INSURERS EYE THERMAL IMAGER IN POT WAR

A high-tech, infrared heat detection device could become Ontario's latest
weapon in the war on drugs. The target: indoor marijuana-growing operations
- -- in a neighbourhood likely near you.

It's not the police eyeing this expensive portable piece of equipment but
the insurance industry, which has been walloped with an onslaught of claims
related to fires and damage following a 400% increase in residential
marijuana cultivation operations in Ontario during the past two years.

"From our perspective, there are upwards of 300 to 400 houses in some
municipalities" that have been elaborately transformed into indoor
marijuana farms, says Dan Little, president of the Ontario Chapter of the
International Arson Investigators Association.

"What we're seeing is extensive damage to these homes, usually in the way
of a fire but also due to mould, moisture and renovations," Mr. Little
said. Claims are paid unless it can be proven a registered homeowner was
aware of a tenant's green thumb.

Priced between $20,000 and $50,000, a thermal imaging device has not been
an option for police. Instead, a private company called Asset Security and
Protection, of Mississauga, has purchased one to lease to insurance
investigators.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that thermal-imaging devices to
detect indoor marijuana plots violate the privacy of citizens.