MPS WARNED OF POT VIOLENCE

Indoor Marijuana Growing Making Neighbourhoods Dangerous, Cops Tell
Politicians

Violence is growing along with the marijuana plants in many "grow houses",
according to a York Regional Police officer who briefed federal politicians
on the problem last week.

"We know there are homicides related to grow houses," Det.-Sgt. Gary Miner
said. "(The growers) are protecting their territories, but people are also
resisting paying protection (to criminal gangs). If you don't pay, you get
hurt."

York Region has already seen proof.

Van Boa Nguyen, 27, was shot to death in March in a Maple home that was
being used to grow marijuana.

Last summer, Huy Long Nguyen, 35, of Toronto, was found shot, execution
style, in a van in a Concord industrial area. Police say they are
"investigating all possibilities" for a motive.

Two more people of Vietnamese origin were found slain in a field near
Orillia last week in what Ontario Provincial Police described as
execution-style slayings. The two had been arrested in a marijuana-growing
operation in Peel Region earlier in the month.

Several homicides have been linked to marijuana operations in British
Columbia in recent years.

Thursday, drug investigators from York, Durham, Peel, Toronto and Waterloo,
as well as representatives from the OPP, RCMP and the Criminal Intelligence
Service of Ontario met in Ottawa with a group of MPs to discuss the issues
related to marijuana operations.

Det.-Sgt. Miner said the meeting was mainly to raise the MPs' awareness
about the size of the problem. There are an estimated 10,000 grow houses in
the GTA alone, most of them bypassing hydro meters to run their operations,
costing utilities hundreds of thousands of dollars and posing threats of
fire and electrocution to their neighbours.

But the police also touched on home invasions and homicides related to grow
houses.

The MPs sat in silence for most of the police presentation, Det.-Sgt. Miner
said.

"They didn't realize what was out there," he said. "We're not making this
up, it wasn't for the shock of it. If there's not immediate changes (to
legislation) made, we can't cope through the courts and education."

The police contingent told the MPs people charged with operating grow houses
are essentially rewarded with lenient penalties for pleading guilty in
court.

"By the sheer volume of what we have, there's not enough court space to
handle them all," Det.-Sgt. Miner said. "There's a lack of deterrence. In
the countries most of these people come from, they would have capital
punishment. Basically, we're decriminalizing the activity."

He said the Charter of Rights and Freedoms takes away tools the police need
to fight the problem.

"There's more rights for criminals than victims," he said. "We're pushing
for eradication tools."

That includes legislation to make it much easier for police to obtain search
warrants.

"Each house we raid accounts for about 120 police man-hours," he said.

Durham MP Alex Shepherd, who set up the meeting, admitted most of the
politicians were surprised by what they heard.

"Most of us are baby boomers, who look back at the '60s when marijuana
wasn't seen as a problem," he said. "With our debates about decriminalizing
marijuana, we seem to be out of the loop."

But Mr. Shepherd said it is premature to talk about new legislation to
combat the problem.

"We should be thinking more about changing the administrative side, rather
than the legislative side," he said. "It isn't simply a federal matter, it
also involves provincial and municipal governments."

Det.-Sgt. Miner said the MPs were also surprised by the number of grow
houses in the GTA.

"We, as a country, can't consume the amount they're producing. It's the
third highest agricultural product in Ontario."

He said much of what is produced is exported to the United States.

Mr. Shepherd agreed.

"The U.S. treats this more seriously than we do," he said. "We are seen
internationally as the source for high-quality marijuana."

Det.-Sgt. Miner doesn't see it that way.

"This is not true hydroponics," he said. "This (marijuana) is not
organically grown. It is genetically modified and chemically treated with no
controls. There's no honour among these people."