« Letter to editor blasts Alberta legislation | Main | A brief history of cannabis – the infamous weed »
BC may follow Alberta’s lead with Drug Endangered Children Act
By Hempology | June 18, 2007
Eagle Valley News, BC
13 Jun 2007
CHILDREN WHO CALL GROW OPS HOME AT RISK
The Shuswap’s economy is based on tourism, agriculture and forestry. But anyone who lives here knows there is another big industry cropping up all over – illegal marijuana growing operations.
Police raids on various residences in rural areas surrounding Salmon Arm and also within city boundaries are frequent.
The industry is doing a booming business and law enforcement is hard-pressed to keep enforcing the law.
There’s a whole host of problems that come along with marijuana growing operations including the theft of hydro, which hurts rates for everyone, and the risk of fires. Salmon Arm has seen a few house fires in recent years which housed grow operations, and rural areas have also dealt with a number of large blazes stemming from the drug grows inside homes, barns or bunkers.
But there is another element about illegal drug growing operations which causes concern. These operations do not run by themselves. There are people behind at each of those plants. Some may be taking the risk entirely on their own; however, sometimes there are innocent victims – children living in these homes. Children living in grow-ops can be exposed to chemicals, electrical fires and mould. It is clearly not a healthy environment. The Alberta government has taken the lead and recently laid the first charges against parents whose children were allegedly found living in homes with marijuana grow operations. Called the Drug Endangered Children Act, it allows police to immediately remove children from homes where drugs are sold or produced. A current case involves charges against the parents of a four-year-old and an 18-month-old.
The cases have not yet been dealt with by the courts, but it is our hope that judges will recognize the potential harm that could come to innocent children living in those conditions and will apply penalties that include a $25,000 fine, two years in jail or both.
While the Shuswap has not seen a flood of these situations, tools should be in place to deal quickly and effectively should a child be found in a grow-op. We encourage our own provincial government to create similar legislation.
Exposing a child to a drug-growing environment deserves to be a criminal offence on its own, with separate and severe punishments to those parents who endanger the lives of their offspring in such an obvious way.
Topics: Articles | Comments Off
Comments are closed.