Pubdate: Fri, 17 Feb 2012
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2012 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/letters.html
Website: http://www.calgaryherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author: Jason Markusoff

SECOND LEGAL GROW OP SHUT DOWN

Rife with illegal wiring, unsafe chemicals: city

With the illegal wiring, fire-charred wall and meter-bypassing water
system, the home that city inspectors searched Wednesday had all the
hallmarks of an illegal pot grow op.

The key factor distinguishing this one: its owner had a Health Canada
licence to grow medical marijuana plants for ailing Calgarians.

It's the second time this year authorities inspected a legal pot
grower, and the second time violations prompted the home to be fenced
off and declared unfit for habitation.

"We want them to operate safely within the City of Calgary, and we're
finding too many safety violations to be comfortable with us not
inspecting them," Wayne Brown, head of the city's safety response
team, said Thursday. "In a perfect world, we would like to inspect
each of these."

But the federal government's regulations and privacy rules make that
effectively impossible. Health Canada only provides information on
legal growers' whereabouts to police, not civic building officials or
provincial health authorities. Police don't get lists of licensees,
but can reach Health Canada for verification of legal growers to help
enforce drug laws.

In the case of the unidentified Calgary house searched Wednesday, the
police "green team" had information on a grow op, discovered it was
legal and referred it to Brown's team to check for safety regulations,
Brown said.

Many illegal pot growers bypass utility systems to dodge the often
high bills for the heat lamps and plant watering systems. This legal
operator was doing the same, and Brown noted he could potentially face
charges for theft of electricity or water.

Health Canada does have 15 inspectors devoted to the thousands of
licensed grow operations in Canada, but instead of looking at building
safety, they check for things such as plant numbers, security measures
and other federal marijuana regulations, ministry spokesman Gary Holub
said in an e-mail.

"Furthermore, individuals with a production licence from Health Canada
are expected to comply fully with all applicable federal, provincial,
territorial or municipal legislation," Holub wrote. "This is clearly
stated in the information material provided to them when they receive
their licence from Health Canada."

The federal regulations give several conditions for revoking a
grower's licence. Provincial or civic safety violations aren't
included in those conditions.

Keith Fagin of Calgary 420 Cannabis Community is skeptical of a bid to
do safety checks on all licensed growers.

Fagin said any organization or regulation will see that a few people
will exploit the system.

"I'm aware of a number of them, but the vast majority of them are
within compliance," he said.

"We'll have master electricians. The people who can afford to set up a
quality grow work with garden stores, with us, with tradespeople and
do it properly."

This month, city council voted to press Health Canada for more
disclosure of the licensed growers' whereabouts in Calgary.
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