LITTLE COURT SUPPORT

When Minh Hai Tai's illegal marijuana-growing operation re-sulted in his
Hespeler home burning to the ground, it should have signalled a big police
crackdown on the unwelcome growth of these "home grow" enterprises.

Instead, a year later, it's business as usual, with police estimating -
probably on the conservative side - that at least 200 basement pot farmers
are probably thriving in the region. Regional police have busted 60 such
operations in the past year, but growers continue to thrive because little
more than a hand slap awaits them in court.

Tai was accused of illegally tapping his neighbourhood's hydro lines to
power his operation, the likely cause of the fire, which threatened the
safety of his neighbourhood and the security of the police and firefighters
who investigated it.

Police didn't provide an estimate of the street value of the pot Tai was
growing, but a typical basement full of plants fetches upwards in the
hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Convicted of trafficking and cultivating a controlled substance, Tai left
the courtroom virtually a free man - sentenced to 20 months of house
arrest, community service, and fines and restitution totalling $4,300.

This is the crux of the problem police have dealing with such growers: the
law just isn't punishing the offenders.

It's telling that of the 60 cases so far brought before the local courts,
little or nothing has been said about the people who employ men like Tai to
grow the weed. Faced with the prospect of house arrest versus the ignominy
of becoming a stoolie, Tai and others have been singing like clams, which
is, sharing little except the obvious.

While police need to continue busting the pot houses, they know the real
enemy isn't the growers but the buyers, the organized criminals who are
beckoning the Tais with promises of quick riches at little risk. Those
villains will continue to elude justice as long as the courts continue to
treat home growers like jay walkers.

Recognizing that, Cambridge council in December voted to ask that the
federal government ensure stiffer such sentences in the future.

The government has yet to respond. Bt whether the legalization of pot is
being considered or not, Ottawa has to recognize that the proliferation of
home grows poses a threat to communities that can only be stopped with
tough, serious sentencing.