectors are needed. As written, the bylaw makes no
accommodation for med pot users or compassion clubs, which are
serving 5,000 people.

A first-time offender would be dinged with a $5,000 fine, $25,000 for
a second offence and a mind-boggling $100,000 for a third charge, as
well as substantial public health, building and fire inspection fees.

But won't this set of perks for popping potheads create a system ripe
for abuse? Particularly when prohibition of grow ops outlaws even the
legal kind growing for medical pot?

Getting ready to speak, I check my stage attire: 100 per cent hemp
dress shoes, soft brown pants, matching shirt and hemp bag.

When Moscoe calls the agenda item, I'm already standing at the table
with Toronto Compassion Centre outreach coordinator Tracy Curley and
membership director Chad Cooke, a Health Canada legal med cannabis cardholder.

The councillors seem bewildered. And when Moscoe gives me the
go-ahead to start, he's almost pleading, as if to say, "Please keep
it short, potheads" the first appearance of the cannabis community at
City Hall and we're warned we may get cut down like our beloved plants.

I blast off by asking the committee to be proactive and ensure that
Health Canada legal growers aren't inadvertently snagged in the
proposed bylaw. Health Canada certainly isn't going to protect us
from prosecution.

I go further. The city, I say, could eliminate gangs, violence and
guns and keep libraries and pools open by instituting a licensing
system to grow pot. Residentially licensed and industrial-sized ganja
gardens could be allowed in city-zoned cannabis growing areas.

Seeing committee member Rob Ford nudge colleague Mike Del Grande, I
pause. "Imagine the increase in safety and lawful activity if we
chose to regulate this industry."

Did this bong hitter befuddle them? Not a single question. Moscoe
passes a motion to receive our deputation. Before I'm even
comfortably seated back in the audience, the bylaw passes.

As he votes, Moscoe tells us he believes the bylaw will have no
effect on us medicinal growers, since it only targets grow ops with
500 plants or more.

But there's no exemption in the fine print. A week later, Del Grande
e-mails me to say he's forwarding my suggestion for an amendment to
legal services. Stay tuned.