cannabisnews.com: Be Careful Kicking Down the Door





Be Careful Kicking Down the Door
Posted by FoM on February 01, 2000 at 11:00:53 PT
By Timothy Appleby
Source: Globe & Mail
From behind drawn blinds, a woman's screams ring out in the early afternoon. Four gun-toting RCMP officers packing a search warrant have just kicked in the side door of a two-storey, stucco-and-siding home on quiet 106 Avenue, directly across from two schools.The woman, who was house sitting a modest-scale hydroponic marijuana grow, may have less to fear than she thought. The odds of a spell in jail for an operation of this size, about 120 plants, are close to zero. 
The most likely outcome is a fine of a few thousand dollars that, in return for silence, will probably be picked up by someone else -- the controller of the operation."They may be underlings, but give them a minimum of two years [in prison] and I can tell, overnight you'd clear out about 70 per cent of these people," said Corporal John Furac, who, like most Mounties, regards B.C.'s leniency toward pot cultivation as a sick joke.But few growers ever go to prison.In a snapshot last October of the sentences dealt to pot growers, The Vancouver Sun surveyed 112 cases of people convicted in the city over three years. Less than one in seven served any jail time. Among the 112: 37 had the charges stayed; three were acquitted; 19 received probation or a conditional sentence; 38 were fined an average of $2,700; and 15 were imprisoned, 12 of them for 90 days or less.The sentencing climate outside Vancouver is slightly more punitive, but a common denominator among the thousands of grow houses across the province is that the organizers are rarely seen, one veteran federal prosecutor said."The mom-and-pop dope grower or the gardener is more likely to get it in the teeth than the organized crime that stands behind 95 per cent of it. The bikers primarily finance these things out," he said. "But that said, getting it in the teeth is a cartoon."Police and prosecutors struggle with what they see as a range of judicial shortfalls. Canada still has no money-laundering laws, despite years of politicians' promises. Nor are there any currency-reporting requirements. Couriers who are discovered with suitcases of cash can -- and often do -- just abandon the money, saying they know nothing about it.Meanwhile, Canada's organized-crime legislation has not been invoked in a single marijuana-cultivation case. Investigators say the concern is that B.C.'s leniency toward pot will create case law that will have ramifications nationwide.And complicating everything is the fact that different offences are dealt with by separate prosecutors. Drug charges are usually laid under the federally administered 1997 Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Most other offences are dealt with by provincial Crowns under the Criminal Code.Sprawling Surrey's proximity to the United States, where most of the marijuana is destined, makes it a prime growing location. Last year, there were more than 150 grow busts, most carried out by Surrey RCMP's "Green Team," specialists in taking down hydroponic operations.That's just a fragment of the picture, Cpl. Furac said."Not too long ago, I knew of 800 to 900 marijuana grow operations in Surrey alone. There are new ones every day."In the basement of this particular operation is a crop of about 120 marijuana plants that each stand a metre high, sprouting under the glare of high-powered lights. Minutes later, a man drives up in a shiny new Honda Accord. He, too, is arrested and in his vehicle is a list of other rental properties available in the area, each seen as a prospective grow house.In Canada's geographically biggest municipality, home to a fast-growing population of around 300,000, the bust nets a relatively small pot haul. Raids routinely uncover 1,000 plants or more -- but in some ways it's typical.Grow ops, as they are termed, almost invariably take root in rented houses, chiefly because homeowners can have their property seized if they know what's going on. As well, setting up a hydroponic site commonly results in thousands of dollars worth of structural damage when the necessary electrical systems, plumbing and air ducts are rigged up.Also telling in this case is that, as with a high percentage of the houses that get raided, the caretakers are Vietnamese Canadians.Missing from the premises, however, are any weapons, which police say is unusual."We've seen a dramatic rise in the [number of] weapons being found in grow operations," said Cpl. Furac, who last year was confronted by a caretaker brandishing an AK-47 assault rifle."Bats, knives, shotguns and handguns are prevalent. We did a bunch of kick-ins here yesterday and I think in almost every one of them there was a handgun or two handguns. It's a constant."You have to be careful kicking down the door, because this guy's spooked. He's not thinking police, he's thinking it's a rip-off."Lots of times, we've had people say, 'I'm so glad it's you and not somebody else.' "Surrey, B.C.Published: January 29, 2000 Copyright © 2000 Globe Information Services
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