PROTECTION NEEDED FOR KIDS IN POT GROW HOMES: COUNCILLOR

Children's health and safety is at stake when they grow up in drug
houses, Bateman said.

When Langley Township's Public Safety Inspection Teams visit a local
home, they often find evidence of drugs. All too frequently, they also
find toys and playpens.

Township Councillor Jordan Bateman said he was disturbed by a recent
memo from the PSIT.

The teams are composed of bylaw officers, police officers and
firefighters, using unusual power consumption patterns to locate pot
grows.

The memo, which listed the 158 marijuana grow ops the team had found
during the previous six months, also noticed evidence of children in
the homes in 36 cases.

When the PSIT members find evidence of children in such a home, they
alert the Ministry of Children and Family Development. In many cases,
despite the criminal activities, children are not seized from their
parents, Bateman said.

Homes used to create illicit drugs are known to contain many
dangers.

The PSIT members check for problems such as dangerous wiring, mold
growing in drywall and chemicals, all of which can be common in a grow
op. The homes modified to grow pot suffer fires at a high rate because
of badly done wiring to avoid power meters or to serve high-powered
lights.

In homes where crystal methamphetamine is being made, there are
numerous toxic chemicals, Bateman said.

The dangers can include death. Three children in California died when
a meth lab exploded in their house.

Everyone in a pot grow also faces at least some danger from a "grow
rip."

Armed criminals sometimes invade homes they believe house grow ops to
steal the crop.

On the plus side, not every house with toys has children.

"We think some of the evidence is staged," Bateman said. Some growers
try to make the upper portions of a home look normal and occupied
while growing pot in the basement or crawlspace.

To protect the children who do live in such conditions, Bateman wants
senior levels of government to take action.

"We just need some level of government to take the lead," he
said.

He hopes the federal government could implement legislation that would
be uniform across the country. Keeping children in a drug production
home could be an aggravating factor in sentencing, an idea suggested
by senior RCMP officers, Bateman said. Failing that, B.C. could change
its own rules quickly.

This is not the first time that changes have been called for to
protect children endangered by drugs.

The B.C. Association of Social Workers has already called for a
province-wide protocol to cover drug endangered children.

It suggests simply that police contact the ministry every time a grow
op is found with children in residence, that police and social workers
attend the home together, and that alternate placement is found for
children if parents are arrested.

In April, Bateman will make a motion calling for the Union of B.C.
Municipalities to support the social workers request for regulations.