LANDLORDS OF BURNABY GROW-OP HOUSES WARNED

RCMP say some property owners are genuine victims of what is going on in
their properties but others are turning a blind eye to marijuana
operations, which are dangerous as well as illegal

Burnaby RCMP officers are sending letters to warn some landlords that
police will raid their homes if they don't kick out tenants suspected of
growing marijuana on the premises.

"It was obvious [the landlords] don't visit their rental properties at all.
We need their help because it takes so many resources to take down a
marijuana grow operation and it is so simple to inspect your house,"
Constable Phil Reid said Thursday.

There are penalties for landlords who ignore the warnings.

A new Burnaby bylaw allows services to be cut and inspections ordered at
homes where grow operations have been discovered. And in addition to the
expensive repairs that are needed to clean up after the grow operations, it
now costs landlords hundreds of dollars for permits before they get
approval to rent the property again.

Reid said most landlords don't know tenants are using their homes to
harvest pot.

"We're not linking the property owners to the people who run the grow-ops,"
he said. "You're mostly looking at [landlords] who are turning a blind eye."

RCMP identified 100 rental homes in Burnaby where tenants were suspected of
growing dope and raided 27 ofthem between Feb. 27 and March 9.

The landlords of the remaining 70 homes were sent letters urging them to
inspect their properties because police were planning to visit them as well.

Forty-three people, mostly of Vietnamese origin, were arrested in the
raids. Police have said new arrivals to Canada are sometimes recruited to
be marijuana "gardeners" for those in charge of the grow operations, which
often are controlled by motorcycle gangs and organized crime.

Burnaby RCMP seized 8,000 marijuana plants during the recent raids. The
haul is worth milions of dollars to its owners who typically swap the B.C.
bud in the U.S. for cocaine that is brought back here to be sold on the
streets.

Police estimate marijuana is currently being grown in 4,000 to 7,000 rental
houses in Vancouver.

Inspector Val Harrison of the Vancouver police drug unit said notices are
typically sent to landlords after police raids. For the last 16 months,
officers have been accompanied by city inspectors, firefighters and B.C.
Hydro officials, who shut down services and board up the homes if they are
deemed unsafe.

Vancouver does not have a bylaw similar to Burnaby's. But after paying
bills to repair damages caused by the grow-ops, Vancouver landlords must
then pay a $309 fee to the city to have their property declared safe again
and $200 to reconnect the electricity and gas.

Harrison believes most landlords who rent to marijuana growers are either
wilfully blind or genuinely victims. She notes that more than 400 grow
operations have been shut down since December 1999, and in only one case
did the landlord rent the house out to another pot-grower.

Pot-growing tenants will often pay for a full year's rent in cash so the
landlords won't visit their houses. But that situation should raise flags,
Harrison said.

Police are trying to educate landlords about suspicious tenants and that
they should do regular monthly inspections, but Harrison admits the process
is a slow one.

"We haven't had the impact yet that we're hoping to have," she said. "But
by trying to address it through the landlords, and keep in mind I'm not
criticizing them here, we're trying to make less houses available for those
kinds of tenants."

Critics argue that marijuana growing is a victimless crime, and that police
should be spending their resources cracking down on more serious drugs or
more hardened criminals.

However, in addition to the organized crime and cocaine trade-offs linked
to B.C. bud, police say the operations can scare neighbourhoods and cause
health concerns.

The houses are often covered in mould because they must be kept hot for the
plants to grow.

Harrison said officers often find medicine for respiratory problems in the
bathroom cabinets in the homes they raid. And school officials have told
police that children of parents who grow marijuana are showing signs of
respiratory problems due to the mould in the houses.

Last year, dozens fo children were seized by the ministry for children and
families after their parents were arrested in drug raids. "We're still
finding signs of kids in the houses," Harrison said.

It is usually not difficult for police to identify which houses they want
to search for marijuana grow-ops. Typically they are not well-kept, the
windows are covered in condensation and the blinds are drawn and there are
many visitors who come and go at night.

B.C. Hydro also alerts police when electricity bills start to skyrocket in
the homes, due to the lights and heat required to grow the plants.