The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

economist suntribune crime saturday june 1 2002 11 mps get a lesson on grow houses from police from page 1 ontario met in ottawa with a group of mps to discuss the issues related to mar ijuana operations detsgt miner said the meeting was mainly to raise the mps awareness about the size ofthe problem there are an estimated 10000 grow houses in the gta alone most of them bypassing hydro meters to run their operations costing utilities hundreds of thousands of dollars and posing threats of fire and electrocution to their neighbours but the police also touched on home invasions and homicides related to grow houses most of us are baby boomers who look back at the 60s when marijuana wasnt seen as a problem the mps sat in silence for most ofthe police presentation detsgt miner said they didnt realize what was out there he said were not making this up it wasnt for the shock of it if theres not immediate changes to legislation made we cant cope through the courts and education the police contingent told the mps people charged with operating grow houses are essentially rewarded with lenient penalties for pleading guilty in court by the sheer volume of what we have theres not enough court space to handle them all detsgt miner said theres a lack of deterrence in the countries most of these people come from they would have capital punish ment basically were decriminalizing the activity he said the charter of rights and freedoms takes away tools the police need to fight the problem theres more rights for criminals be cool baby pre season sale low monthly payments oac hgh sheridan ss heating air conditioning 9054274222 call- todav for your free in home estimate m herongate mrnthlom 72885 altona rd pickering presents its a hit stage struck by simon gray a comedy thriller dinner show i thurs june 6th off thurs june 20th per person with coupon 9054723085 wwwheronga g than victims he said were pushing for eradication tools that includes legislation to make it much easier for police to obtain search warrants each house we raid accounts for about 120 police manhours he said durham mp alex shepherd who set up the meeting admitted most of the politicians were surprised by what they heard most of us are baby boomers who look back at the 60s when marijuana wasnt seen as a problem he said with our debates about decriminaliz ing marijuana we seem to be out ofthe loop but mr shepherd said it is premature to talk about new legislation to combat the problem we should be thinking more about changing the administrative side rather than the legislative side he said it isnt simply a federal matter it also involves provincial and municipal govern ments detsgt miner said the mps were also surprised by the number of grow houses in the gta we as a country cant consume the amount theyre producing its the third highest agricultural product in ontario he said much of what is produced is exported to the united states mr shepherd agreed the us treats this more seriously than we do he said we are seen inter nationally as the source for highquality marijuana detsgt miner doesnt see it that waythis is not true hydroponics he said this marijuana is not organically grown it is genetically modified and chemically treated with no controls theres no honour among these people several grow houses have been found in recent years in markham and whitchurchstoufiville s no cuts to c beds schizophrenia society of ontario 18004496367 wwwwebnetsso this message brouit to you as a community seme of the economfet sun beat the dues increase save 1 with this great fitness makeover offer it pi m n si- wmwi 1 k x0 ia 1 ss new stateoftheart coed fitness club is now open at 3389 steeies ave e facility includes life fitness strength training line free weights circuit training personal training fitness studio gardio theatre cross trainers recumbent bikes treadmills stairmasters saunas tanning pro shop goodlife f i t n e s s c l u b s new location now open 905 4759288 3389 steeies avenue east coed 905 2016753 200 bullock drive women only inside loblaws nominal dues and administrative fees apply offer ends june 15 2002 m 1 mi 111 ml n