A raid last year on an illegal grow-op in North Delta is an example of how overlapping legislation between medical and recreational marijuana could create problems for local police forces, Chief Neil Dubord told Delta’s police board at last week’s meeting.
On Oct. 17, 2017, the Delta mayor’s office received a complaint about a potential grow-op in a residential home in North Delta. The complaint was passed on to police, who investigated the claim.
Police found that Health Canada had issued a licence to grow 93 medical marijuana plants at that location on Nov. 28, 2017 — more than a month after the initial complaint.
Delta police continued with the investigation, as they believed there were more than 93 plants being grown in the home, and in December received a warrant to search the premises. Inside, they found 541 marijuana plants in various stages of growth.
READ MORE: Delta Police seize hundreds of marijuana plants from North Delta home
“This residence was … just a production facility,” Dubord told the board on Jan. 17. “There was no one living there, it was just a place where they grow dope.”
A caretaker was being employed to maintain the plants and equipment in the home. A woman was taken into custody during the search and later released.
In total, the DPD’s drug section seized and destroyed 448 plants, but left the 93 plants authorized by Health Canada and the grower’s equipment to produce cannabis. Police are not anticipating any charges stemming from the incident.
“You could probably stretch a charge for possession for the purpose of trafficking, but he’s trafficking medical marijuana,” Dubord said. “To be able to bring the case to court, there’s too many unknowns.”
Dubord said it is possible to put in a complaint to the federal government, saying the licensee is not adhering to the restrictions of their licence, but “we have no idea what will happen as a result of that.”
In this way, the illegal aspect of the grow-op is an example of where recreational and medical marijuana legislations could overlap.
“Do we still need to have production facilities for medical marijuana in private residences?” Dubord asked. “I’m going to suggest that we consider not.”
During the police board meeting, members voted to send a letter to council to let them know about the issue of overlapping legislation between medical and recreational pot.
They also voted to send a letter to the federal minister of health and the federal minister of public safety and emergency preparedness, to outline the DPD’s concerns about overlapping legislation.
grace.kennedy@northdeltareporter.com
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