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Urbanhog
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Joined: 22 Apr 2003
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Location: Tropical Queensland, Australia
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 Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2003 9:45 am Post subject: Hydroponics under scrutiny |
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Agriculture: Hydroponics under scrutiny
Equipment that can be used to grow illegal marijuana plants is about to show up on the B.C. Liberal government's radar screen.
by Leanna Jantzi - ljantzi@langleyadvance.com
Hydroponic equipment may be harder to come by, once the provincial government has finished rethinking current legislation.
The government will start looking this fall at the possibility of regulating the sale of hydroponic equipment, Solicitor General Rich Coleman told the Langley Advance News on Friday.
The government wants to look into how it could restrict or monitor the sale of the equipment so that the police would have access to such information, said Coleman, the MLA for Fort Langley-Aldergrove.
"We're just looking at whether this is something that is feasible and worthwhile doing," Coleman said.
Hydroponics is a means of growing plants and vegetables without soil. The system is commonly used in hothouses and greenhouses.
Hydroponics is also used to grow illegal marijuana plants. That's why, Coleman said, the government is considering regulating the equipment involved.
"Marijuana grow ops are the basis of organized crime," he said. "It funnels money into everything to do with organized crime, including money laundering."
A discussion on hydroponic equipment arose during a meeting last week between Coleman, his provincial counterparts, and the federal justice minister.
Work on the initiative will start this fall, and then will be shared with other provinces, Coleman said.
As well as looking at regulating the growing equipment, Coleman said, the government will also consider potential new rules for the chemicals used for making methamphetamines, drugs known as "speed."
Both could possibly be regulated by retailers by asking them to keep track of their customers, Coleman explained.
"What we're thinking of doing is what we do with certain types of chemicals and fertilizers that can make explosives," he said. "We're thinking of actually regulating it [by having them] keep a record of their customers."
"It's not like we're saying you're going to have to register your customer," he said. "You're going to have to keep a record of who you are selling to."
Coleman's not too concerned about potential criticism from the hydroponics industry.
"Frankly, I don't care," he said. "I'm at the point where: do you want to have people stealing $50 million worth of power from BC Hydro and setting these things up in houses where there's children, the wirings faulty _ putting these families and children at risk, or whole neighbourhoods.
"I don't have a lot of patience with those who think we shouldn't try and regulate to deal with crime, particularly this situation, because it is not something we can continue to let to go at the level it is."
Local hydroponic equipment sellers didn't want to speak on the record when contacted by the Langley Advance News, but some did express concerns.
They questioned what equipment the government would consider as hydroponic, and were concerned about the extra cost and work created by the regulations.
Some also said that hydroponics is often tainted unfairly by marijuana grow-ops.
The industry will be consulted, Coleman assured.
"This won't be something we'll just blanketly do," he said. "We'll work with the industry to make it workable for them and for us."
Coleman added that if any legislation results from discussions, it could take a year to prepare. |
http://www.langleyadvance.com/101103/news/101103nn2.html
_________________
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."
--Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad (1869) |
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