cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Operations Taking Off in Suburbs





Marijuana Operations Taking Off in Suburbs
Posted by CN Staff on January 29, 2003 at 07:05:00 PT
By Colin Freeze, Crime Reporter
Source: Globe and Mail 
A complaint long made by police is now on the lips of public-utility managers, real-estate agents and landlords: Canada's bungalows and subdivisions are increasingly serving as smokescreens for illegal marijuana factories."Pretty well every utility is flooded with this type of thing. In every community you're going to have one on every street almost," said Bob Myers, director of energy services at Oakville Hydro. "It's a recent thing that's happened."
Marijuana growers -- energy-sucking entrepreneurs who were unheard of in the suburbs a few years ago -- are now buying or renting houses, stealing electricity and driving up prices for legitimate rate-payers.Oakville is a sleepy suburb between Toronto and Hamilton, but police discovered nearly 50 grow houses there last year. In one well-known example, a landlord publicly lamented that seemingly respectable renters gutted his house to turn it into a pot plant; to add injury to insult, he said they left an unpaid $15,000 electricity bill after police seized 500 plants.Similar complaints are being made in all kinds of small towns and posh suburbs. "Increasingly, marijuana operations are being discovered in larger suburban houses located in upscale neighbourhoods," the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada wrote in its 2002 report.The Hells Angels and Vietnamese-based groups in British Columbia started the large-scale home-grown marijuana businesses, the report says. But the expertise is spreading as criminals scour the want ads for cheap houses with big basements and enclosed garages. The fastest growing area is Southern Ontario.Police who investigate grow operations in Canada's largest province were dealt a blow this week when a judge declared that warrantless searches involving a type of infrared heat-detector are illegal. Known as forward-looking infrared, the equipment can be mounted on police aircraft -- and used for everything from finding missing people to hunting fugitives to unveiling the telltale heat signature of private houses that double as marijuana factories."We'll examine the ruling," said Constable Steve Morrell, a spokesman for York Regional Police, which looks after a huge area north of Toronto. He said that FLIR technology is used in the force's many marijuana investigations, which uncovered 170 grow ops last year. Still, FLIR is "just a tool, not the beginning, middle and end of any investigation."But technological tools are important as criminals become more sophisticated. While hefty electrical bills are signs of a grow op, criminals are finding electricians who can steal electricity and rewire houses -- a dangerous practice that is thought to have caused at least 15 electrocutions in B.C. since 1995.As well, chemicals used in the operations are contaminating houses and communities. Marijuana minders are often illegal immigrants indentured to crime organizations. Several Canadian grow houses have been linked to death conspiracies -- including a double homicide last year in Oro-Medonte, north of Barrie, Ont.But grow ops will continue as long as Canadian pot sells for a premium in major U.S. cities, police say. And some growers are in a technological arms race with police.One of Canada's most elaborate pot operations was in an old barn in Warren, Ont. Investigators say behind the façade lay three levels of marijuana plants, a four-metre-long diesel generator installed to avoid big utility bills, and an elaborate air-conditioning system to make the heat signature less noticeable. For added camouflage, the growers even bought cows.But they didn't count on the wary intuition of neighbours. The neighbours could not understand why the new residents insisted on giving away perfectly good hay -- and this generous, but suspicious, behaviour provided the lead that police used eventually to make the bust."They bought a bit of a herd to make it look legit," said Detective Constable John Valtonen of the Ontario Provincial Police detachment in Sudbury. "They were trying to look like farmers, but it just didn't wash."Complete Title: Home-Grown Marijuana Operations Taking Off in SuburbsSource: Globe and Mail (Canada)Author: Colin Freeze, Crime ReporterPublished: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 – Page A5 Copyright: 2003 The Globe and Mail CompanyContact: letters globeandmail.caWebsite: http://www.globeandmail.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmRuling Curbs Use of Heat-Seeking Camerashttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15299.shtmlCourt Rejects Infra-Red Drug Searchhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15296.shtmlB.C. Pot Industry Grows Despite Raidshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14814.shtml
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Comment #6 posted by freddybigbee on January 30, 2003 at 09:37:03 PT:
Right on GCW
We could grow all our vegetables and herbs under lights. What a great idea. Prohibit them all!Or...we could grow them all outdoors under the sun. Which makes more sense?Prohibition is a fraud. Legalize freedom!
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Comment #5 posted by Prime on January 29, 2003 at 12:59:23 PT
DEA Watch...
Wow, that site is a real eye opener.High rates of alcoholism, adultery, sexual harassment, sexual discrimination and poor spelling seem to be pretty rampant.It does not appear they like Bush much either.It also seems most of them feel we should just toss out the constitution and start drug testing every citizen in this country, and locking up all those that fail.These guys give rednecks a bad name.
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Comment #4 posted by Dark Star on January 29, 2003 at 07:46:40 PT
DEA Watch
DEA Watch is always good for a laugh. Commentators typically include die-hard patriots who still think we can win the War on Drugs, those who recognize it is all a sham, and those that think Dubya is too left-wing to rule.Keep your head down.
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on January 29, 2003 at 07:27:47 PT
Is this how legit farmers would grow tomatoes
bell peppers and spinache if those were illegal?
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Comment #2 posted by darwin on January 29, 2003 at 07:26:28 PT
Bush's speech
As much as most of us don't like hearing Bush's war talk, The folks over at DEAwatch are even more pissed at the state of the union address. "Every lame word our selected president spoke tonight in his State of the Union address on the drug issue was directed solely to his niece Noelle... who mysteriously and innocently finds crack cocaine growing in her shoes. You didn't have to hear between the lines to clearly recognize the words, "To Noelle, with love and sympathy, from Uncle W."
Our selected president made it very clear tonight that drug enforcement in his Administration is giving way to drug rehab and compassion. We should all go back to college to get degrees in drug counseling... because our badges don't mean s**t anymore."There are many comments like this, check it out  
http://members.aol.com/deawatch/daily.htm
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Comment #1 posted by Dark Star on January 29, 2003 at 07:18:16 PT
Want to Stop the Crime?
LEGALIZE IT!
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