IT'S NOT SKUNK YOU SMELL

The Editor,

I am sitting at my computer at 4 a.m. on a Sunday morning, for the
third morning in a row, this week. I have been awake since 2 a.m. This
has been another sleepless night in the section of the city known as
Gilmore Park/Seafair due to a number of "crops" being vented.

I am unaware of exact locations but they must be in the immediate area
for me to suffer from the effects of chemical reaction (itching skin,
burning lungs, congested sinuses, etc.) in the middle of the night.
This phenomenon occurs approximately every three months when a new
crop is ready for harvest.

You may be scratching your head and asking "how do you know it's
harvest time?" Have you never woken up in the middle of the night to
the offensive skunk odour in the air? Growers are no longer venting
just in the middle of the night, either.

A few years ago, someone made the comment that Richmond was suffering
from an increase in the skunk population when, in fact, chemicals used
in growing marijuana smell like skunk.

A great many operations have been closed down over the years but many
more are established as time goes on. There are not enough police
officers available, not enough court spaces, and certainly the
penalties are not severe enough to deter this type of activity. Your
typical "grow-op" is no longer in a run-down rental house but is, in
fact, in a well-kept, manicured "mansion" type of house where huge
crops can be grown. Many of these houses may not look abandoned
because lights are on timers, mail and papers are gathered, and
gardeners come once a week to maintain the yards.

It's time for Richmond council to hire more RCMP officers for the drug
squad, in particular, and to seize more properties proven to be sites
of illegal activities. Simply fining a property owner for cleanup is
no longer a strong enough deterrent.

S. WALLIS

Richmond