PARENTS CHARGED IN DRUG DEN CASES

Police Use New Law for First Time

Four Calgary parents have become the first people charged under new
provincial legislation targeting those who raise their children in
drug environments.

And police say more people will be charged soon as investigators catch
up with a backlog of cases where young children -- as young as a
newborn baby -- have been removed from known crack houses or homes
overflowing with marijuana crops.

"They are going to be ongoing. These parents are choosing the drug
trade versus the well-being of their own children," said Staff Sgt.
Jim Rorison of the Calgary Police Service's child abuse team.

"Police officers wearing full protective suits with respirators are
walking into rooms with kids playing, watching television, with no
protection at all. The moulds, the smells, the risk of electrical
explosions . . . you just shake your head."

Police announced Monday they laid the first two sets of charges under
the Drug Endangered Children Act in mid-May. It is the first time
charges have been laid under the legislation, introduced in November.

On May 14, charges were laid against the parents of a four-year-old
and an 18-month-old, following a major marijuana grow op bust in the
city's southeast.

The Southern Alberta Marijuana Investigative Team found 120 pot plants
worth $90,000 at a house in the 100 block of Suncrest Way S.E.

The parents were initially charged with possession for the purpose of
trafficking, theft of electricity and possession of the proceeds of
crime.

The pair have now also been charged under the Drug Endangered Children
Act, the first time such charges have been laid.

Four days before the Suncrest Way bust, four children between the ages
of seven and 16 were picked up at a grow op in the northeast.

Two of them lived in a bedroom beside the basement grow op and had
access to the marijuana-filled room.

Their parents were charged under the act on May 15. Their names have
been withheld to protect the identity of their children.

"It's one more tool we can use to protect children," said
Rorison.

"That's our focus. These (parents) are the first in Alberta to have
criminal charges laid under the act, and we hope to see this become
standard procedure."

Rorison said the delay in charges being laid was necessary to
determine who would prosecute the two sets of parents.

The endangerment charges and drug-related charges will be dealt with
separately.

Since the Drug Endangered Children Act was enacted last fall, 20
children have been apprehended under the legislation in Calgary alone.

In January, a pregnant mother was arrested and her four young children
taken into custody after a drug raid on a Temple home; in February,
two small children were found living in marijuana grow ops in
Lethbridge; and in May, a one-month-old baby was found living amongst
780 plants in a home in northeast Calgary.

"We do have a bit of a backlog," said Rorison.

Using the act, child intervention caseworkers and police can rescue
and protect children from drug dens based solely on the fact that they
are endangered. Typical situations include grow ops, homes where
crystal meth is made, and crack houses where drugs are being sold.

The legislation carries a maximum fine of $25,000 or two years in
jail.