POT BIZ GROWING IN CHILLIWACK, SAYS STUDY

Chilliwack has more marijuana grow-ops per capita than any other
municipality in B.C., according to a study released Friday by the
University College of the Fraser Valley.

Despite local police and city efforts, the number of grow-ops found in
Chilliwack increased to 204 cases in 2003, a 214 per cent increase over the
seven-year period of the study from 1997 to 2003.

Although some municipalities had far more individual cases - 441 were found
in Surrey in 2003 - Chilliwack with only 80,719 residents compared to
Surrey's 387,578, had the highest rate per 1,000 population.

Prince George was second with 2.47 grow-ops per 1,000 and Kelowna third
with 2.36. Chilliwack's rate was 2.53 per 1,000. The rate in all three
communities is dramatically higher than those found elsewhere in the
province, suggesting growers are moving away from urban centres into rural
areas with larger and more remote properties to hide grow-ops.

"We predicted this (shift to rural areas) when we completed the last
report," UCFV criminology professor Darryl Plecas, main author of the study
and an earlier one in 2002, told The Progress on Friday.

Chilliwack and the other two communities are "major centres" in rural areas
with large properties and lots of space between them - all the better to
hide larger grow-ops, he says.

"Chilliwack is one of the few places in the Lower Mainland where you're
going to have a capacity for higher-capacity (grow-ops), relatively
speaking," he says.

More so than Abbotsford even, which has now dropped off the top-10 list in
the 2002 study of communities with large numbers of grow-ops, apparently
due to its "green team" marijuana enforcement program.

But Chilliwack created its own marijuana "strike force" soon after the 2002
study found this city had the second-largest number of grow-ops per capita
in B.C.

Chilliwack's tough new bylaw aimed at curbing marijuana grow-ops was not
introduced in time to show any effect in Friday's study, but Mr. Plecas
says he holds little hope that any municipal bylaw can stop the growth of
grow-ops, noting the $10,000 fine in Chilliwack's bylaw is "peanuts for
somebody with a $300,000 grow-op."

"The only thing that's going to turn this around is more active types of
(court) sentences," he says. "We don't want to lose our compassion and
understanding at some point for growers, but we've got to stop being stupid
about it and recognize it's an economic crime with major connections to
organized crime."

According to the report, 49 percent of suspects convicted on marijuana
production charges in Washington State would have been sentenced to at
least five years in prison.

In B.C., none were sentenced to five years or more in prison.

The study also found that only seven percent of B.C. jail sentences were
for three months or more while 77 percent of Washington State suspects
served at least three months in prison.

Chilliwack Mayor Clint Hames, who had not yet seen the report, says he
agrees with Dr. Plecas' view of the limitations of municipal bylaws, "but
at the same time I don't think you can just throw your hands up in the air
and wait for the courts to do something about it."

The bylaw may have little impact on the criminal aspect of marijuana
grow-ops, he agrees, "but what we're focused on is the public safety aspect
of this issue, and we're going to continue what we've been doing."

He says the success in Abbotsford shows Chilliwack is "heading in exactly
the right direction. You can drive those folks (growers) out of your
community."

The Mayor had some tough words to say about the judiciary and the effect of
"creeping incrementalism downward" in court rulings that become the
precedent in sentencing.

He says there is a "disconnect" between judges and the communities in which
they serve.

"Their entire role is to reflect the community's values and they're failing
on that," he says. "They have become so encumbered by precedent that they
are now slipping away from reflecting the community (standards) in their
decisions."

Tougher sentences may not deter crimes of passion, but growing marijuana is
a "totally premeditated act and tougher sentences would have a profound
effect," he says.