CALGARY WANTS GROW-OPS CLEANED UP OR DESTROYED

Calgary (CP) -- Calgary lawmakers want the city to swing the wrecking
ball if the owners of 99 homes that were once used as marijuana grow
operations don't clean them up.

Alderman Diane Colley-Urquhart said some of the grow-ops were shut
down as far back as 2005.

Ms. Colley-Urquhart said often the former drug houses are owned by
people through numbered companies, making them difficult to pursue
for the costs of remediation.

Without clean-up, the condemned homes could suffer structural damage
and contamination from chemicals used in drug processing. Alderman
Brian Pincott said simply destroying such houses isn't the answer.

He said leaving demolished properties in the middle of family
neighbourhoods may create other problems.