DRUG BYLAW DELAYED

If residents only knew all the dangers of living near a drug lab, they
might be a little more worried.

A bottle of denatured alcohol, if it was placed it on a car and
exploded, could blow it to into pieces no larger than your thumb. Yet
some drug labs use barrels of the chemical, said Cpl. Dave Walsh with
the Ridge Meadows RCMP.

"If there's an explosion, it's going to impact the neighbourhood all
the way around," Walsh told Maple Ridge council Tuesday.

Walsh was explaining the extent of the drug lab business in Maple
Ridge, both for growing marijuana and producing methamphetamines, as
council prepared to give final reading to its anti-grow op bylaw.

Even breathing can be dangerous in a grow op. Such homes often have
the exhaust from the furnace vented back into the home, or barbecues
burning inside to raise the carbon dioxide level which increases plant
productivity. The lack of oxygen is lethal for anyone inside.

Methamphetamine labs are so dangerous, said Walsh, even police are
scared to go in.

But instead of proclaiming the bylaw which puts all the expense for
clean-up and drug busts on to the owners of the houses, councillors
agreed to delay it two weeks so realtors and property managers can
make recommendations.

Former Maple Ridge mayor Al Hogarth agrees, a bylaw is needed, but he
disagrees with blaming the landlords.

As a landlord, "I can do all the due diligence in the world - but the
only way I can control what goes on in those walls -is to live there,"
Hogarth said. "If a tenant slaps his wife around because they're
living in a rental property, do they charge the landlord with abuse?"

Putting the onus on landlords could subject them to danger by putting
them in the middle of an unsafe drug lab, he said.