Pubdate: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 Source: Daily Courier, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2014 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/5NyOACet Website: http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/531 Author: Jon Manchester NOT YOUR TYPICAL FARMING Now that Kelowna has reversed its position on where to allow the growing of medical marijuana, don't expect to see lush fields of green popping up all around the city. A more likely scenario will see productive farmland covered over with concrete bunkers and lined with razor-wire fences. Council agreed to allow the production of medicinal weed on agricultural land on a case-by-case basis. This reversed its earlier decision to restrict medical grow-ops to industrial properties, as West Kelowna has decided. Across the province, bylaws controlling where the product can be grown are a patchwork of varying rules. But even if it can now be grown on properties within the Agricultural Land Reserve, potential growers will still have to pass an approval process that would consider its location and proximity to residential areas. In Kelowna, that could cause a lot of conflict. These won't be pastoral fields of pretty green plants. Given the underground value of the product - and that it is the major currency in the organized crime drug trade - expect any operations to be heavily fortified and brimming with security. Anyone foolish to let their crop grow out in the open fields would soon fall victim to theft. For example, B.C. is already home to illicit grow-ops hidden out in the bush, which are typically booby trapped or patrolled by armed thugs. In one instance, a grower fed wild bears to keep them around his plantation and scare off hikers who might have stumbled upon it. While the medical marijuana industry has good intentions, growing dope is not like tending an apple orchard. - - Managing Editor Jon Manchester - --- MAP posted-by: Matt