ACTIVIST'S VIDEO POINTS TO PERILS OF GROW-OPS

A Vancouver grandmother, sick of seeing young kids living in marijuana
grow-ops, is the driving force behind a new anti-drug-trade video.

Chris Taulu has been to more than 100 grow-ops in the past 10 years as part
of her job as executive director of the Collingwood Community Policing Centre.

"It's like a horror story," she said yesterday. "I've seen young babies in
cribs next to open electrical systems. Children walking around open
containers of chemicals."

Taulu managed to scrape enough money and volunteers together to make the
video Growing Up in a Grow Operation, which was premiered at a news
conference yesterday. The video claims that as many as 3,700 children live
in grow-op houses in B.C.

Janet Douglas, a Vancouver social worker, said she sees up to six at-risk
kids a week.

She said that most of the marijuana growers are "other than this, really
good parents."

Most simply do not understand the dangers of raising their children in a
grow-op, she said.

Up to 50 per cent of the kids she sees have some sort of illness such as
upper respiratory problems and skin conditions.

Taulu's video points out that mould, carbon dioxide and the various
pesticides and herbicides used in grow-ops are dangerous, to say nothing of
the often violent crime surrounding the process.

Taulu hopes the video will be shown in schools and to community groups --
especially to the Vietnamese community -- to educate growers on the hazards
of indoor operations.

Vietnamese gangs control much of the grow-ops in the Vancouver area, said
Vancouver police Insp. Kash Heed. Many are lured into the trade to pay off
gambling debts.

And Heed said he hoped "the government will come on board" to supply
funding to fight the problem.

"There has to be more of a concerted effort to deal with the problem," he said.

Taulu's group is so strapped for cash that they had only enough money for
six copies of the video. Her group's budget was cut in half in January 2003
when the B.C. government eliminated $150,000 for the 17 community offices.

"We're looking for donations to produce more," she said