POT OPERATIONS THREATENS SAFETY OF EAST SOOKE NEIGHBOURHOOD

Re: "Pot bust sends society reeling," (Sooke News Mirror, June 2), I am
writing to express my appreciation to the RCMP for conducting this raid and
(at least temporarily) shutting down this marijuana grow-op.

While I have compassion for those that are truly suffering from medical
disabilities and need to get the medical marijuana they require under the
terms of the license that Health Canada has issued, I do not want to see
the residents of the subdivision surrounding the "Vancouver Island
Therapeutic Cannabis Research Institute" become victims of this
facility.What the spokesman for Vancouver Island Compassion Society's
Philippe Lucas fails to mention in your article is that the "facility" that
was raided was a house located in a residential subdivision.

Several families with small children live near this house and the type of
people this operation will attract, looking for an easy ripoff, could cause
unnecessary risk to the residents.This house is also located in a rural
"interface" area and when the forests are tinder dry during the fire
season, this "facility" will also elevate the risk to the residents due to
the possibility of fire that has been associated with these operations.

The subdivision in question already has registered covenants in place to
prevent any businesses from operating out of a house, but even if Mr. Lucas
wants to ignore these covenants and the safety of area residents, I would
want to know if his society ever attempted to have current zoning changed
to allow a research facility to operate in a residential area, or if they
have bothered to obtain a business licence. Mr. Lucas is quick to point to
his rights and the rights of the members of his society, but has no problem
ignoring the rights of the residents of the subdivision he has set up shop
in. If Mr. Lucas expects to have any legitimacy for his society then he
must operate within the terms of the licence that Health Canada has issued
and do so in an industrial area that can provide the proper security and a
structure suitable for conducting this type of research.

Jeff Norton, East Sooke