Stopping drug grow ops

The news the last couple days about a marijuana grow operation running out of multiple units in three apartment buildings in Hamilton really makes me mad. Personally, I have never experimented with THC nor would I want to; and I think people who possess only a few joints should not carry criminal records.

It's bad enough these dregs of humanity bypass the power so they can grown their plants for free -- there's enough there to charge them with grand theft electricity. Ever wonder why we pay a 4.25% uplift charge on our power bills? It's to cover their thievery. But manufacturing the stuff within smell-shot of where kids can breathe in the stuff -- often within the same apartment building? I think that crosses the line even for most progressives. If the buildings have to be condemned or renovated to a major degree then it's the operators of the grow ops who should pick up the full tab. Not the insurance companies, not the landlord, not the city.

I also find the protestations of the owner, that he didn't know what was going on just a bit hard to believe. Even presuming he really didn't, some of the law-abiding apartment dwellers were noticing more power spikes than usual and people coming and leaving other units on a fairly frequent basis. This can't be explained by the usual excuses for "leakage of power" such as poorly insulated buildings or people bringing in their own dishwashers or washing machines.

In the last couple of years, we've seen people set up grow ops across from a Catholic high school and inside a former brewery. Heck, I learned from my old neighbours that even my former home was turned into a grow op too!

So what can be done to stop this plague? Well, unfortunately, there will always be a market for people who want to smoke pot. Maybe it's time to talk about legalizing it for people who truly need it for palliative care (based on a doctor's prescription) and have the government tax or regulate it like they do alcohol and tobacco and gambling. If there are strict controls then there's no need for "underground" operations which endanger public health and safety.

We also need to cut off the demand from those who really don't need it, though -- and the current kinds of education campaigns have proven totally inept. Since the gateway into the illicit drug trade are kids and teenagers, perhaps it's time to create ad campaigns from their perspective and not that of adults. If we can get to the why of the demand, then we can figure out the how to stop it. As a bridge, I support the funding of safe injection and use sites.

We must not however tolerate the importation of illegal drugs, nor the unsafe manufacture of it. It's for those that do engage in those activities that there should be harsher punishment.

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