SURREY A NO-GROW ZONE

As of this week, there are an estimated 30 to 50 suspected marijuana
grow operations in this city, down from nearly 1,000 at the beginning
of the year.

The Leader has learned the fire department is expected to announce the
dramatic drop in the number of grow operations as soon as Friday.

The huge decrease in the number of home plantations is being
attributed in part to the city's Electrical Fire Safety Initiative
(EFSI). The program involves fire officials, bylaws and police
attending homes with high power usage, often a signature of a
marijuana grow operation. Unless the owner agrees to an inspection,
the power to the home is cut.

Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis confirmed he's expected to bring council
some good news.

"In terms of high (power) consumption, we have between 30 and 50
locations left," Garis said, declining to say where they're located.

He expects to shut those down by the end of next month, when the
program will enter a new phase.

Surrey's fire department will enter a more "aggressive" prevention
program, educating the public on how to spot a grow operation.

In the next three to five years, B.C. Hydro will introduce digital
metering, which will expose people stealing power from the main line.

The news comes as a masters thesis has been completed examining the
efficacy of the program.

This fall, SFU grad Parvir Girn finished the 75-page document titled An
Alternative Response Model to Marijuana Grow Operations: The Electrical Fire
and Safety Investigation Initiative as a Case Study.
Girn also points to criticisms suspected growers aren't processed through
the courts, where they face jail time.

"While police supported the initiative, it was amidst concern in and
outside police circles that one failing of this approach would be that
grow operators dealt with by the EFSI team would escape justice
because violators would not face a criminal justice system
consequence," Girn found. "In particular, there was concern that
because of the perceived lack of a deterrent effect, grow operations
attended to by the EFSI team would have a greater likelihood of
re-establishment than those attended to by the police."

Without some necessary supports, marijuana growers found by the EFSI
team were three times more likely to set up again than if they were
found by police.

The EFSI program on its own experiences a 12.7 per cent
reestablishment rate (16 grow operations restarted over the two years
examined), compared to the four per cent starting up again after
growers were arrested by police. However, with the city's April 2006
Controlled Substance Bylaw, and its $10,000 fines, the
re-establishment rate for EFSI and police is nearly zero.

"In essence, the bylaw seemed to act as a deterrent combined with the
actions of the court system in British Columbia," Girn found. "It is
reasonable to assume that the above findings would hold true in
provinces with similar sentencing patterns to that of British Columbia."