cannabisnews.com: Switch Off Grow-Ops





Switch Off Grow-Ops
Posted by CN Staff on March 10, 2004 at 08:53:30 PT
Editorial
Source: Toronto Star 
Indoor marijuana farms are sprouting like weeds across the Greater Toronto Area, requiring new strategies to root them out. Those strategies should include relaxing privacy rules that prevent electricity companies from blowing the whistle to police.The public is at risk and the threat is escalating. Indoor "grow-ops" pose a serious fire hazard. They fund organized crime. And the marijuana trade fuels gun violence in our streets.
The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police estimates that the number of illegal grow-ops in this province has increased 250 per cent. Revenue could hit $12.7 billion.News this week that a grow-op fitted with hazardous wiring had been set up through eight units of a Parkdale high-rise is only the latest warning sign. Police recently found Canada's largest indoor grow-op hidden in an old brewery in Barrie.And officers found six children living amid squalor in a York Region grow house. As many as 10,000 Ontario youngsters may be exposed to similar conditions, living with fertilizers, pesticides, mould spores and the constant risk of fire. Police and electricity companies say privacy legislation forbids a utility from telling authorities about high spikes in power usage — a telltale sign of energy-hungry grow-ops. These rules should be relaxed, allowing power companies to report suspicious patterns so that police can apply for search warrants.Privacy is a cherished right. But power consumption is an impersonal statistic and one that can be shared with authorities without undermining our basic freedoms.Newshawk: afterburnerSource: Toronto Star (CN ON)Published: March 10, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Toronto Star Contact: lettertoed thestar.com Website: http://www.thestar.com/ Related Articles & Web Sites:Green Tide Shadow Summit http://www.greentide.ca/Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmThe Clash Over Cannabishttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18464.shtmlEasing Pot Laws Would Burn Up Emily Murphy http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18458.shtmlMurphy Campaigned Against Marijuana Menace http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18448.shtml 
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Comment #3 posted by afterburner on March 14, 2004 at 09:27:49 PT:
Alan Young, Lawyer Responsible for Can. MMJ Speaks
Community loses with tattle-tale justice 
2004-03-14 01:00:00 [Life] ALAN YOUNG,
REASONABLE DOUBT http://tinyurl.com/22nql' "I spy with my little eye ... something that is green." >This simple children's game has now become a tool of law enforcement. Warning of the coming Armageddon of super-evil pot growers armed with dangerous hydroponic equipment, bacterial agents and high-intensity lights, the police have now asked the public to report any homes emitting pungent odours.'
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Comment #2 posted by afterburner on March 14, 2004 at 08:20:37 PT:
More Green Tide Feedback
Newshawks: Green Pride vs. Green Tide
Miscellaneous with Pot-TV http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2555.html
 
Running Time: 15 min 
Date Entered: 11 Mar 2004 
 'Discussion with Canadains For Safe Access on Ontario's "12 Billion Dollar" industry, Green Tide, Bill C-10 with John Hunter and phone-in question and answers to the panel Domonic Cramer & Steven.'
 ***And don't forget the nutritious and medicinal seeds of the miracle herb:The Burning Shiva Hour; Hemp Seed the Royal Grain - Burning Shiva with Chris Bennett, Running Time: 36 min, Date Entered: 29 Sep 2000. "Host Chris Bennett, takes us on a culinary trip through history with a look at the role of the nutritious hemp seed through time and across cultures. Soul Food!" http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-289.html"Make the most of the Indian hemp seed, and sow it everywhere!" - George Washington, Note to gardener at Mount Vernon - Medical Freedom Amendment for 2004; let us heed the words of Benjamin Rush, George Washington's personal doctor and a signer of the Declaration of Independence: "Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship. To restrict the art of healing to one class of men and deny equal privileges to others will constitute the Bastille of medical science. All such laws are un-american and despotic and have no place in a republic. The Constitution of this republic should make special privilege for medical freedom as well as religious freedom."
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Comment #1 posted by afterburner on March 12, 2004 at 05:51:57 PT:
Green Tide Shadow Summit - Summary now available
Canadians for Safe Access presents: 
Green Truth - the Green Tide Shadow Summit 2004 (March 4)
Voices of Reason - Exploring Alternatives to the Drug War; Summary http://www.greentide.ca/summary.htm 
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