BUSTS PUT $87M DENT IN POT-GROW BUSINESS

Calgary's drug bust squad says it has struck gold with green, taking nearly
$87 million out of drug dealers' hands by nipping suburban grow ops in the bud.

The latest seizures of homegrown pot crops brings the total of plants taken
off the market this year to just under 72,000.

On Tuesday, 200 plants seized from a house in the 100 block of Coral
Springs Court N.E. Two women aged 40 and 62 were charged.

Police made a significant bust Monday afternoon which saw the Southern
Alberta Marijuana Investigative Team break down the door at a home in the
100 block of West Springs Place S.W.

The team made its biggest bust since last December, finding nearly 2,000
plants that could have earned drug dealers over $2.4 million when the
plants matured and were sold on the street.

The sophisticated three-stage marijuana dirt grow operation also featured
300 clones -- clippings from potent plants used as starters for new crops
- -- in the refrigerator.

"Those plants found in grows do come from somewhere, and we have found
garbage bags of clones in other houses," said acting Staff Sgt. Nina
Vaughan of the Calgary Police Service drug unit.

Last year at this time, SAMIT stormed a suburban Scenic Acres house on
Schiller Cres. N.W. That was the last time they came across an enormous
crop -- 2,100 pot plants in all.

In 2002, $18 million worth of illegal crops were collected. That was twice
as much as the previous year. Last year, police say the total seized was
close to $50 million.

To fight indoor contraband growing operations, Calgary police are teaming
up with RCMP, fire departments, Enmax and the Department of Justice.

This month, police are distributing thousands of pamphlets to residents
outlining how to spot drug houses in their neighbourhoods. The literature
will be delivered inside Enmax bills.

While production of illegal crops is sprouting up in unsuspecting
neighbourhoods, police say residents are becoming better educated about
such operations.

"This was a tip from the public. It's generally how we find the majority of
the grows are tips from the public," said Vaughan.

Besides introducing a criminal element to suburban neighbourhoods, drug
grow operations are a safety hazard, police say. Fires have been caused by
bad wiring or the production of weed oil.