POT HOUSES: (GROW) LIGHTS ON, NOBODY'S EVER HOME

At Least 50,000 Houses Used Only For Growing Marijuana

Police say there are at least 50,000 houses in Canada that are now used
exclusively to grow marijuana, ranging from new homes worth as much as
$600,000 in downtown Vancouver to modest houses sprinkled through the
suburban streets of Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.

The law enforcement, hydro and real estate industries -- conceding they are
losing the battle -- came to Parliament Hill Tuesday to call for an end to
lax criminal sanctions against growers.

"This is a community safety issue," said David Griffin, executive director
of the Canadian Police Association. "What this means to the public is theft
of hydro, your insurance rates are affected and not the least of our
concerns is the drug trafficking that is going on in our communities."

Police provided a detailed picture of the "grow houses," which they say are
typically set up in suburban homes on the outskirts of Canada's largest cities.

What started as a West Coast phenomenon a decade ago spread across the
Prairies to Central Canada about two years ago, and now the houses are
starting to crop up in the Atlantic region.

"They are everywhere," said Staff Sgt. Marc Pinault, the RCMP's new
national marijuana grow operations co-ordinator.

The growers do not normally live on the premises, but some hire decoy
families to either live in the homes or drop by often enough to keep police
and neighbours at bay. The homes are often equipped with TVs and lights
that are programmed to come on daily. The lawns are cut and snow is removed
regularly.

Decoy Families Hired

But there are clues that something is amiss, police said. The windows and
curtains are always closed. The smell can be pungent. Growers often smash
large holes in the concrete foundation to route underground cables.

The power industry says that consumers are paying the price because growers
illegally tap into the system for the massive quantities of electricity
they need to operate high-voltage lamps and maintain hothouse temperatures.
That costs the industry hundreds of millions annually.

The operations release chemical toxins, and the houses are a fire hazard,
with overloaded heating and wiring systems.

The insurance industry says the fire risk could lead to a general rate
increase.

Police say that 95 per cent of the operations are run by criminal gangs,
who smuggle their marijuana to the U.S. for sale.

In Ontario, it is estimated that residential growing operations are a
$1-billion annual business. There are about 10,000 grow houses in the
Toronto area alone.

British Columbia remains the country's marijuana-growing capital, where the
annual business is estimated to be as high as $6 billion.

The business is not confined to run-down rental properties. More growers
are buying homes; in some cases, entire blocks are devoted to the business.

Officials complained Tuesday that when growers are caught, it is common for
judges to impose fines or conditional sentences served at home.

Growers, who can easily each take in $1 million in profit annually, see the
penalty simply as the cost of doing business.

Solicitor General Wayne Easter conceded in the House of Commons that "we do
need to do more" to fight the problem.