The Ottawa Sun Front page
"Stirring the pot"
He's legally growing marijuana to ease his crippling pain.
She's so disgusted by the stench she's put her house up for
sale. Nobody cares. There's not a single inspector to police
the 557 legal grow-ops registered in Ontario.
http://www.ottawasun.com/FrontPage/2007/07/22/4358535.html

Story:
http://www.ottawasun.com/News/OttawaAndRegion/2007/07/22/4358811-sun.html

Sun, July 22, 2007
Medicinal pot battle hits home
Neighbour raises stink over rowhouse grow op
By KENNETH JACKSON, SUN MEDIA

KJ: Rudy Seegobin displays the legal grow op in his Carleton
Place rowhouse, where he cultivates plants to ease the pain
of Crohn's disease, a twisted spinal cord and severe
arthritis.
yahoogroups.com/group/medpot/files/rudysunc.jpg*****
(A.D. Wilson/SUN)

Mom's a certified biologist working at a pharmaceutical
company. Pop's a stay-at-home dad. They have three beautiful
boys, aged 7, 2 and 10 months. Together they live a normal,
happy life. Everything is on the up and up at their Carleton
Place rowhouse, except dad's got a secret he's hiding in the
basement. His marijuana grow op is only a few weeks from
harvest.
He doesn't grow the drug to make money. It's for pain
relief. Rudy Seegobin is licensed by Health Canada to grow
his own pot for medicinal reasons. Seegobin, 41, suffers
from Crohn's disease, a twisted spinal cord and severe
arthritis. He grows the pot to ease the pain. The only
problem is his house is adjoined to another and the
neighbour claims the smell of marijuana permeates through
the walls.

NO INSPECTORS
Tammy Rutledge says she was forced to move and put her
rowhouse up for sale. Rutledge, 42, tried to get Seegobin's
licence revoked. Then she thought maybe someone from Health
Canada could inspect the operation. Not likely. Health
Canada doesn't have inspectors in Ontario. If the federal
agency did, its inspectors would have seen that Seegobin
lines two small rooms in his basement with white tarp, has a
ventilation system and grows a small number of plants. He's
allowed up to 73. Inspectors would have also discovered that
Seegobin controls his humidity, which experts say creates
mould. Meters show he keeps it below 30%. The recommended
level is 40-50%. "Everything is safe, secure and done up to
code," he said. "I wouldn't do anything that would put my
family in harm or anyone else. Look around, there's no mould
anywhere."
Rutledge says she was worried about the health of her ailing
mother she takes care of, due to mould and mildew. "I don't
have mould or mildew problems (on my side) but I am worried
that there could be in the future or maybe it's in the walls
and I can't see it," says Rutledge. She called her insurance
company to see if she's covered in case Seegobin's grow op
does create mould. "If it was to happen, they said I
wouldn't be covered."

JCT: Too bad that her fear which is based on ignorance has
to be handled rather than handling her ignorance.

KJ: Rutledge put her house on the market in May, shortly
after losing her daycare business. One of the children had
respiratory problems and difficulty breathing properly,
Rutledge alleges, because of the smell.

JCT: Her diagnosis without proof, just solid ignorance.

KJ: "The mother was quite concerned and stopped bringing her
child. She was protecting her child and I would have done
the same thing," Rutledge says. "The stench is that strong."
That's during the last few weeks of growth and even Seegobin
admits that for that short period of time, it does get
smelly.

JCT: The stench of fresh greenery. I think it smells great.
What would she prefer smelling rather than mother nature.
Her neighbor's garbage bin?

KJ: Despite all of this, Rutledge respects why Seegobin
needs the marijuana, but wonders if anyone should be allowed
to operate a grow op in a rowhouse.

JCT: Growing plants inside a house, unheard of.

KJ: "We're both victims in this. I feel for Mr. Seegobin. I
know he's in a lot of pain. I just wanted him to get rid of
the grow op and find other methods."

JCT: She just wants him to get rid of his medicine and find
other now-non-existing methods. His medicine bothers her.

KJ: Rutledge called Health Canada. "I asked them isn't there
somebody who can come and check if it's being filtered
right." But there isn't an inspector in Ontario (or
Alberta).

JCT: Rather than hire experts to check the air quality if
she's worried, she wants her complaining to result in
someone else hiring experts to allay her baseless
complaints.

KJ: POLICE RAID
Seegobin would open his door to an inspector, especially
after what he's been through over the last year. Nearly a
year ago, on July 27, he was arrested after police kicked in
his front door and charged him with running an illegal grow
op. Three days earlier he was charged after a cop pulled him
over and found 71 grams of pot in his vehicle. He didn't
have a medicinal licence then and was thrown in jail for
four days.

KJ: He fought the charges and less than six months later
everything was dropped. Police returned his growing
equipment and other items. In January, Seegobin got a
licence to grow marijuana, legally.

JCT: Actually, he got a licence then charges dropped. Too
bad they didn't go into why his charges and Derek
Francisco's charges were dropped after they got their
exemptions while Pierre Drouin's same charge was not.

KJ: Besides the smell during the last three weeks of a
growth cycle, he says there shouldn't be a problem. He feels
for Rutledge but without the marijuana he can barely stand
up from the pain crippling his body. "I'm not doing anything
wrong," he says. "I'd be more than happy to let anyone come
in and see." Andrew Roche, with Ottawa Public Health,
advises Rutledge to hire experts to check the air quality,
which she hasn't done. "I would certainly get clearance from
an indoor air professional," says Roche.

JCT: She'd rather bitch until someone else does it for her.

KJ: Seegobin says the Carleton Place Fire Department has
checked his grow op after Rutledge called about the smell
earlier this year. "They came in and inspected it. They said
there was nothing wrong with it," he says. Seegobin wonders
if a Health Canada inspector had been in place, then
Rutledge wouldn't have left her home in fear and they'd both
be enjoying a glass of iced tea on the back porch, instead
of arguing about who is right.

JCT: They need someone on call to handle people ignorant of
the truth and scared by the hysterical mould stories. 90% of
homes already have mould and so 90% of grow-ops do too. Real
scary.

Still, without her, there would be no story and if they
think Rudy is stirring the pot now, wait until he's in the
fight for the return of his marijuana seized by the cop in
the first bust. We got the Crown's response to his Section
24 application and I'll publish it next.


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