Pubdate: Wed, 21 May 2008
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2008 The StarPhoenix
Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Author: Darah Hansen, Canwest News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

B.C. TOWN'S CASH CROP UP IN SMOKE, ALONG WITH ECONOMY

It hasn't always been easy attracting new folks to the tiny northern 
community of Likely, B.C.

The little gold rush town of about 250 residents -- located about 100 
kilometres east of Williams Lake -- has seen more than its fair share 
of economic hard times in recent years with the collapse of the 
forest industry and a temporary shut down in gold and copper mining.

"A few years ago, you couldn't sell a house in Likely for $80,000," 
said Rob Hood, a longtime Likely resident and president of the local 
chamber of commerce.

Then along came the pot growers and things started looking up in Likely.

Properties left vacant as work dried up were suddenly all bought up, 
and many locals found themselves employed putting in elaborate water 
systems and erecting huge, windowless, barn-like structures on the land.

Few questions were asked -- even when locked gates were installed 
across driveways, making it abundantly clear the town's new occupants 
weren't interested in anybody dropping in for coffee unannounced.

"Everybody was happy," said Hood.

Maybe not everybody.

According to police, it was from some very unhappy citizens of Likely 
that they first learned of the grow operations.

"It was definitely a mixed bag," Const. Craig Douglass of the RCMP 
North District said of public reaction. "Some liked this group being 
there . . . and some were concerned enough to phone police."

This week, a news release from the B.C. Solicitor General's office 
announced that a rural property in Likely has become the largest 
marijuana grow-operation ever subject to civil forfeiture action.

The forfeiture -- which means the land and buildings seized are 
turned over to the province -- comes almost two years after RCMP 
busted a massive marijuana operation on the 2.5-acre property on 
Cedar Creek Road, Likely's most upscale neighbourhood.

More than 5,560 marijuana plants were seized during the November 2006 
police raid. Douglass said the sheer size of the operation was enough 
to produce a marijuana cigarette for everyone in the province every year.

But Hood, like many others in Likely, isn't so sure all the legal 
fuss was necessary. He called the growers "nice, polite guys," who 
didn't cause any trouble -- an assessment police didn't refute. Now, 
since the various raids, many properties around town are, once again, 
sitting vacant and unkempt.

Hood said the town is working hard to diversify from its once 
resource-based economy to one focused more on tourism. Likely 
certainly has a lot going for it: It's on the original gold rush 
trail, has the only genuine Chinese ghost town in the country and is 
home to some of the best sports fishing and kayaking in the world, 
according to Hood.

"We're trying to develop all that stuff," he said, adding, only 
half-joking, "we have to now that the No. 1 crop is gone."
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