GROW-OP HOUSES TO BE CLEANED QUICKLY

Thorold has become the third municipality in Niagara after Niagara
Falls and St. Catharines to establish a new policy and procedures for
demanding a quick cleanup of houses that have been used as drug dens
for the illegal growing of marijuana.

"It is about the health and safety of the public," the city's chief
building officer, Jeff Menard, said of the policy and procedures
Thorold council passed this month.

It outlines specific actions city officials can take to order an owner
of a house used for a marijuana growing operation to clean the
premises up before the city moves and either cleans or demolishes the
house at the owner's expense.

"This will help make sure these houses are cleaned up rather than have
them just boarded up and possibly rented out or sold to someone else,"
said Menard.

More specifically the policy and procedures, which go into effect
immediately, direct city officials to issue an "unsafe building order"
to an owner as soon as it is notified by Niagara Regional Police that
there has been a drug bust in the house. Once the owner has been
served with the order, they must either clean up or demolish the house
within 60 days or the city will move in and do it for them.

"It is important to stress that any cleanup or demolishing of a house
that the city may have to do will be done at the owner's expense,"
Menard said.

Houses used for marijuana growing operations often pose a health
hazard because they are contaminated with mould that builds up in the
walls due to humidity that accumulates inside the premises during the
growing process. The toxic pesticides and other chemicals used to grow
the plants can also pose a health hazard.

Menard said the policy and procedures have been developed in response
to amendments the province made two years ago to the Ontario Municipal
Act that made municipalities responsible for ensuring houses used for
drug operations are either cleaned up or torn down.

Since the Municipal Act was amended, Menard said, the city has used
what bylaws it has on the books to carry out the demolition of two
houses once used for growing marijuana on Albert Street and St.
David's Road, and the cleanup of another on Cunningham Street, all at
the owners' expense.