DANGER FOLLOWS PUSH FOR PROFITS

Greed drives people to concoct potentially explosive methods to
maximize illegal marijuana profits, an RCMP drug expert says.

Cpl. Lorne Adamitz of Edmonton RCMP is a member of a joint police
force devoted to smashing marijuana cultivation sites in Central and
Northern Alberta.

He said on Tuesday that pot growers who branch off into extracting oil
from the "shake" or marijuana plant leftovers, are in it for "pure
greed."

The female plant's buds and flowers are the main object of pot
growers.

Adamitz said a typical 1.2-metre plant produces "four to six ounces of
buds where the THC or active ingredients is high." The rest of the
plant is considered shake. However, growers can maximize their profit
by extracting THC resin from the shake.

"If you want to get the maximum bang for your buck, you try to do a
bunch of things."

And that means organic solvents are used.

"They are highly flammable," Adamitz said.

In one Central Alberta case recently, police allege that butane fuel
was used to heat the pot. The resulting resin was then placed in a
refrigerator to cool.

Police believe the pilot light from a gas oven may have ignited the
concoction.

The explosion blew the refrigerator door off, blew out windows and
shifted a wall.

Police didn't lay charges because the explosion destroyed all the
evidence.

"What a lot of these boneheads will do is attempt to accelerate the
process with hotplates and frying pans," Adamitz said.

He estimates two-thirds of pot growing operations are run by people
attempting to produce resin from the shake.

Adamitz said police busting up a grow operation are presented with
mounting dangers from the grow equipment such as powerful ultraviolet
lights and water in hydroponic operations.

He said police now wear organic vapour masks, ultraviolet protection
lenses, water proof and shock resistant boots and coveralls.

He said it's more common now to find grow operations hit by fires and
that the number of grow operations is mounting rapidly all over Alberta.

"We're going nuts. I've doubled my stats."

Adamitz said various gangs that previously concentrated on cocaine
dealing are branching into pot growing.

Their philosophy is basic: "If my cocaine operation is picked off,
I'll have my marijuana crop and if it's picked off, I'll pay a fine."

Courts deal more harshly with cocaine dealers.

The starting point for cocaine dealing is a three-year jail term
depending on mitigating and aggravating factors.

First-time marijuana growers, if convicted, typically receive fines or
house arrest sentences.