PUBLIC WARNED OF OUTDOOR MARIJUANA GROW OPERATIONS

Summer is here and with that come outdoor marijuana grow operations.

This week, Oxford OPP, thanks to a tip from a local farmer,
eradicated the first local pot crop and there will be more to come.

Tillsonburg OPP community service officer Const. Dennis Harwood, is
advising the public to be alert to outdoor marijuana grow operations.

During the summer months every year, persons involved in growing
marijuana head into rural areas to tend to crops of marijuana plants,
in some cases very large ones, they say.

Typically these illicit crops are located in swamps, corn fields,
wooded areas, along rivers or rural rental properties with large acreages.

Marijuana plants are bright green in colour. The leaves have seven
jagged fingers and plants grow between three and five feet tall, with
an odour similar to that of a skunk.

Common indicators of outdoor marihuana grows include abandoned
vehicles parked on side roads or trails, people walking in remote
areas for no apparent reason, empty bags of fertilizer, planting
trays or chemicals located in remote areas and well trampled trails
in wooded or swamp areas.

Typically, marihuana crops will be harvested as early as late August
up to the beginning of October.

Police ask anyone, especially farmers who are the victims as their
crops often get damaged by growers, to call police or Crime Stoppers
as soon as possible if they suspect or locate a marijuana grow operation.

The plants should not be touched and people should leave the area as
quickly as possible so as not to run into the illegal marijuana grower.

Also, sometimes these illegal crops are protected by booby traps and
those can pose a real danger.

Harwood said OPP will once again be out in full force this summer
searching for and eradicating marihuana grow operations, but they
want the public to help.

"We rely a lot on reports from the public and we appreciate their
help," said Harwood.