HYDROPONICS: REGULATION APPALLING

Dear Editor,

I am appalled by Fort Langley-Aldergrove MLA Rich Coleman's scheme to
regulate the sale of hydroponic equipment Hydroponics under scrutiny,
Oct. 7, Langley Advance News].

If, as B.C. Solicitor General Coleman states, "Marijuana grow ops are
the basis of organized crime," then requiring retailers of hydroponic
equipment to keep track of their customers and their purchases will
drive such equipment onto the black market.

I fear that manufacturers, shippers, distributors, and retailers of
those products will become the targets of crime themselves - robbery.

I believe we will see shipments being hi-jacked, stores and warehouses
being robbed, and retailers and their staff turned into victims of
crime.

These are tax-paying, legitimate companies whose owners and employees
stand to be victimized.

With regard to taxes, what sort of bureaucracy will be required to
manage such an undertaking?

This is certainly the wrong approach to dealing with organized crime
and grow ops. I will be sharing this opinion with my MLA and the
Solicitor General.

Name Withheld

Langley