GROW-OPS ARE RISK TO ALL, NOT JUST EMERGENCY CREWS

The killing of four police officers at an Alberta farm earlier this month
is a worst-case scenario of the hazards involved in controlling the drug trade.

But it shouldn't take a worst-case scenario to get action.

These marijuana farms -- frequently hidden in rural areas, but just as
often placed in typical residential houses turned hothouses -- are worth a
lot of money to the people that run them.

It was shocking -- but sadly, not surprising -- when the Alberta RCMP
officers were shot and killed by the landowner while they were
investigating his property.

Unless the legal system gets a firm grip on these operations, it is a safe
prediction that more people will be hurt or killed.

It isn't just police officers at risk. Firefighters were the ones to
discover the huge grow-op this week in Wainfleet, after it caught fire.
They found a fire extinguisher and a water hose, still running, when they
arrived, meaning someone had probably just fled.

Firefighters were all over the property. Had the growers posted a gunman to
guard their crop -- and that's not out of the question -- shots might have
been fired.

Hikers and hunters are liable to stumble on a rural grow-op.

Suppose a nosy neighbour learns what is going on next door and threatens to
go to the police.

Who can say that person might not be threatened?

At Queen's Park, there is talk of greatly increasing the penalties for
landlords whose properties host a grow-op, possibly to as much as $100,000
from the current $25,000 max penalty.

That would be a good step, but the evidence suggests Canada faces a steep
climb before this marijuana problem is brought under control.