FOUR PARENTS CHARGED WITH RAISING KIDS IN DRUG HOUSES

CALGARY -- Four Calgary parents are the first people charged under new
provincial legislation targeting those who raise their children in
drug houses.

Police say more people will be charged soon as investigators catch up
with a backlog of cases where young children have been removed from
crack houses or homes where marijuana crops are grown.

"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 had 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.

Police found 120 marijuana plants worth $90,000 at the house.

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

Four days earlier, four children aged seven to 16 were picked up at a
marijuana grow-op in northeast Calgary.