BIG MONEY IN B.C. MARIJUANA TRADE

Pot is a big business - for gangs, and for some legitimate firms on
the edge of the drug world.

One of B.C.'s biggest cash crops remains illegal, underground, and
largely controlled by gangs. The marijuana trade in B.C. nets about
$6 billion a year, and approximately 85 per cent of that trade is in
the control of organized criminal gangs, according to police estimates.

The trade spreads its tendrils into the economy in several ways, said
RCMP Chief Supt. Janice Armstrong. Armstrong, a former head of the
Langley detachment, now oversees the Lower Mainland's integrated
policing teams, including the Integrated Gang Task Force.

On the illegal side of the economic equation are the growers and the
gangs. Armstrong noted that as with street level drug dealing, gangs
keep their members away from the actual grow ops most of the time.

Low-level people are hired to grow the plants and keep an eye on the
houses, industrial buildings or barns where the pot is cultivated.
The "babysitters" assume most of the risk, while the gangs reap most
of the profits.

Once grown, harvested, and packaged, the pot is sold locally, to
other provinces, or smuggled into the United States. The danger to
the growers is high, and not just from the police. Violent home
invasions known as "grow rips" target the illegal farms.

The violent gang members are often the perpetrators, said Sgt. Jason
Wilde, head of the Langley RCMP Drug Section. It isn't too hard for
them to find a grow op in Langley, since criminals don't have to
worry about getting search warrants.

"They do a lot of the same as anybody else, they smell it," Wilde
said. They also watch for properties that look like grow ops: windows
sealed off, the property seemingly abandoned. In some cases, the
gangsters may have inside knowledge. It isn't uncommon for a gangster
to work on a grow, switch sides and rip it off later for easy money.

Usually the gangsters will burst in in the middle of the night, armed
with guns. Violence is frequent. In a recent attempted grow rip in
Langley, the resident of a grow op apparently tried to fight back
against a group of invaders and was injured.

Wilde said the excitement of armed invasion is a lure for some
gangsters. "That's why they choose that lifestyle, the action, the
adrenaline," Wilde said. On the legal side, grow ops impact landlords
and real estate agents who have to clean up the mess afterwards [see
story, page A17].

Those selling the hydroponic equipment and lights know who their
customers are. There are an inordinate number of such stores in B.C.,
noted Armstrong. "We probably don't have that many tomato growers
here," she said. Do the store owners know they're selling to gangs?

"There's those that turn a blind eye in some cases," Armstrong said.
In other cases, undercover police have found store owners willing to
offer tips on how to set up a grow op. Armstrong is hoping to see new
regulations that would make it easier for the police to find out
which customers of hydroponic stores are growing drugs, and which are
growing tomatoes.

If someone buys a 1,000-watt bulb, he can't simply plug it in to a
normal home's wiring system, Armstrong noted. Growers illegally
rewire their buildings, often creating fire hazards. Armstrong wants
the purchase of such equipment to automatically trigger an inspection
of the building where the bulbs are used. Municipal governments have
a legitimate interest in checking out the electrical system to make
sure they are up to code, and the tomato growers shouldn't mind,
Armstrong said.

She would also like to see inspections of legal, medical marijuana
grow ops. They are subject to the same electrical and fire hazards as
illegal grow ops right now, and there are more than 2,000 across Canada.