GROW-OPS ARE LEAVING THE CITIES FOR GREENER PASTURES, POLICE SAY

TORONTO -- The discovery of a Northern Ontario marijuana grow operation
spanning an area the size of three football fields is a sign that Canada's
booming pot-growing business is expanding both in size and location,
experts said.

Many grow-ops, which have been multiplying in the suburbs around Toronto in
recent years, are moving from urban locations to the country to take
advantage of bigger growing areas and to escape police detection, said the
acting head of the Ontario Provincial Police's drug-enforcement squad.

"We're seeing a trend where we see grow operators across the province move
further north, and increase in size," Detective Inspector Frank Elbers said.

Indoor grow-ops used to be the norm because people felt that the plant
produced was of a higher quality in terms of THC, the active ingredient in
marijuana, Det. Insp. Elbers said, but this is no longer the case. As a
result, more growers are moving from Southern Ontario to rural regions
where they can plant outdoors, he said.

More than 21,000 marijuana plants were seized on Sunday from behind a home
in Iroquois Falls, Ont., about 70 kilometres northeast of Timmins.

On July 19, Ontario police seized more than 7,000 plants, ecstasy pills and
growing equipment in Sundridge, about 70 kilometres south of North Bay.

And in what is thought to be the province's largest bust, police discovered
25,000 plants growing inside the three-storey former Molson brewery last
year in Barrie.

"This year we've just seen a real swing to where we've had half a dozen
growers of a large nature, and everyone seems to be from Southern Ontario,"
said Detective Sergeant Bill O'Shea, a unit commander with the OPP's
drug-enforcement section in North Bay, who worked on that case.

He said another major consideration for these rural operators is something
any potential property owner thinks about -- that it costs a lot less to
live in the country.

"It's like any other business, it's square footage," he said.

"And you want to get your product on as much square footage as you can."

Det. Sgt. O'Shea said heavy policing in cities could be contributing to the
move.

"[Growers] are moving to other areas where they don't feel we're as aware
or sophisticated," he said.

But he said no one can be absolutely sure why more grow-ops are being
discovered in rural regions.

"That doesn't mean they weren't here, it means we haven't detected them
before."

Despite the added risk outdoor grow-ops will be discovered, Det. Insp.
Elbers said, the payoff is so big that more people see them as an option.

"It comes down to money. There's so much money in this business," he said.
"They're willing to take the risk."