INDEPTH: MARIJUANA
Marijuana grow-ops
CBC News Online | March 4, 2005
They're hard to find. They make a ton of money. And if you get caught, chances are the penalty won't be too severe.
According to Detective Staff Sergeant Rick Barnum, those are three major reasons Canada has a problem with indoor marijuana farms - or marijuana grow-ops.
A photo of the marijuana-growing operation in the former Molson brewery in Barrie Ont., is shown in this Jan.12, 2004 file photo. (CP Photo/Tobin Grimshaw)
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Barnum was involved in the biggest bust of a marijuana grow-op in Canadian history on Jan. 12, 2004. Police seized 30,000 plants that would have produced marijuana worth $30 million on the streets. The operation was hidden inside a shutdown Molson brewery in Barrie, Ont.
Some of the old beer vats were converted into incubators for the seedlings, where the temperature and humidity could be precisely controlled. The facility had excellent drainage and its tile floors and walls wouldn't be affected by all the water the operation needed.
As well, the facility's ventilation system sucked up the air and filtered out the telltale smell of the plants and the chemicals used in their cultivation.
Barnum estimates there may be 50,000 grow-ops across the country: as many as 20,000 in Ontario, 15,000 in the Vancouver area, with significant numbers in Quebec as well.
Although B.C.'s marijuana industry is often touted as the province's largest cash crop, Ontario's market is much bigger, estimated at $1 billion a year.
"We cannot deal with it," Barnum told CBC News. "We need help from the courts. We need help from governments."
Anne McLellan (file photo)
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The public safety minister – Anne McLellan – is confident that the government's proposed legislation to decriminalize marijuana will help. Under the bill, possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana could lead to a fine of up to $150. But growers caught with more than 50 plants could face 14 years in prison.
"Most [grow-ops] are controlled and run for the benefit of organized crime," McLellan said. "We need to understand what is at stake here. As a society, we all bear responsibility to take this particular crime very seriously ... These are not mom and pop organizations."
Barnum suggests the penalties in this legislation are not enough. The potential profits are just too great.
"To think that legalization or decriminalization would change anything is absolutely ludicrous," Barnum told CBC News. "What we're producing in Canada is destined for the United States. A pound of marijuana in Ontario is worth about $2,500. That same pound of marijuana in the United States can be worth up to $7,500. Organized crime recognizes that."
Legalization, Barnum suggests, would work only if it's done on both sides of the border. He doesn't expect that to happen anytime soon.
He has some other suggestions to help police in their battle against grow-ops:
- Tougher municipal bylaws, to allow municipalities to levy significant fines directly to the property. Police say suburban homes are often rented by growers, used for several months and then abandoned.
- Allow electrical utilities to immediately cut power to houses using excessive amounts of electricity. Grow-ops require far more electricity to run than normal homes. Often, the meter is bypassed and power is siphoned from the system illegally.
There are other problems that grow-ops leave behind.
Dave Dauphinais, a property manager with Acadian Realty in Calgary who assesses homes going through foreclosure, says a grow-op can cause structural damage and toxic mould. He says in some cases a simple paint job can mask much of the damage.
Don Dickson, president of the Calgary Real Estate Board, says the homes often have holes in the walls for vents to get rid of much of the moisture. The home's concrete foundation can also be damaged to accommodate rewiring that may be required to steal electricity to run the operation.
The Calgary Health Region condemned 78 grow-op homes in 2003 and 2004.
In September 2004, RCMP near Edmonton warned that grow-ops were becoming a problem in rural Alberta, after raiding a million-dollar operation in Strathcona County.
At the time, Cpl. Laura Knox said drug producers were discovering that rural counties provide great cover for their operations.
"You have an acreage and a little bit of privacy from your neighbours and they can't see … exactly what's happening," she said. "We have these grow-ops that are popping up in the surrounding area of Edmonton."
The grow-op where four Alberta RCMP officers died on Mar. 3, 2005, was on a similar rural acreage.
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