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Several Metro Vancouver municipalities are having to deal with a crop of complaints from residents over the smell from medical marijuana-growing operations.

Burnaby, Langley Township, Maple Ridge and Surrey have had to grapple with the problem.

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Last year, Surrey shut down three grow-ops for odour and forced four others to clean up their act, using a nuisance bylaw as ammunition. However, considering there are roughly 1,300 licensed grow-ops in Surrey for personal use or use by a designated person, Jas Rejal, bylaw enforcement and licensing manager, doesn’t consider the smell problem widespread.

Langley Township recently introduced a bylaw that would permit bylaw officers to issue tickets of up to $500 a day for foul smells from these production facilities.

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Township Mayor Jack Froese said the odour is reminiscent of skunk.

“It can be very annoying,” he said. “When you are having to put up with the smell of a skunk day in and day out, it’s not pleasant. … In summertime, when you can’t sit on your deck to have a barbecue because the smell is so intense, that’s not right.”