cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Motion a Bust 





Marijuana Motion a Bust 
Posted by CN Staff on August 19, 2002 at 21:50:26 PT
By Mike Howell, Staff Writer 
Source: Vancouver Courier 
A COPE councillor's request to have city staff examine the feasibility of legalizing marijuana grow operations would be a waste of council's time and the public's money, says NPA Coun. Gordon Price. Price said Coun. Fred Bass' motion at a recent committee meeting-which was defeated, although Bass plans to put it forward again if re-elected-would be better discussed by members of parliament, who have the power to change the country's drug laws. 
"I didn't get elected for that," said Price. "Fred brings these motions forward knowing full well, of course, that they will fail-he counts on it because he's not going to take responsibility for what the cost implications of this are." Bass, however, defended his motion, saying it's time council took a leadership role in addressing the city's grow-op problem. Police estimate there could be up to 10,000 marijuana grow-ops in the city and Bass said councillors should stop pretending that "we're going to drive this into the ground." Since last summer, police have busted about 1,000 of the clandestine indoor farms, with only 35 per cent of the busts resulting in charges against the growers. Marijuana growing is one of B.C.'s biggest industries and will only get bigger as long as it remains underground, he said. "Getting a staff report on the feasibility of legalizing grow-ops makes a lot of sense, and it's something we should do," Bass said. "It's time we start opening our eyes and looking at those possibilities. We're stuck in a very ambivalent situation." While Price acknowledges the grow-op epidemic is a problem, he said council's only power to tackle it is by continuing its support of Grow Busters, a police-led team that works with city inspectors, B.C. Hydro and the fire department to shut down grow-ops. "When you can't deal with the problem at its roots, you have no choice but to deal with the consequences," he said. "And the consequences themselves are serious. While it may be futile to fight the war on drugs, I'm not sure that anyone thinks that the alternate second-best strategy is complete surrender." Two weeks ago, Mayor Philip Owen, Price and the seven other NPA councillors voted to spend $480,000 to extend the Grow Busters program by another three years, with Bass and his fellow COPE Coun. Tim Louis registering negative votes. Asked why he voted against the program, Bass said he wasn't sure that he had voted against it. He then agreed Grow Busters had to be extended. "I think we have to do Grow Busters for now, but in the long run, it's no solution." His colleague Louis thinks the money spent on Grow Busters would be better spent investigating organized crime and higher-level drug operations. "I'm not going to lose sleep over somebody wanting to grow a little bit of marijuana," Louis said. Since Grow Busters formed in July 2000, the team has shut down 1,114 grow-ops that potentially would have generated about $200 million in marijuana sales. Police also seized about $400,000 in cash, according to a city report. At the same committee meeting, Bass also got a motion passed that called for the provincial government to request that the federal government share proceeds of crime money with the city, particularly money recovered in grow-ops. Price acknowledged that request would likely fall on deaf ears. As for legalizing grow operations, Price said he'd rather see debate around treatment and programs for drug abusers first. "It would be a mistake to legalize first until you have also at the same time brought in strategies that you can be pretty confident are going to be needed." Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC)Author: Mike Howell, Staff Writer Published: Monday, August 19, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Vancouver CourierContact: editor vancourier.comWebsite: http://www.vancourier.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmMarijuana Grow-Ops in B.C. Jumped 222 Percent http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13118.shtmlMayor Wants Pot Decriminalized http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12386.shtmlU.S. War on Drugs Crusader Gets Police Lift http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12833.shtml
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