By Heino Molls – The problem of grow houses has reached a point
where real estate associations and companies are spending thousands of dollars
to assist Realtors in dealing with them in Canada and the United States. These
initiatives wisely teach what grow houses are and how to deal with them.

Not
how to stop them.
No matter what we do, we will never stop grow houses from
operating as long as marijuana is illegal. To think otherwise is naïve and
heartbreakingly ignorant. No matter what we do, we will never stop people from
using marijuana.
There is a market for marijuana and it will never go away.
Never. Ever.
The price of marijuana is driven by the market, just like real
estate. The higher the demand, the higher the price. It gets worse. Higher
profits attract more criminals. More criminals mean more violence, more danger
and more tragedy. It is a vicious circle. It is no different than the days of
alcohol prohibition.
It seems a hopeless exercise to suggest that we should
make it legal but for what it’s worth, please believe me — we would be far
better off if marijuana was legal. We would save millions upon millions of
dollars for police and equipment and lawyers and courts that are wasted in the
futile effort of catching people who operate grow houses, and prosecuting
them.
If it was legally controlled and grown, at the very least we could
ensure that it is as free of other poisonous chemicals that may be used in its
manufacture as possible. We could encourage those who abuse marijuana to seek
help legally and without criminal prosecution. It wouldn’t help everyone, but it
would help more than we are helping today.
And if it was legal we would not
have grow houses. We would not have the challenges that a Realtor must face when
approaching such a property, not to mention all the other dangers associated
with grow houses.
Global News reported on April 6 that children are
frequently found living in grow houses among dangerous chemicals, toxic air and
high voltage bare wires. These children are neglected and at extreme risk to
physical and emotional trauma right in our neighbourhoods.
How many children?
Children’s Aid says that 69 children were taken from grow houses this year in
Toronto alone and this number is rising rapidly.
We could have regulated
places growing marijuana, if it was legal, that pay hydro bills, taxes and other
expenses that relate to a business operation. Much like a brewery or
distillery.
There are groups in our society that staunchly refuse to hear any
argument for the legalization of marijuana. I have heard it said that right-wing
fundamentalists are the strongest opponents to legalizing marijuana. But I don’t
think so.
I have heard a pretty good argument that the groups that spend the
most money lobbying the government to keep marijuana illegal are actually
organized crime syndicates. It’s a compelling thought. After all, they are the
ones who would lose the most money if grow houses were closed down and marijuana
was legally sold at controlled stores.
It occurs to me that people who are
over the age of 50 might be the most likely to advocate legalizing marijuana.
They were not around during the time of alcohol prohibition but at least they
may have been told the truth of those days first hand by their parents. The era
of alcohol prohibition is now a couple of generations behind us and the great
tragedies of those days are not in the realm of memory for the 30- and
40-somethings who seem to be running things in our society today.
The
violence and the killings that took place with moonshine whiskey back then is
almost a mirror image of what is going on today. The illness and death that was
caused by bath tub gin or bad liquor is not a whole lot different than the
chemicals that I hear they are putting into marijuana to
boost its
potency.
The days of alcohol prohibition have become wrongly romanticized in
movies and books but the reality of the times was perilous. Families were ripped
apart by alcohol abuse that was far worse than it is today. It raged unchecked
with no professional programs to help. The speakeasies and blind pigs served up
all manner of poisonous drink with no one held accountable for the sickness and
death it caused.
Alcohol prohibition was repealed because saner people
concluded that we could never stop people from drinking. But we could reduce the
related problems by controlling its manufacture and sale.
People who think we
can stop grow houses and keep marijuana illegal may not be doped.
But they
may be getting duped.

Heino Molls is publisher of REM. Email [email protected]