Pubdate: Wed, 26 Jan 2005
Source: Tri-City News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005, Tri-City News
Contact:  http://www.tricitynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1239
Author: Janis Cleugh

GET TOUGH ON MARIJUANA GROWERS, POCO DEMANDS

The courts are too easy on pot growers, says Port Coquitlam 
council, which voted Monday to send a resolution to a national 
organization to lobby the federal government for tougher penalties 
on people convicted of cultivating marijuana.

City council will forward its motion to the Federation of Canadian 
Municipalities for debate at its June convention.

Coun. Darrell Penner said he knows of one instance when a grower 
was fined $100 for growing 500 plants. "It shows the 
ridiculousness of how this system isn't working," he said.

Because consequences are minor, Mayor Scott Young said, police 
tackling the problem face a "revolving door" scenario.

He cited a 2004 study by Daryl Plecas, a professor at the University 
College of the Fraser Valley, which showed nine per cent of house 
fires are a result of pot farms and said grow ops also lead to home 
invasions and possible expansion to potentially explosive 
methamphetamine labs, and put children living in or near them at 
risk.

"The situation is at a crisis level and we ask that you take action to 
increase the legal consequences associated with having a grow op, 
including the legislation of minimum significant fines and/or 
minimum jail time for convicted persons," Young wrote in a Nov. 
26 letter to Irwin Cotler, the federal minister of justice and 
Attorney General of Canada.

But Coun. Mike Bowen said an increase in penalties can translate 
into a pressure on the court system and in jails. "It will start a 
domino effect," Bowen said at Monday's meeting. 
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