GRITS ARE NOT AMUSED

Pot grow houses a 'serious issue'

There's nothing funny about the province going to pot, Premier Dalton
McGuinty says. Unlike regular citizens who are allegedly provoked to giggles
by the massive marijuana bust at a Barrie beer plant, McGuinty said the
proliferation of illegal grow operations is no laughing matter.

"It's a very serious issue," McGuinty said yesterday. "It's becoming a
too-commonplace practice in Ontario. It has all kinds of problems connected
with it."

Randall Barrs, lawyer for six of the men charged in the pot bust, has said
that the public is "amused" by the police discovery.

Community Safety Minister Monte Kwinter said numerous health and safety
problems are associated with illegal grow houses.

"There's lots of very, very adverse repercussions from the growing of pot,"
Kwinter said. "This particular facility in Barrie is the mother of all pot
installations; it's very serious."

Kwinter said grow houses steal an estimated $80 million a year in
electricity and pose a fire risk.

Police often find children living in these homes in a toxic mix of mould and
pesticides.

"Of course, this whole thing is being really funded by organized crime,"
Kwinter said.

McGuinty supports the decriminalization of simple possession charges, but he
also favours tougher penalties for grow house offences.

Kwinter added decriminalizing pot possession doesn't imply support for drug
use, especially the potent weed grown in hot house conditions.