SPLIT-LEVEL POT

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
blowers and bright lights 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 =AD 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 Monday
that even seven-time offenders escape jail, but jail won't stop the
gangsters.

The federal government, in its usual irresponsible way, is toying with
decriminalization for small amounts of pot. This would at least weaken
the grip of large-scale criminal gangs who finance nastier things with
marijuana.

They should get on with it. Save the jail cells for dealers of heroin,
cocaine and crystal meth.