SPEED UP DECRIMINALIZATION

Talk about your mortgage helpers.

Around the Lower Mainland, there is a new trend in marijuana grow
operations. Upscale homes, some of them brand new, are occupied by
bright lights and blowers instead of bikes and basketball hoops.

A new hillside subdivision in Maple Ridge has already produced two
grow operations that make poor use of the spectacular Fraser Valley
view. Similarly, the Hillcrest neighbourhood in Langley has produced
an astonishing 12 grow operation raids in a little over a year, and a
single block in north Surrey has had six of 12 houses linked to the
trade.

Const. Tim Shields of the Surrey RCMP explains the economics of this
residential ranching, starting with buying a house for cash: "They
won't even dicker on the price - they'll harvest three or four times,
then sell the house at a significantly reduced rate so it moves
quickly, and then they have legitimate money."

The house is usually damaged, with moisture and mould inside and often
dangerous bootleg wiring on the outside. But that's not the only
hazard. RCMP figure the major players by far in these large-scale
operations are Vietnamese gangs, which make our local Hells Angels
look like chamber of commerce material by comparison.

Courts mostly levy fines on this activity, but it's too easy to place
the blame on them. Judges save the jail cells for violent offences, as
they should. B.C. Solicitor General Rich Coleman complained this week
that even seven-time offenders escape jail, but is jail really going
to deter these gangsters? Even if it would, the trend in federal law
is going the other way.

The federal government, in its typically irresponsible style, is
toying with decriminalization for small amounts of pot. Remember, this
is the same Liberal government that opened a medical marijuana mine in
Saskatchewan, and mismanaged it. It's also the same Liberal government
that appoints all the high court judges, no pun intended.

Decriminalization would at least weaken the grip of large-scale
criminal gangs who finance nastier things with monster crops of
marijuana. Ottawa should get on with it. Save the jail cells for
dealers of heroin, cocaine and crystal meth.

Tom Fletcher is editor of the Maple Ridge News