Pubdate: Tue, 15 Mar 2005
Source: Chilliwack Progress (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Chilliwack Progress
Contact:  http://www.theprogress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/562
Author: Robert Freeman, Progress
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

POT BIZ GROWING IN CHILLIWACK, SAYS STUDY

Chilliwack has more marijuana grow-ops per capita than any other 
municipality in B.C., according to a study released Friday by the 
University College of the Fraser Valley.

Despite local police and city efforts, the number of grow-ops found in 
Chilliwack increased to 204 cases in 2003, a 214 per cent increase over the 
seven-year period of the study from 1997 to 2003.

Although some municipalities had far more individual cases - 441 were found 
in Surrey in 2003 - Chilliwack with only 80,719 residents compared to 
Surrey's 387,578, had the highest rate per 1,000 population.

Prince George was second with 2.47 grow-ops per 1,000 and Kelowna third 
with 2.36. Chilliwack's rate was 2.53 per 1,000. The rate in all three 
communities is dramatically higher than those found elsewhere in the 
province, suggesting growers are moving away from urban centres into rural 
areas with larger and more remote properties to hide grow-ops.

"We predicted this (shift to rural areas) when we completed the last 
report," UCFV criminology professor Darryl Plecas, main author of the study 
and an earlier one in 2002, told The Progress on Friday.

Chilliwack and the other two communities are "major centres" in rural areas 
with large properties and lots of space between them - all the better to 
hide larger grow-ops, he says.

"Chilliwack is one of the few places in the Lower Mainland where you're 
going to have a capacity for higher-capacity (grow-ops), relatively 
speaking," he says.

More so than Abbotsford even, which has now dropped off the top-10 list in 
the 2002 study of communities with large numbers of grow-ops, apparently 
due to its "green team" marijuana enforcement program.

But Chilliwack created its own marijuana "strike force" soon after the 2002 
study found this city had the second-largest number of grow-ops per capita 
in B.C.

Chilliwack's tough new bylaw aimed at curbing marijuana grow-ops was not 
introduced in time to show any effect in Friday's study, but Mr. Plecas 
says he holds little hope that any municipal bylaw can stop the growth of 
grow-ops, noting the $10,000 fine in Chilliwack's bylaw is "peanuts for 
somebody with a $300,000 grow-op."

"The only thing that's going to turn this around is more active types of 
(court) sentences," he says. "We don't want to lose our compassion and 
understanding at some point for growers, but we've got to stop being stupid 
about it and recognize it's an economic crime with major connections to 
organized crime."

According to the report, 49 percent of suspects convicted on marijuana 
production charges in Washington State would have been sentenced to at 
least five years in prison.

In B.C., none were sentenced to five years or more in prison.

The study also found that only seven percent of B.C. jail sentences were 
for three months or more while 77 percent of Washington State suspects 
served at least three months in prison.

Chilliwack Mayor Clint Hames, who had not yet seen the report, says he 
agrees with Dr. Plecas' view of the limitations of municipal bylaws, "but 
at the same time I don't think you can just throw your hands up in the air 
and wait for the courts to do something about it."

The bylaw may have little impact on the criminal aspect of marijuana 
grow-ops, he agrees, "but what we're focused on is the public safety aspect 
of this issue, and we're going to continue what we've been doing."

He says the success in Abbotsford shows Chilliwack is "heading in exactly 
the right direction. You can drive those folks (growers) out of your 
community."

The Mayor had some tough words to say about the judiciary and the effect of 
"creeping incrementalism downward" in court rulings that become the 
precedent in sentencing.

He says there is a "disconnect" between judges and the communities in which 
they serve.

"Their entire role is to reflect the community's values and they're failing 
on that," he says. "They have become so encumbered by precedent that they 
are now slipping away from reflecting the community (standards) in their 
decisions."

Tougher sentences may not deter crimes of passion, but growing marijuana is 
a "totally premeditated act and tougher sentences would have a profound 
effect," he says.
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