Two men charged in Marihuana Grow Operation
In the early morning hours of April 16, 2011 Valleyview RCMP executed a search warrant at a rural residence in the M.D. of Greenview on the Young’s Point Road.
Young’s Point is about 25 km West of Valleyview and is a popular summer vacation area. Assistance from the Grande Prairie Forensic Identification Section, and Grande Prairie rural detachment also attended later in the day in support of the investigation.
The search warrant was initiated following a traffic stop conducted by a Valleyview member in the evening of April 15, 2011. 4 pounds of marihuana was seized resulting in the arrest of four individuals, which includes a youth, for Possession of a controlled substance. All have been released on appearance documents in relation to the stop. The names are not being released pending the swearing of the charges. All subjects from the vehicle are from the Grande Prairie area.
Upon entry to the residence two males were located and arrested. The search of the residence and an out building revealed approximately 100 cannabis marihuana plants in various stages of development. Also located was a generator which had been stolen from British Columbia.
Charged in relation to the search warrant is Ronald Gehring of Calgary and Richard Eckes of No fixed address, Alberta. The pair are charged with Production of a Controlled Substance Section 7(1) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking Section 5(2) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and Possession of Stolen Property Section 355(b) of the Criminal Code. Both men remain in custody. Both Mr. Gehring and Mr. Eckes are to appear in Provincial Court at Valleyview, Alberta on Thursday, April 21, 2011.
The average marihuana plant produces about 500, 0.3 gram marihuana cigarettes (joints). One hundred plants equate to about 50, 000 individual joints. Based on 100 joints per ounce the traffic stop seizure would have produced 6400 individual doses. Drugs fuel organized crime, whose primary motive is profit. The public pays for organized crimes activities through increased taxes and higher prices on essential goods and services, and through a diminished sense of safety and security in their homes and communities.
Valleyview RCMP want the public to know that If you have information on this, or any other crime, to contact the Detachment at 780-524-3345. To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online by visiting www.crimestoppers.ab.ca. You do not have to reveal your identity to Crime Stoppers. If you provide information to Crime Stoppers that leads to an arrest or the recovery of stolen property or the seizure of illicit drugs, you could be eligible for a cash award.”
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Category: Public Notice and Press Releases
I see the RCMP releasing some numbers in regards to the plants seized. I also want to know how much tax dollars does all this cost. All of it from start of investigation to incarceration. I wonder how much taxes (expensive RCMP resources) would be saved if our government would legalize and regulate. Maybe even tax it for good measure.
FACTS:
(1) Illegal drugs are the major source of funding for gangs.
(2) Drugs are not going away.
So what are we going to do?
Leaving the supply of cannabis to the black market undermines the safety of our communities by providing an easy, lucrative funding source for organized crime, spreading corruption throughout our communities.
Prohibition is the *absence* of control, and the longer we follow this same course the more damage it will do to Canadian society.
We need to take back control the same way the violence and crime during alcohol prohibition was brought under control… by regulating alcohol. As with illegal drugs, the policy of prohibition was causing more problems than the substance.
Don’t take my word for it…
“The continued PROHIBITION of cannabis jeopardizes the health and well-being of Canadians MUCH MORE than does the substance itself.”
- Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, 2002 – “Cannabis: Our Position for a Canadian Public Policy”
This report is available online:
http://www.senatereport.ca
Direct link to “Conclusions & Recommendations” section:
http://www.senatereport.ca/conclusions
The only effective solution to combating gangs is to legalize, regulate and control the sale of drugs.
Ending cannabis prohibition is in Canada’s best interest. The sooner we end it the better off our country will be.
-FrankD
http://www.CannabisFacts.ca
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Drugs and drug use does not ‘fuel’ organized crime – prohibition fuels organized crime. Have we not learned the brutal, bloody, costly lessons of alcohol prohibition?
The cannabis plant has fallen in and out of favor since ancient times depending on the political climate.
Time and time again our own Canadian Senate, medical and social researchers, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) dispel the cannabis myths and advise against continued prohibition.
Yet legislators continue to malign and subjugate the research, the plant and its advocates. More importantly we ignore reality and deny the potential benefits of a cannabis friendly world: its healing properties, its applications as renewable fuel, its superior textile characteristics, and superior nutrition properties.
A highly sustainable plant – Cannabis ‘grows like a weed’ in nearly any environment. Are we ignoring a resource capable of relieving many of the world’s, let alone our individual ails?
Why do many continue to buy into the drugs are bad because they are illegal- Drugs are illegal because they are bad rhetoric?
Legalize, educate and regulate. There’d be no need for clandestine operations, there’d be no profit in black market tactics.
Even more timely, tomorrow is 420, April 20. The day the world acknowledges, celebrates, and these days, mourns missed opportunity and continued persecution.
The Federal Conservatives have a tough on drugs agenda. They have instituted mandatory minimum jail sentences for possession, production and distribution.
Take a long hard look around you people, that’s a lot of your friends, family and neighbors destined for one of those shiny new local, provincial or federal prison cells.
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Drugs do not fuel organized crime, the prohibition of drugs does.
Society has always had a choice; government can control/regulate “illicit” drugs or organized crime will.
Our current cowardly politicians have ceded control to the black market, and they are ultimately to blame for the end result.
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