Pubdate: Fri, 04 Dec 2009 Source: Intelligencer, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2009, Osprey Media Group Inc. Contact: http://www.intelligencer.ca/feedback1/LetterToEditor.aspx Website: http://www.intelligencer.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2332 Author: Kirk Tousaw ONLY ONE WAY TO END "GROW OP" PROBLEM The laundry list of alleged harms resulting from indoor cannabis production that Det-Const. Marcotte laid out was certainly frightening. Accepting that these harms are, in fact, accurate and not simply overblown fear-mongering, the question that must be asked is: What do we do about it? We've tried the prohibition route: police raids, arrests, prosecutions, jailing. The problem is that there always seem to be more people willing to take the risk of jail to fill the demand for this plant. Police simply can't keep up. Indeed, the very existence of suburban marijuana production is a result of the need to hide from police detection. This means our current approach creates a vicious cycle: growers use basements and electricity theft to hide from police, who bust growers which leads to more growers taking their place in different houses. And since our appetite for marijuana is quite high (2 million Canadians are weekly consumers), the situation isn't likely to change unless we change our policies. Now imagine if marijuana production was not illegal. The incentive to grow in basements would immediately disappear. Marijuana would be grown in greenhouses and on farms -- just like every other commercial crop. No more destroyed houses, no more mouldy air "blowing into your kid's window." Aren't those goals we all share, regardless of how we feel about marijuana use? Kirk Tousaw Executive Director, Beyond Prohibition Foundation - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D