cannabisnews.com: Indoor Pot Farms Spreading










  Indoor Pot Farms Spreading

Posted by FoM on November 17, 2001 at 11:19:34 PT
By John Burman, The Hamilton Spectator  
Source: Hamilton Spectator  

Halton Police discovered $1.5 million worth of marijuana plants in three Oakville homes this week. It adds to the number of big pot-growing operations police are finding in Halton's upscale residential neighbourhoods. In October, police discovered five such operations in Burlington, Milton and Halton Hills, and through the year, have made 12 such raids. It means this undesirable, expanding industry is intruding into unsuspecting local neighbourhoods and because of the criminal element, possibly posing a danger to residents. 
Police have asked the public to be alert and aware of houses that appear vacant most of the time and where the residents only sporadically attend. The houses used as a cover for the multimillion dollar pot growing operations become unkempt. On Thursday, Oakville neighbours wondering about such a house on Mayors Manor got their answers when Halton police drug officers crashed inside to bust a marijuana growing operation worth about $500,000. "There were police at every door -- one hand on each door and the other on their gun -- yelling 'Police! -- Open up. We are coming in,' " said one neighbour who asked not to be identified. She said the officers used a ram to bash the door and hustled inside. Soon they escorted one man out of the house in handcuffs. "The guy in the house looked a little lost, like he'd just got out of bed," one man said. "He was still wearing his bedroom slippers." Officers raided three $250,000 to $300,000 homes simultaneously in the same neighbourhood around the Third Line and Upper Middle Road at 8 a.m. The three marijuana growing operations, in homes on Mayors Manor, Postmaster Drive and Greenridge Circle, each yielded about $500,000 worth of marijuana for a total of $1.5 million. Police also seized thousands of dollars worth of hydroponic growing equipment, massive 1,000 watt lamps and ventilation equipment. Halton police have charged a 45-year-old Oakville man found in the Mayors Manor house and a 32-year-old man of no fixed address at another one of the homes with production of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and theft of electricity. The 32-year-old is also charged with injury to a building. Two of the homes were rented. One was occupied by the owner. Detective Larry Burns, head of the Halton Police drug and morality unit, said police have busted 12 other houses just like the one on Mayors Manor so far this year. "We had none last year of this magnitude, now we've had 12. That is a significant increase." Burns said the pot growers seem to like the big, two-storey homes found in upscale neighbourhoods because of the room inside. The Mayors Manor operation was discovered with the help of "community involvement," he said. Burns said the indoor marijuana farms Halton police have seen so far appear to be controlled by individuals trying to make a quick buck. "There's a lot of money in it because these things go 12 months a year, 24 hours a day." Burns said there was one man living in the house. Neighbours had been told when the house sold in August to expect a couple, two grandparents and one or two kids. Bob Meyers, director of Oakville Hydro, said his crews were at the three houses to take care of the services which had been tampered with. "They bypass the meter and tie in ahead of it so the use doesn't show. "This house is using alone what the whole block would require," he said, adding the average grow operation uses 10 times as much power as a normal home. "We are interested in recovering that lost revenue but we have not had any cases go to court yet." Meyers said hydro officials are worried about the grow operations. "This is a very sophisticated job," he said of the power bypass rigged on Mayors Manor. "But it is not very safe." "They are (cutting in and bypassing the meter) live," he said. "There is tunnelling involved to get at the underground wiring before the meter and no one is shutting the power off first. "It is very dangerous." Source: Hamilton Spectator (CN ON) Author: John Burman, The Hamilton Spectator Published: November 17, 2001Copyright: The Hamilton Spectator 2001 Contact: letters hamiltonspectator.com Website: http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/ Related Articles & Web Site:FTE's Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmIt's Time Feds Woke Up and Inhaled The Aromahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10550.shtmlThe Taxman's Lost Cash Crophttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10531.shtml

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Comment #2 posted by xxdr_zombiexx on November 17, 2001 at 14:23:43 PT

PROHIBITION 
So, we are back at the start of the horrible celtic knot of the war to supress cannabis and cannabis culture.Here, the effort is to blame cannabis for the effects of prohibition itself. Specifically, the tremndous price-supports. Prohibiton creates the black market it purports to shut down, vastly inflates the value of weed, turning it into a handome cash crop.We can see the alleged huge potential profits encouraging essentially organized crime. Us regular people generally don't have the connections to produce and distribute large amounts of weed. It's too difficult and to dangerous: as in police raids or thefts. Tying into a live transmission line?? Art thou NUTS?? See what warping influence money has on obviously intelliegent people. Of course the issue is not to save money, so much as to evade detection, another by-product of prohibition.There's a word for the influence of the money generated by black-market profiteering: corruption. We get money-laundering, the buying off of whole police precints (at home and abroad). The black market creates the vast majority of crime the police are supposed to fight.If I could waltz down to the local store (dddd - play the Blue Danube, please...) and purchase a fine quarter ounce of proper herb at most anytime I desired, these guys would not have a black market to exploit. (and most likely find something else criminal to do, I'll bet ya.)Pot doesn't make criminals, prohibiton does.FREEDOM ENDURES 
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