Mission, British Columbia, resident Len Gratto recently experienced the wrath of local city officials who fined him $5,200 for growing cucumbers in his basement. Under current laws, municipal regulators are permitted to enter premises on suspicion that a homeowner is illegally growing marijuana -- and even if no pot is found, they can levy the fines anyway.
The grow-op bylaw programs used to search properties on the marijuana suspicions state that municipal inspectors can enter homes simply because they use excessive amounts of water. Once inside, there is no requirement that inspectors find any actual evidence of marijuana -- they are free to levy fines if they determine the presence of what they determine to be "residual" evidence, such as soil or even high mold counts. And if residents fail to comply with the unreasonable orders, they could have their house deemed unsafe and unsellable by local officials.
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