POT PRODUCTION SURGES IN CITY

The problem of marijuana grow operations is growing faster in Prince
George than any other city in the province, according to a
comprehensive study.

The study, released by the department of criminology and criminal
justice at the University College of the Fraser Valley, was authored
by professor Darryl Plecas.

It examined every grow-op police file in B.C. between 1997 and
2003.

It shows the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island still account for
more than 70 per cent of the B.C. pot industry, but Prince George is
coming on strong.

In 1997, the Prince George area was ranked 12th with only 27 grow-ops.
By 2000 it was one of only 11 communities in the province to have more
than 100 grow-ops, and by 2003 it ranked seventh in B.C. with 195
operations known to police, the study said.

No other jurisdiction has seen the problem grow as quickly - more than
620 per cent over the study period.

"Interestingly, the largest variance from the provincial rate (per
capita) can be seen in Chilliwack, Prince George and Kelowna, each of
these being relatively rural locations compared to the other
jurisdictions in the top 10," said Plecas. He told The Citizen that
the provincial trend is showing growers are using Vancouver, Burnaby,
Abbotsford, Delta, etc., less and are setting up shop in areas like
Prince George.

"(In Prince George) you still have the city, but you have the
ruralness, too," he said. "Buying land is cheaper, there is more
private space, houses further away from property lines, there are
larger outbuildings and so on. Growers want larger crops and to avoid
detection, so the way to do that is move to a place where you are less
likely to be phoned in by your neighbours and more likely to have
police difficulty investigating you."

Plecas says other statistics ought to alarm Prince George residents in
regard to grow-ops. Not only are there more of them, but they are
increasing in size. This is the reality in all places, he explains.

What is unique to the Prince George area is the weapons found on-site
at grow-ops. Weapons are seized 11 per cent of the time in this area,
while the provincial average is six per cent.

On the plus side, public safety due to fire is better in Prince
George. The provincial average has grow-ops catching fire about four
per cent of the time, but in this area there is only a one-per-cent
frequency.

Outdoor plantations account for about 16 per cent of all grow-ops in
the province (10 per cent on Crown land) but in the Prince George area
only 2.3 per cent of grow-ops reported or busted are found outside.

According to the report, there were more than 25,000 separate cases of
marijuana grow-ops coming to the attention of police in B.C. between
1997 and 2003. That pegs the provincial rate at about 79 grow-ops per
100,000 people, which puts B.C. first in Canada in dramatic fashion
(second is New Brunswick at 46, no other province cracks the 40 mark,
and next door Alberta is last with seven grow-ops per 100,000
residents). The report claims the actual amount of pot produced in
B.C. is about 79,817 kilograms. The average grow-op had 236 plants in
2003, up from 149 plants in 1997.

Of particular concern to taxpayers is the rate of electricity stolen
from the publicly owned power grid to run grow-ops. It is estimated in
the report that growers stole $3.2-million in B.C. Hydro power in 2003
alone.