POWER PIRATES GROWING POT

TORONTO -- A growing plague of electricity-gobbling illegal marijuana
growhouses is costing Ontario's hydro utilities upwards of $500 million a
year, an amount ultimately paid by all energy consumers, power distributors
say.

Fuelled by massive marijuana-generated profits, the operations, which have
sprouted by the thousands in the past few years, also carry a huge social
cost, they say.

"The days where a grove of marijuana would be masked up north in a field
are over," said Andrew Evangelista, a lawyer who represents electricity
distributors.

"There has been a proliferation of residential houses hidden in residential
neighbourhoods all across Ontario being used to grow marijuana."

Worth as much as $4 billion a year, marijuana is among the most valuable
cash crops in the province.

Police say Ontario is fast catching up with British Columbia as Canada's
pot-growing capital with that province's $6-billion-a-year market.

It's a powerful lure for organized criminals, they say.

Police estimate a single hydroponic growhouse can churn out plants worth a
street value of more than $1 million a year and much of it ends up in the
United States.

Growing marijuana indoors requires powerful lights and ventilation,
consuming about $2,000 in electricity a month, but hydro thieves simply
bypass the meters to avoid the overhead and make tracing the operations harder.

"The demands on the system are enormous," Evangelista said.

York Region Det.-Sgt. Gary Miner said authorities in Markham, just north of
Toronto, have been shutting down up to 10 such operations a week.

"It's out of control, it's an epidemic, it's a virus," he said.

"This year we've done a 107 warrants and the more we do, the more we find."

In a recent one-day national crackdown, police scooped up $47 million worth
of pot plants 136 suspects, and found 28 children in the houses, some
booby-trapped to discourage intrusion.

Ontario Liberal member Michael Bryant said the illegal operations hurt
everyone.

"While they're being asked to conserve electricity, some pot-growing energy
thief next door is toking up all the electricity, causing brownouts and
blackouts, driving up electricity prices, and sending the neighbourhood up
in smoke," said Bryant.

Ontario's public safety minister, Bob Runciman, called on the federal
government to implement tough minimum penalties for convicted growers
because current sentences are no deterrent.

"This is a scandal," said Runciman.

"This is a very lucrative, very low-risk business, so that's why we're
seeing the growth" he said.

The costs of the illegal cultivation go well beyond the estimated $5 a
month extra consumers pay on their hydro bills.

The illegal hydro hookups and lights pose a major fire hazard, and the
houses, many rented from unsuspecting landlords, often get badly damaged.

The costs are shouldered by police, fire and hydro services, banks,
insurance companies and the health system, all of which are ultimately
passed onto consumers and taxpayers.

Miner said police need "an eradication tool" that allows them to enter a
growhouse, remove and destroy the plants without a warrant.

Bryant said the province can help by giving hydro utilities the power to
slap liens on properties involved in the theft to help recoup their losses
and Runciman said it's an idea worth looking it.

But ultimately, police say, a coherent national drug strategy is needed.