HOME NO PLACE FOR POT-GROWERS: CROWN

Local Man Should Get Jail Term, Not House Arrest, Prosecutor Says

KITCHENER -- Will local judges start imposing more jail sentences on people
who turn swanky suburban homes into large-scale pot-growing operations?

Up to now, few jail terms have been handed down by Kitchener judges,
especially to first-time offenders involved in marijuana-growing operations.

But yesterday, a local prosecutor cited a recent, precedent-setting Ontario
Court of Appeal case in arguing a jail sentence should be imposed on a man
who grew pot in the basement of a Kitchener home.

David Rowcliffe said 12 months in jail is fair for Cong Luong, 40, who ran
a marijuana-growing operation at 34 Askin Pl. during the summer of 2001.

Rowcliffe referred to the Appeal Court decision, released last month, which
upheld a jail sentence for a Stoney Creek man who ran a similar operation
out of his home. He was a first-time offender, like Luong.

The three Appeal Court judges said the trial judge was right to reject
house arrest for the Stoney Creek man "in light of the evidence of
increasing prevalence of this form of offence in the local communities''
and the danger caused by rigging illegal hydro bypasses to steal electricity.

Rowcliffe agreed.

"House arrest may make a lot of sense when it comes to preventing someone
from committing burglary or theft,'' he told Justice John Lynch in Ontario
Court. "But when the tool of the accused is his home . . . keeping
marijuana growers at home may not accomplish much.''

Arguing just as vigorously on the other side was defence lawyer Hal
Mattson. He said if Luong doesn't qualify for a conditional sentence of
house arrest, no one does.

He's never committed a crime, he doesn't pose a danger to the community, he
has a good work record and he pleaded guilty, Mattson said.

The lawyer argued that judges should keep their focus on the offender, and
not just the offence.

"The issue comes down to whether a jail sentence is needed for general
deterrence and denunciation,'' Mattson said, concluding that it isn't.

He pointed to a controversial sentence handed down by Superior Court
Justice Robert Reilly in the case of University of Waterloo professor
Vladimir Platonov. Reilly gave Platonov house arrest even though, as
Mattson said, "He almost killed his wife'' by beating her over the head
repeatedly with a rock.

"Who would the public think should go to jail -- a 40-year-old man who's
growing marijuana or a professor who almost killed his wife?'' Mattson asked.

He also argued there's no evidence that conditional sentences aren't
working as a deterrent.
And he pointed to a recent Senate committee recommendation calling for the
legalization of marijuana use among adults.

"I doubt the Senate has endorsed the idea of dangerous commercial marijuana
operations to be located in residential communities,'' Rowcliffe retorted.

He said the operations pose fire risks to neighbours and endanger the
safety of officials who have to dismantle the hydro bypasses.

Rowcliffe said violence and home invasions have been linked to marijuana
grows, although there have been no such incidents locally.

Luong pleaded guilty earlier this year to possessing marijuana for the
purpose of trafficking and producing marijuana.

Police found 228 pot plants in the house he was renting.

His sentencing has been remanded to Dec. 4.

Another Kitchener judge, Justice Colin Westman, has imposed two jail
sentences on people convicted of similar crimes after hearing evidence that
home-grows are proliferating and have a detrimental effect on the community.

And Justice Bruce Frazer handed out a jail term to a Kitchener man with a
record for heroin trafficking.

Frazer said public denunciation called for jail rather than house arrest.