DRUG MAKING NOT A VICTIMLESS CRIME

It is time that the courts cracked down on the production of illicit drugs
in this province. No longer can these operations be seen as passive hobbies
that have no victims. They are enterprises, fueled by organized crime, that
endanger the lives of those who happen to live near them.

An apartment building in Burnaby on Friday was evacuated after a
methamphetamine production facility was found in a sixth-floor suite.
Roughly 15 people were forced out of their homes. But the situation could
have been much worse had there been an accident. The chemicals used to make
methamphetamine are explosive, corrosive and toxic.

Marijuana cultivation, meanwhile, has generated its own innocent victims.
Last year a family was nearly asphyxiated after moving into home that had
been used as a grow up.

We've also seen recent cases were homes have been mistaken for grow-ops and
residents have been robbed and assaulted.

What's driving these enterprises is money. Revenue generated by a single
grow up can be in the millions of dollars. Profits from a meth lab, which
use commercially available products, are also attractive.

BC Solicitor General is calling on Ottawa to toughen federal legislation
(see story, page 11) dealing with the production of illegal drugs. Given the
incidents so far and the likelihood of more, it's hard not to agree with
him.