INSPECTORS NEEDED NOW

If you get a building permit for renovations to your home, there's a
good chance someone from the city will come to have a look at what
you're doing. And that only makes sense. If the city has rules it
wants to enforce for safety reasons, including the homeowner's
safety, it hires people to go out and make sure the rules of the
building code are being followed. Not so, it seems, for Health Canada
and the rules it expects licensed marijuana growers in Ontario to
follow. This needs to change, now.

With 557 licensed marijuana growers in Ontario, and not one
enforcement officer to go out and check to see if these people are
following the regulations Health Canada hands them with their
licence, the federal government is neglecting the potential hazards
of grow ops -- legal or not.

Stolen hydro and fires are the problems most often associated with
illegal grow operations, often in homes where neighbours had no clue
what was going on. But for legal growers, people who use the
marijuana to ease chronic pain and other health ailments, inspections
are just as important so they -- people who probably don't have a lot
of experience rigging up a greenhouse and making sure humidity levels
are acceptable -- are safe.

With no inspectors to look over the operations of the hundreds of
legal grow operations in Ontario (there's also no inspectors for
Alberta), who's to know if they've set up their system properly and
everything meets proper standards, keeping them, their families and
their neighbours safe.

No matter how diligent licensed growers are, grow operations create
humidity which can lead to toxins that experts say cause respiratory
and other health problems. It is only appropriate that we make sure
these operations meet the guidelines Health Canada says they should.

There is no indication from Health Canada why it has taken six years
to hire enforcement officers for Ontario. But apparently there's a
process underway now to fill the positions.

The people who grow and use medical marijuana need it and should have
access to it. But being told to follow rules that are for your own
good, and the public's, with no follow-up inspections is poor
practice. Having no inspectors for the province with the most
licensed growers is just negligent policy.