BID TO STOP POT GROWERS WINS PRAISE

A resolution by Kitchener council urging a crackdown on pot-growers in
Waterloo Region is getting resounding support from other politicians and
police officials.

"It would go a long way to stop them," said Staff Sgt. Ray Massicotte, head
of the drug squad of the Waterloo regional police.

At council earlier this week, Coun. Berry Vrbanovic suggested the federal
and provincial governments work together to impose a mandatory five-year
prison sentence for people charged with growing marijuana in a family home.

Council supported the recommendation and others such as giving more of the
proceeds seized from home-grow operations to local police to fight drugs
and giving fire officials more power to inspect homes growing dope.

Police Chief Larry Gravill said yesterday a significant deterrent is needed
for those charged with growing marijuana in residential neighbourhoods.

Gravill said he supports a five-year sentence, but he says he's a realist
and it may not be doable. "To leap to five years would require graduated
steps," he said. "It can't happen overnight."

Local judges have recently been sentencing indoor pot growers to house arrest.

Cambridge MPP Gerry Martiniuk said yesterday he supports tougher penalties.
Stringent sentences may "be enough to scare the fringe operators," he said.

"Up until now, ordinary police methods have not prevented this (home-grow
operations) and the only alternative is higher penalties," he said.

Kitchener Centre MP Karen Redman said she's not prepared to support a
five-year sentence. However she believes a mandatory sentence of some kind
needs to be established.

Police in the region have busted 60 home-grow operations and suspect
another 200 homes are actively growing dope.

"Quite frankly right now you've got a $1-million operation and your
punishment is 100 days at home. What's the punishment?" Vrbanovic said
yesterday.

"These pot-growing operations are causing significant cost to our
communities and its safety and well-being," he said.

Vrbanovic said a fire two weeks ago in a home on Westheights Drive where
marijuana was being grown prompted him to speak out.

Also, deadly booby traps such as trip wires and detonation devices have
been found in pot-growing houses elsewhere in the province.

Massicotte said he supports tougher penalties and says Canada could learn
from its neighbour south of the border.

According to statistics from the United States Drug Enforcement Agency, the
minimum penalty for a first-offender convicted of growing between 100 and
999 plants is five years.

A second-time offender gets a minimum sentence of 10 years.

Massicotte said the number of grow operations has not yet reached the
numbers in British Columbia, but "we are following in their footsteps."

He said in B.C., there have been shootings in residential neighbourhoods,
and home invasions where "one faction tries to steal another faction's
product."

Lynn Myers, Waterloo-Wellington MP and parliamentary secretary to the
Solicitor General, said penalties for marijuana growers need to be decided
in consultation with police, judges and parole officers, before "arbitrary"
terms can be set.