PILOTS, NATURE BUFFS URGED TO SPOT POT

If you're high as a kite, you'll have a better chance of helping Waterloo
Regional Crime Stoppers.

Crime Stoppers wants pilots, aviation enthusiasts and nature buffs on
hiking trails to help them make operation Pot Spot a success.

``There's a significant amount of marijuana being grown in and around the
Region of Waterloo,'' Sgt. Doug Sheppard, police coordinator for Crime
Stoppers, said Monday.

Every year cannabis growers plant and grow their crops mixed in and
alongside legitimate crops.

Sheppard says corn is usually the crop of choice. ``We've got literally
thousands of acres of corn,'' he said.

``After the farmers look after it at the beginning of the season and do
their stuff, they let it go to Mother Nature.

``And that is the perfect opportunity for some ne'er-do-wells to go grow
their own cash crops so to speak.''

The promise of unattended land, plenty of ground cover and a sizable return
on their investment proves irresistible to many illegal growers.

``A mature plant can yield up to $700 worth of marijuana so it's quite an
attractive item for people to grow on the fly,'' Sheppard said.

How attractive? Sheppard says Crime Stoppers seized about $500,000 worth of
marijuana plants last year.

Corn fields are perfect in every respect but one: from the air marijuana
plants stand out like sore green thumbs.

Corn from a small area of the field is removed interrupting the uniformity
of the rows. In its place grows a greener, bushier plant.

Sheppard says there are so many potential places to grow pot, tips from the
public are crucial to the success of the program.

Copies of a pamphlet with more information and pictures of the illegal
plant can be picked up at farm supply stores and each Waterloo regional
police building.

Police hope hikers and boaters will also keep an eye out for the green,
seven-leaf plant.

``The other places to focus on are the banks of streams and rivers,''
Sheppard said.

``In a good number of places there's a lot of trees in the area and those
are the kinds of places that aren't really easy to surveil from the air.''

Anyone providing information leading to an arrest and conviction is
eligible for a cash reward up to $1,000. Crime Stoppers can be reached at
1- 800-222-TIPS.

Copyright Kitchener-Waterloo Record 1998

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski