JAIL TERMS DON'T WORK, POT-GROWER'S LAWYER SAYS

KITCHENER -- Being sent to jail isn't stopping people from selling
drugs, a Kitchener lawyer argued yesterday after a Crown prosecutor
sought a jail term for a man who ran a marijuana-growing operation
out of an Ayr home.

Crown counsel Ed D'Agostino thinks Cuong Luong should go to jail for
15 to 18 months to show others what will happen if they try the same
thing.

He told Justice David Carr that marijuana grows are popping up
everywhere in the region, and only a jail sentence will serve as a
deterrent.

But defence counsel Hal Mattson countered that jail hasn't been a
successful deterrent.

"Jails aren't working,'' he said. "We've been putting people in jail
for hundreds of years and it hasn't stopped them from (selling
drugs).''

He asked for a 15-month conditional sentence to be served at home. He
argued a jail sentence for a middle-aged man with no record would be
too severe.

The 46-year-old man, now living in Toronto, pleaded guilty in
November to possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking,
production of the drug and stealing electricity. He had rigged the
home's wiring to bypass the hydro meter and stole $1,668 worth of
electricity.

On May 8, 2001, police found 163 mature marijuana plants in the
basement of the home at 204 Mitchell St., and 85 baby plants.

D'Agostino said Luong, who was renting the house, stood to rake in a
profit of $170,000.

"That's pure greed,'' he said.

He told the judge that marijuana operations have become much more
prevalent in the region.

"Are you going to call evidence on that?'' Carr asked him. "Without
evidence . . . what am I to make of that?''

The judge also asked the Crown if he had any proof that the number of
grows here was higher than in other similar-sized communities.

The Crown said he didn't, although he believed it to be true.

Police have uncovered close to 70 marijuana grows in Waterloo Region
since June 2000.

One grow even caused a Cambridge house to burn down.

But Mattson reminded Carr that the man responsible, Minh Hai Ta, 54,
got a conditional sentence from a Superior Court judge.

He also mentioned a second local case in which a 52-year-old man was
also handed a conditional sentence in similar circumstances.

Judges generally follow sentences handed down by other judges, unless
the case they're dealing with is distinctively different.

D'Agostino noted the man whose house was destroyed started a grow
because he was in financial difficulty.

Luong, on the other hand, wasn't having money troubles, he said. He
came to Canada in 1982 and is now a citizen. He owns a house and has
no mortgage.

D'Agostino also asked the judge to fine Luong $25,000.

Carr said he had to think about the issues that had been raised, and
adjourned sentencing to Feb. 4.