Pubdate: Mon, 17 Mar 2014
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2014 Postmedia Network
Contact:  http://www.calgaryherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author: Reid Southwick
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

POT GROWING LICENSES GO UP IN SMOKE APRIL 1

Calgary police say they will show no mercy to unlicensed growers of 
medical marijuana once a new federal program shifts production to a 
smaller number of producers, but officers are not planning a sweeping 
crackdown.

The approach is in contrast to the Vancouver Police Department's 
plans to be more lenient with businesses that sell medical pot to 
patients with required permits.

In Calgary, police will face a daunting challenge to weed out illegal 
growers because they don't know how many there are. Some operators, 
licensed under current rules, tend plants for their own consumption 
in their homes, while others grow for clients. These licenses will no 
longer be valid April 1, when the new rules will forbid home-based 
medical pot production and require that commercial growers abide by 
strict health and safety conditions and introduce security measures, 
such as surveillance systems.

This will mean that tens of thousands of medical pot producers across 
the country will have to shut down their operations, forcing patients 
to buy their dosages from a smaller number of licensed growers. If 
they don't comply they will face prosecution.

Keith Fagin, who suffers from chronic pain after a car crash as a boy 
and an industrial accident in the early 1990s, said he will not be 
able to afford medical pot from commercial growers, who he estimated 
will charge at least four times what he is paying now.

Fagin, a Calgary cannabis activist, said his grower holds a license 
under current rules and produces "clean, quality and affordable" 
medical marijuana. When the new regime comes into effect, the grower 
will continue harvesting the plants, risking jail time, because he 
and Fagin survive on disability incomes.

The grower's pot costs Fagin less than $2 a gram - he consumes at 
least seven to nine grams a day, though he doesn't smoke it all - and 
he expects commercial outfits will charge at least $7, something he 
said he can't afford.

"We have no choice but to risk going to prison, risk having police 
come kick the doors in, take our stuff, put us in prison and leave us 
in the street when we get out as homeless people because we've got 
nothing left," he said.

Health Canada's website lists nine approved producers, none of which 
are based in Alberta, though growers in Calgary, west of Airdrie and 
in Edmonton have said they are seeking federal approval.

Calgary police say they will shutter any growing facility deemed 
illegal under the new rules. Officers can charge the operators with 
possession and production of marijuana, and potentially trafficking 
as well, said Sgt. Keith Hurley.

Medical marijuana growers are not a high priority for police, who are 
more concerned with pot produced to help fund organized crime, but 
they will investigate complaints, said Hurley, who works in the 
special policing unit Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams.

"The person who uses it in their home for medicinal marijuana isn't 
necessarily the people that we're targeting," he said. "However, if 
we receive a complaint, just like any other drug complaint, we will 
investigate it to see whether or not it is legal or illegal."

In Vancouver, patients with prescriptions for medical marijuana can 
get their dosages at dispensaries, most of which already run without 
city business licenses. According to Health Canada, these businesses 
pose public safety risks because they are illegal and unregulated.

Police said they don't raid these businesses now and they don't plan 
to change the policy once the new medical marijuana regime comes into 
effect. Const. Brian Montague said Vancouver police would rather 
direct scarce resources toward keeping the peace, than to raiding 
dispensaries that appear to operate professionally and safely. In 
recent years, police have shut down three medical marijuana 
dispensaries that were found to be fronts for trafficking, but 
existing businesses don't appear to be doing this, Montague said.

Hurley, who wasn't aware of any dispensaries in Calgary, said the new 
medical pot regime will not prevent legitimate patients from securing 
their medicine. What will change, he said, is that producers will be 
much safer.

Hurley said home-based operations are not equipped to deal with high 
levels of humidity, which means they can easily spread mould, posing 
serious health risks.

Last week, police found 743 marijuana plants and growing equipment in 
a northeast Calgary home that was badly run down and rife with mould. 
The property, which was not used for medical pot production, was 
deemed unsafe for human habitation after the bust.

"Medicinal marijuana users will always have a way to getting it; this 
is just changing how they are able to access it," Hurley said.

with files from Postmedia News 
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom