Going up in Smoke

[Grandan]

Going up in smoke
Contributed - Apr 26, 2016 / 3:50 pm | Story: 164259
It wasn’t all that long ago that discovering a grow-op in our city would result in police action, drug seizures, and even confiscation of cash and property of those engaging in producing this illegal drug. Now, here we are in 2016, and things have radically changed and we should be very concerned! I am not sure where and when Health Canada made a sudden change and decided that dealing drugs was a moral and acceptable act in society, but I am hugely concerned about Canada’s current stance. I am not interested in debating whether Marijuana has a medical benefit and should be allowed for pharmaceutical purposes. I might concede that there is a place for this drug somewhere in the medical realm, and perhaps a place for industrial production behind high fences, in tightly controlled agricultural buildings. That might make some sense. But as far as I can tell, Health Canada has gone “stupid” when it comes to swinging the pendulum to the opposite extreme.

Health Canada is now promoting the production of this drug in our neighbourhoods and Health Canada is endorsing drug dealers to now “legally” produce weed, within reach of every man woman and child in our society! And Health Canada is doing this even though there is no scientific proof that this drug has any health benefit whatsoever. Health Canada has legitimized this destructive drug culture.

A few years back, Health Canada changed the laws to try to decriminalize the drug in Canada, and instead of fighting with the thousands of grow-ops in our cities, they began issuing licences for these same thugs – to become “licensed peddlers” of this drug and to allow its production for “medicinal use”. I am the Victim of these new licences – along with my neighbours as we have discovered our neighbour, in a small cul-de-sac of 600,000 dollar homes, has obtained not one, but three grow-op licences, all issued by Health Canada allowing for the production of not one or two plants, but rather allowing for up to 200 plants per licence. My neighbour is allowed to grow a total of 600 plants at any given time.

Now, the police have investigated and confirmed, their hands are tied, the City of West Kelowna has been consulted, and they too have feebly stated “There is nothing we can do.” Even our MP seems unable to have any impact on what Health Canada has allowed.

Now, one would think that if we are going to take what was an illegal and highly dangerous, once criminally prosecuted drug, and turn it into a Health Canada controlled substance, wouldn’t this new era require caution? One would be inclined to think that along with a licence should come some extremely careful and restrictive requirements – right? Wrong! Never in the past year has Health Canada ever set foot on the property to ensure that this production site meets health safety standards. Never has Health Canada shown up to ensure that these drugs are being handled with a keen attention to public safety, or that the drugs themselves are being used for the purposes of the licence permission. No one at health Canada is monitoring to ensure that our neighbour isn’t selling his drugs to the neighbourhood children, or that he isn’t lacing the drugs with something even more destructive and addictive. No one, not even BC Public Safety Authority, is showing up at this production site to ensure that the environment meets all safety codes required of any production company, nor are they examining the electrical distribution of this licensed venue. No one from the fire department has ever come over to make sure that these grow lights, requiring over 200 amps of power producing enormous amounts of heat requiring several AC units to cool them down, are not on the verge of burning down the entire neighbourhood. And although the RCMP initially almost knocked down the door to invade the grow-op and correct any illegal activity, they froze and retreated when they heard that Health Canada had licensed this site.

Help me out here. Am I, and my neighbours, the only ones who think it is absolutely ludicrous that slimy unaccountable, unmonitored, red neck gangsters are allowed to produce drugs in our neighbourhoods, within feet of our children and grandchildren, all with the blessing of Health Canada without any accountability or supervision?

In the meantime, my home is at risk for increased gang targets, my home is at greater risk of burning down, my home is subject to power surges due to the high voltage lights going on and off, and my home is being devalued by this ugly neglected yard and house that is inappropriately being used in a zoning that is not at all for production of pharmaceuticals.

We, the neighbourhood, are being told we have no recourse to deal with the harvesters coming in the middle of night, loudly disrupting our quiet street. We have to deal with the hum of these large, power consuming air handlers. We have to deal with our lights flickering on and off. And we have to deal with the stench of skunk-weed drying for days on end.

Has Health Canada gone Nuts? I think Canada law has reached a new low point!

Geoff Neufeld

It is sad to read that the writer has not bothered to familiarize himself with the Supreme Court of Canada ruling which gave Marijuana users legal access to their medicine.
It was not Heath Canada but the highest court in the land that changed the rules and the rules are about to change again.
Health Canada has very stringent rules regarding grow rooms, including security cameras, access and storage.
Most of the remaining commentary is misinformation.
So even after "turning in" the neighbours the writer is not satisfied and seems to be attempting to turn the whole community against a legal grow.

[Smurf]

Legal or not I do not believe that a grow op of that size should be in the middle of a city residential area. At the very least it should require a business licence for an op that size because there is no way it is for personal use. There is no way you could/should be able to obtain a business licence in a residential area. This type of thing should be stopped immediately. I do not believe in any way that the court meant this type of operation in this type of area when they made their decision.

[Boda]

Legal or not I do not believe that a grow op of that size should be in the middle of a city residential area. At the very least it should require a business licence for an op that size because there is no way it is for personal use. There is no way you could/should be able to obtain a business licence in a residential area. This type of thing should be stopped immediately. I do not believe in any way that the court meant this type of operation in this type of area when they made their decision.

Smurf,

How do you feel about a Gardner producing 10k of tomatoes?
Do you feel there is no way a grow op that size could be for personal use?
We freeze ours, but I know others that preserve their harvest by canning.

This "reefer madness" stigma around marijuana is born of misleading propaganda from decades past .
Why restrict it's uses or means to produce any more than any other natural plant?

[Silverstarqueen]

It is clearly apparent that it is going to take the public some time to adjust to a different mental set. After Fifty years of constant propaganda about the horrors of refer madness, and the criminalization of growing a plant, they are going to have to reframe the role of marijuana in our society. They will have to think more along the lines of growing hops for beer, or grapes for wine, or apples for cider, and what type of regulations we might expect for those kinds of activities. No one seems to get their knickers in a knot over the growing of agricultural product to produce beer and wine, apple cider, (although they might not like the sprays, or noise of machinery, if any, involved). Some people will have little or no problem with this mental transition, can just light a joint, and ponder it. Others will have considerable more difficulty, may have to sit back with their beer, wine, or cider, and get a grip on themselves.

[Lady tehMa]

How do you feel about a Gardner producing 10k of tomatoes?
Do you feel there is no way a grow op that size could be for personal use?
We freeze ours, but I know others that preserve their harvest by canning.

This "reefer madness" stigma around marijuana is born of misleading propaganda from decades past .
Why restrict it's uses or means to produce any more than any other natural plant?

You don't get high on tomatoes. Criminals aren't attracted to tomatoes. You don't need a hazmat suit to enter a place where tomatoes are grown.

I believe Marijuana should be a medicine. I don't believe it should be used recreationally, any more than I believe valium or oxycontin should be.

I do believe hemp is a viable resource that should be in use. But unfortunately, the pro-pot crowd is so concerned over their THC that they taint what should be an enterprise with the stigma of the illegal.

Law-abiding citizens don't use illegal substances. My issue is with those who do while it is illegal. They are selfish, narcissistic and immoral.

[Boda]

You don't get high on tomatoes. Criminals aren't attracted to tomatoes. You don't need a hazmat suit to enter a place where tomatoes are grown.

I believe Marijuana should be a medicine. I don't believe it should be used recreationally, any more than I believe valium or oxycontin should be.

I do believe hemp is a viable resource that should be in use. But unfortunately, the pro-pot crowd is so concerned over their THC that they taint what should be an enterprise with the stigma of the illegal.

Law-abiding citizens don't use illegal substances. My issue is with those who do while it is illegal. They are selfish, narcissistic and immoral.

Lady,

Criminals aren't attracted to tomatoes precisely because it is not illegal to grow tomatoes.
I referred to growing tomatoes because growing tomatoes is more similar to growing cannabis than any other example I can think of.

You don't need a hazmat suit to go into a place cannabis is grown any more than you need a hazmat suit to go into a place tomatoes are grown if safe procedures are utilized equally in both gardens.
Fear from false reefer madness information is clouding your judgment.

When the perpetrator's of the war against drugs hire specially trained technicians to clean up a gardening site they've rescued the public from the protective gear they're wearing is primarily to protect them from mold contamination and to protect from unknown substances that may or may not have been utilized to enhance the crop.
Those dangers are no more exclusive to marijuana farmers than they are to tomato farmers in equally managed conditions.

WADR what you believe should or should not be utilized as medicine is your opinion, your welcome to it and have every right to vote for legislators that support your beliefs.
Legislating your choice of recreation is indeed selfish and some may consider it to be immoral and narcissistic.

[Lady tehMa]

Lady,

Criminals aren't attracted to tomatoes precisely because it is not illegal to grow tomatoes.

Actually, I believe they disregard tomatoes because you can't get high off of them. Which is WHY they are not illegal.

I referred to growing tomatoes because growing tomatoes is more similar to growing cannabis than any other example I can think of.

You don't need a hazmat suit to go into a place cannabis is grown any more than you need a hazmat suit to go into a place tomatoes are grown if safe procedures are utilized equally in both gardens.
Fear from false reefer madness information is clouding your judgment.

Huh - I guess I'll go tell the appraisers I know who have become sick (one hospitalized) due to entering grow-ops. Several of them were even legal, licensed grow ops. But hey, what do they know? Just what their bodies and their doctors are telling them . . . are you sure you don't have reefer madness? You seem to have an amazing ability to disregard facts that don't support your beliefs. . .

When the perpetrator's of the war against drugs hire specially trained technicians to clean up a gardening site they've rescued the public from the protective gear they're wearing is primarily to protect them from mold contamination and to protect from unknown substances that may or may not have been utilized to enhance the crop.
Those dangers are no more exclusive to marijuana farmers than they are to tomato farmers in equally managed conditions.

WADR what you believe should or should not be utilized as medicine is your opinion, your welcome to it and have every right to vote for legislators that support your beliefs.
Legislating your choice of recreation is indeed selfish and some may consider it to be immoral and narcissistic.

Putting your own desires above the safety of others is what I see you and other potheads do. What they want is what they want, and damn the rest of the world. That is the summation of your position. The summation of mine is "for the good of the whole".