Pubdate: Fri, 05 Jun 2009
Source: Langley Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 Langley Times
Contact:  http://www.langleytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1230
Author: Monique Tamminga
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)

MEDICINAL POT GROW OP BUSTED

A Langley man with a Health Canada licence to grow marijuana was 
busted by the RCMP's green team for stealing hydro and for growing 
more plants than he was allowed to.

This is the fourth such bust Langley police have come across, where 
the grower is licensed to grow. This has Langley RCMP's Supt. Janice 
Armstrong asking Health Canada to require higher standards both of 
the growers and the buildings they use.

On May 27, the drug section executed two search warrants for stealing hydro.

The first was in the 20400 block of 67B Avenue where one woman was 
arrested and 800 pot plants seized from the basement.

The second warrant was for a grow op in the garage of a Brookswood 
home. One man was arrested inside the house and 200 plants were seized.

However, the man had a legal right to grow the pot, just not as much 
as he was growing.

He has a medicinal marijuana licence which permits him to legally 
grow 30 plants.

Medicinal marijuana is proving to have a lot of benefits for people 
suffering from many painful diseases like MS. It also can help fight 
nausea and increase appetite of cancer patients going through chemotherapy.

In Canada, there are more than 2,000 people who have medicinal 
marijuana licences, said Amstrong.

"Currently, there is no procedure in place to ensure that those 
individuals with licences are obtaining building permits in order to 
ensure the grow operation is done safely and conforms to local safety 
standards," said Langley RCMP Supt. Janice Armstrong.

"Growing marijuana indoors - legally or not - tends to result in 
health, fire and safety hazards related to electrical 
reconfiguration, structural changes and excessive moisture. Also, 
there is no procedure in place to inform local governments of the 
licences issued in our communities."

Criminologist Dr. Daryl Plecas remarked at a recent Langley Rotary 
meeting that licenced growers may become the new headache for police, 
as illegal grow ops become fewer and fewer but legal ones increase, 
he predicts.

"I believe Health Canada needs to require electrical, fire and 
building inspections as part of the medicinal marijuana licencing 
approval process," said Armstrong.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom