POT LAWS MORE DANGEROUS THAN GROW OPS

Editor:

RE: Realtors made aware of grow operations, TIMES. Dec. 3.

In your article, you cite the dangers of an unregulated marijuana grow
operation as including "a bypass of the electrical metering system that can
lead to injury, or even death."

While it is true that a covert marijuana grow operation does pose a risk,
the Canadian government has shown us that the risk comes not from the
marijuana, but from the laws surrounding the plant.

The Canadian government itself conducted the only legal grow operation in
recent memory, in Flin Flon, Manitoba, down a mine shaft. The mine shaft
was used to thwart potential theft, but the operation was run by government
contractors and electricians, and they paid their own electric bills.
Nobody has claimed the Flin Flon grow poses the danger these illegal grow
houses do.

If marijuana cultivation were not a crime, surely the business of growing
would be regulated, and those in charge could be held accountable to the
same standard. Canada is home to several large breweries and distilleries
which provide the public with their alcohol needs, and nobody has to worry
about their neighbours practicing amateur distillery. Why do we refuse to
apply similar standards with marijuana?

Kendall M. Cox

Shorewood, IL