Most Canadians pay little attention to news that another marijuana grow-operation in a suburban neighbourhood has resulted in arrests and seizure of a few hundred pot plants. But would they care more if they knew that marijuana operations cost homeowners about $34 apiece extra each year on their electricity bills?

According to Klaas Degroot, board chairman of the Electricity Distributors Association, Ontario, Canadians should care more, and so should the government. Just in Ontario, electricity theft by grow-ops is estimated at $1 billion. Growers bypass meters and tap directly into supply lines so law-enforcement officials will not notice the tenfold increase in power consumption.

Mr. Degroot blames organized crime for many of the country’s grow-operations, which are often run quietly out of larger homes in nice suburban neighbourhoods. His organization is one of many pressuring the federal government to come down hard on pot growers, with minimum sentences for those convicted of marijuana cultivation.

Bob Runciman, federal public safety and security commissioner, told reporters last month that Canada is third only to Mexico and Colombia as a supplier of high-grade marijuana to the United States market. He notes most pot growers receive a conditional sentence, which is hardly a deterrent.

For example, a small “mom-and-pop” crop of 100 plants produces an annual profit of well over $110,000. A medium crop of 500 plants averages about $350,000 yearly profit, and a conviction will result in, at most, a sentence of nine months. A grower with a 20,000-plant crop, bringing in a whopping $10 million a year, might receive an 18-month jail term from a strict judge, but is more likely to receive a conditional sentence. In the U.S., a marijuana-trafficking conviction could easily end with a life prison sentence.

Police believe there are currently at least 50,000 houses in Canada used for the sole purpose of growing marijuana, and they warn the problem will only get bigger. In 2000, for example, Ontario police obtained 160 warrants for marijuana grow-operations. By last year, that number soared to 650.

Most times, the houses are discovered only after neighbours report comings and goings at odd hours, a strange odour from the house or a constant hum that sounds like a noisy fan. Meanwhile, until they are caught, growers steal hundreds of dollars in electricity to run the high-voltage lamps needed to grow marijuana.

In Ontario, Hamilton Hydro estimates it loses $5.5 million each year to pot growers stealing electricity to power hydroponic operations in their basement or attic. Toronto is also being hit hard by grow-ops, with police estimating there are 10,000 houses growing marijuana just in the Greater Toronto area.

Richard Pollock, a crown prosecutor for Windsor and Essex County in Ontario believes the solution lies with the legal system and stiffer sentences for drug growers. “We have consistently asked for jail sentences in sophisticated hydroponic grow -operations,” he says. “Oftentimes we haven’t convinced the courts.”

Is a grow-op next door?

Signs that the house next door may be a grow-op:

* strange people visit the house at strange hours
* the residents are rarely seen
* no one ever sees the moving van and furniture arrive
* the blinds are drawn, or the curtains are always shut
* the lights are on, but no one ever seems to be at home
* moisture or condensation forms on the windows
* the roof is dry on chilly mornings
* a humming noise, like a fan, is audible
* the windows are covered with foil or material (to preserve heat in the home)
* the basement windows are boarded up

Source: Report Magazine (CN AB)
Pubdate: January 6, 2003 Pages 44-45
Contact ar@incentre.net
Address: 17327 106A Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T5S 1M7
Fax: 780-486-1690
Copyright: 2003 Report Magazine, United Western Comm Ltd
Author: Marnie Ko

Source: Northwest Center for Health & Safety