JUST 300 GROW OPS TO GO

A marijuana grow busting program is being hailed as a tremendous
success, with a 65 per cent drop in home plantations expected this
year. The remainder will be wiped out this fall.

Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis received B.C. Hydro records in January
2007 indicating the location of 1,000 homes with extraordinary power
consumption - considered a "signature" for marijuana grow operations.
Under the city's Electrical Fire Safety Initiative (EFSI), those
homes are inspected, and statistically, 900 will have dangerous
electrical connections - most of those due to marijuana grow operations.

The EFSI team found that 280 homes had returned to normal power use
before inspection, meaning the occupants had dismantled the operation or left.

To June 30 this year, another 348 were inspected and shut down by the city.

Garis estimates there are 300 grow operations left, and expects to
have them eradicated by the end of November.

The chief was unable to determine exactly where the grow operations
are relocating, but believes they're going to eastern provinces and the States.

"I think they're going to Quebec, I think they're going to the United
States, where the market is," Garis said Monday.

In addition, the number of children found in the dangerous homes has
dropped dramatically.

"Throughout 2004 to 2006, nearly one in four locations inspected by
the EFSI teams had children present," Garis writes in his report to
council Monday. "During the first six months of 2007, locations with
children had decreased to approximately one in every 10 residences.

Garis is attributing the drop to a series of stories published in The
Leader last year.

"I think it's due to your stories," Garis said. "It's all those
stories that were around children and families, about seizing
children, it's the only thing I can attribute to it, because it was
an absolute shift of what we found routinely."

The number of fires attributed to grow operations has also dropped
dramatically, Garis said.

In 2003, there were 15 fires because of electrical problems, many of
which were suspected marijuana grow operations.

In 2006 - the first full year of the EFSI program - those fires
dropped to nine, and in the first half of this year, there were only two.

As for the 300 grow operations that remain, the owners have good
reason to be nervous, Garis said.

"When I first walked into this thing, I never thought anything would
have moved that fast, that quickly," Garis said. "It's the biggest
movement I've ever seen in input versus output... it's mind boggling."

In November, the program will shift its focus to public education. In
the meantime, Garis is pushing for controls on the sale of
hydroponics, the lighting and equipment used in marijuana grow operations.