OPP SURVEY YIELDS $6.5 MILLION CROP

Each summer and fall, the OPP drug unit surveys the province by
helicopter, looking for the tell-tale patches of emerald green that
indicate a marijuana grow operation.

In this region last month, members of the Kawartha Combined Forces
Drug Unit (KCFDU) spotted more than 23 crops hidden in creek beds and
farmers' fields, which amounted to just over $6.5 million worth of marijuana.

From Sept. 18 to Sept. 22, officers found and destroyed crops around
Lindsay, Haliburton Highlands, Port Hope, Northumberland and
Peterborough counties. The KCFDU eradication unit that conducts these
searches usually spends about a week in different areas, says unit
member Constable Ernie Garbutt.

This region is ideal for growing, explains Const. Garbutt, because
there's ample farm land and creek beds to hide the marijuana.
Typically, growers clear space in the middle of a cornfield for their
own illegitimate crops.

"Many farmers don't even know it's in the fields," adds Const. Garbutt.

The five to six member unit works in two teams, one on the ground and
one in the air. They use tips people have phoned in throughout the
year to get a better idea of where to look. "We get people phoning in
all summer with tips about where people have been spotted going in
and out of the bush or isolated areas," says Const. Garbutt.

They then use a global positioning system (GPS) and maps to narrow
down the search.

"Marijuana is very easy to spot from the air because it's very
green," says Const. Garbutt.

When officers in the helicopter do spot something down below, they
contact unit members on the ground with an exact position.

The helicopter then lowers heavy nets down to officers on the ground,
who pull out plants by hand and load them up. The plants are disposed
of in a landfill.

Even though the plants are covered in landfill sludge, making them
ineffective to dry and use, Const. Garbutt says that hasn't stopped
some would-be criminals.

"It happened once in Orillia, with about 25 thousand worth of
plants," says Const. Garbutt.

"At night people tried to dig it up, but they were easy to spot with
their flashlights moving around the dump."

It's expensive to conduct these searches, about $1,000 per hour to
operate a helicopter alone. Const. Garbutt says the reason the OPP
makes these efforts is because Canadian marijuana is traded
internationally for harder drugs, helping fuel organized crime in the country.

"What people call 'B.C. bud' is actually all Canadian marijuana,"
says Const. Garbutt.

"And it can be traded pound for pound for cocaine on the U.S. drug
market. So, we're at the point where we're just trying to keep it off
the street."

The largest single marijuana plot the eradication team found was
1,500 plants in a swamp in the former Cavendish Township area.
Searches will continue through October, says Const. Garbutt.