REEVES SAYS GROW-OPS FLOURISH IN SOFT SYSTEM

Abbotsford Mayor Mary Reeves said the main reason why marijuana growing
operations are prevalent in Abbotsford and the Fraser Valley is because of
a soft justice system.

Reeves was responding to people in the Woodbine, Ash and McKinley street
neighbourhoods who have been putting up signs warning potential home buyers
that the houses they're thinking of purchasing are former pot operations.

"The real problem is that these [perpetrators] get busted and they're right
back on the street the next day or the same day," said Reeves, adding that
she sympathizes with the neighbours. "That's the justice system. But
unfortunately the average citizen in a neighbourhood is feeling somewhat
desperate."

Reeves, however, cautioned that the neighbours putting up the signs may be
putting themselves at risk.

"That's my biggest concern," she said. "We don't know who the owners of the
home are. If they're attached to grow-ops they may be attached to a
criminal element in society. Having said that, I can certainly understand
[why the neighbours are putting up the signs]."

She said the solution to the problem is stiffening penalties for people
caught with a marijuana operation.

In an interview with The Times on Wednesday, Solicitor-General Rich Coleman
said, "I agree with your mayor."

At a recent federal justice meeting Coleman said most provinces asked for
increased penalties for people caught with pot growing operations.

Coleman said he wants a minimum sentence implemented and he wants the
maximum sentence doubled to 14 years from the current seven.

"Here it takes as many as seven convictions before a person is jailed," he
said. "It's a huge frustration. There are let's say 4,000 grow-ops in the
Fraser Valley. In Whatcom County there are probably 10 because you get a
minimum jail term of three months and it gets stiffer from there."

Reeves said she thinks the Abbotsford police force "is also somewhat
discouraged" because people they arrest are given a slap on the wrist and
set free.

"[Police] go to all the trouble, the magnitude of the work involved to get
a search warrant and then the people [are] released before the police are
even done their paperwork," she said.

Abbotsford police Const. Shinder Kirk said, "Are we frustrated? Certainly.
With the amount of work we put into any case, it can be a source of
frustration" to see the pot growers set free.

"Would we like to see stiffer laws in regards to certain criminal offences?
Certainly we would, but it's out [of our hands]," added Kirk.