B.C. HYDROPONICS STORES THREATENED WITH NEW LAW

The head of the RCMP marijuana enforcement team in British Columbia wants
to crack down on hydroponics stores that sell equipment to marijuana
grow-ops, but one store owner says innocent gardeners will be targeted.

RCMP Inspector Paul Nadeau says his unit is in the process of drafting a
new bylaw that will be submitted to all police jurisdictions in the
province. It would be up to the local police to submit the proposed bylaw
to municipal authorities.

The bylaw would force hydroponics stores to operate much like pawn shops
are required to. Customers would have to provide picture ID, and the store
would be required to keep a list of who buys what equipment. Police would
then have access to that list.

"There's absolutely no doubt in our minds that these stores cater to people
who grow marijuana," Nadeau says, defending his idea. "The people who are
growing marijuana -- that's who's using these stores. It's not gardeners. "

Xari Moffitt, who owns The Grow Room on Vancouver's Victoria drive,
challenges Nadeau's assertion. She says her customers aren't pot growers.
She even posts a sign at her cash register telling customers not to ask
about marijuana cultivation.

"I have clients who grow orchids, do food production," she told CTV News
Vancouver. "I have one lady who's trying very diligently to grow
strawberries hydroponically."

Moffitt admits that pot growers do use the type of equipment she sells and
says, "I would imagine they're shopping somewhere."

But targeting all hydroponic stores isn't fair, she says, and doubts it
will make a dent in the province's billion-dollar industry. "Forcing small
business owners into being the regulators and monitors isn't the way to
solve that problem.".

Nadeau says if people really are buying hydroponic equipment to grow fruits
and vegetables, then they won't mind going on record, and stores that cater
to that type of gardener will have nothing to worry about.