GROW-OP HOUSE SEIZURE FITS THE CRIME

Finally, there is a financial reason why people would be foolish to
grow marijuana in their home, because for the first time an Abbotsford
house used as a marijuana grow-op has been successfully seized by the
courts.

The couple who appealed the seizure of their Abbotsford home, Khai
Thoi Huynh and Muoi Suu Ta, lost in the B.C. Court of Appeal this week.

These were not people growing a little whacky tobacky for their own
recreation, as marijuana legalization boosters like to portray such
offenders.

Their so-called family home contained a three-stage operation that
included 679 plants.

The court heard that the couple likely made between $195,000 and
$240,000 from their criminal enterprise.

With whopping profits like that, and with courts previously penalizing
offenders with relatively small fines, having a sophisticated grow
operation was a crime that did indeed pay.

Now, with property values rising at as much as 23 per cent in a year
across the province, perhaps people considering starting a grow-op
will think twice.

The couple argued that the forfeiture of their house is not
proportionate to their crime. We are grateful that the judge did not
accept this argument.

We consider grow-ops to be a one of the root causes of crime in
Abbotsford.

Marijuana grow-ops provide roots for criminal organizations. When
Abbotsford police disrupt a grow-op, they all-too-often find that they
are guarded by illegal handguns, shotguns and even fully automatic
weapons. The rise in gun violence throughout the Fraser Valley can be
attributed to criminal organizations, many of which reap massive
profits from grow operations.

Grow-ops are a danger to even the people who work them, because armed
and organized thugs will conduct vicious home invasions in order to
steal the valuable crops as they reach maturity. Even so, police still
find children living in approximately 30 per cent of the Fraser
Valley's grow-ops.

It is about time that this harvest of crime and community dysfunction
was plowed under, and now police and the Crown have the right tools at
their disposal.