GROW-OPS IN BUSINESS BECAUSE OF PROHIBITION

Re: Utilities to get right to cut power to Suspected Grow-ops, Oct. 8, Page
C1.

Monte Kwinter's (the province's solicitor general) flip flop on giving
hydro inspectors police powers to search people's homes shows a
minister who is woefully uninformed on the issues. Someone send
Kwinter a copy of the Charter of Rights. He might learn something if
he ever reads it. One would expect such ideas in a dictatorship or
police state, but perhaps that's what Kwinter has in mind.

People use electricity in their homes for a variety of purposes,
including heating, cooking, laundry, and lifesaving medical equipment.
His idea to let hydro companies cut off power without notice is
ridiculous. Instead of finding intrusive ways to infringe on the
rights of citizens, the government would do better to address the real
reason grow-ops are found in houses in the first place --
prohibition.

Prohibiting marijuana has made marijuana more prevalent and more
widely consumed. There is little evidence to suggest entrenching this
policy further will do anything except increase the profit margin for
organized crime. Canadians want a science-based approach to cannabis,
not a fear-and-emotion-based attempt to institute police-state powers
that even police do not possess. Grow-ops are a fact of life under a
prohibition environment.

It's high time for the voter to let the Dalton McGuinty government
know it's heading down the wrong track with this plan. If Mr. Kwinter
seriously wants to stop grow-ops or make them safer, he should repeal
prohibition and look at ways to regulate the marijuana trade, because
after 80 years of prohibition, I think it is clear that grow-ops in
homes are here to stay -- until we do.

Jody Pressman

Executive director, NORML Canada

Ottawa