SUMMIT TO DISCUSS FIGHT AGAINST MARIJUANA GROWERS

Ontario's police chiefs and the provincial government will convene a
summit of political and private-sector interests in March to find ways
to stop the spread of marijuana grow houses, Community Safety Minister
Monte Kwinter said today. "There are serious implications for the
quality of life that we have in our community" from the indoor
marijuana-growing operations, Kwinter said. "It has to do with real
estate values, it has to do with health of children, it has to do with
fire safety, it has to do with $85 million worth of electricity being
stolen from the people of Ontario." The Green Tide summit on March 4
and 5 will co-ordinate the efforts of police, firefighters, utilities,
real estate brokers and insurance companies in an effort to close down
marijuana grow houses, which police estimate bring in $12.7 billion a
year in revenue.

Police believe 10,000 Ontario children are being raised in grow houses
by people they call "gardeners" or "crop sitters," and in some cases
Children's Aid Societies have been called in to remove the kids.
Halton regional Chief Ean Algar, president of the Ontario Association
of Chiefs of Police, said everything about the grow operations poses a
threat, from the chemicals used to the illegal and often dangerous
ways they siphon electricity supplies. "We think there's an
opportunity to develop solutions here to defeat this," Algar said. But
Kwinter wasn't as optimistic about the long-term results of another
crackdown on marijuana. "Are we every going to eliminate it? Obviously
there's no way," he admitted.

Kwinter said a big part of the problem is most of the pot is sold in
the United States in exchange for cocaine and guns, which helps fuel
organized crime in Canada. He said he is "totally opposed" to
decriminalization. "It isn't a matter of saying, 'Why don't we let
them grow this stuff and tax it?,' " Kwinter said. "When you grow it
and tax it, there is far greater requirements for a market than you
can have here" in Canada. NDP house leader Peter Kormos said it's time
for the province to end the prohibition on marijuana so it can tax a
legally grown crop, and accused Kwinter of missing a good opportunity
for the cash-strapped government. "It seems to me that a government
that's seriously looking for tax revenues, that says the cupboard is
bare, would be looking at a more meaningful way of dealing with this
issue," Kormos said. "The reefer madness theme really doesn't cut it
anymore, and it's not particularly helpful.

Prohibition didn't work in the 1930s (with alcohol), and it's not
working now." Conservative community safety critic Garfield Dunlop
said holding a summit to consult on grow ops is the Liberals' way to
delay their promise to give police additional resources. "We don't
need another consultation to tell us something we already know,"
Dunlop said. The summit will involve municipal and provincial
politicians, private companies and others affected by illegal pot
operations. Groups invited include the Ontario Real Estate
Association, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the
Insurance Bureau of Canada, the Canadian Bankers Association, and
retail outlets that sell chemicals and lights for grow ops. Police
want retailers, hydro companies and real estate agents to alert them
to any suspected grow houses, and want to find ways around privacy
provisions that stop utilities from saying which customers are using
abnormally large amounts of electricity. Police in nearby Barrie
recently discovered the largest marijuana grow house in Canadian
history inside a former brewery.