POT HOUSES A GROWING PROBLEM

RCMP Across Canada Fighting Fast-Rising Drug Battle

THE four RCMP officers who were killed yesterday in a botched raid on
a marijuana growing operation in northwestern Alberta are just one
front in a battle being fought against the country's fastest expanding
drug problem.

From suburban dream homes, to inner-city warehouses, and even a
mothballed Molson brewery, grow-ops are proliferating across Canada
and it's rare that a week goes by without a major bust.

Last Thursday, police in Chilliwack, B.C., pulled 816 pot plants from
a home in the city 92 kilometres east of Vancouver. The following day,
RCMP found 800 plants and about 20 pounds of dried marijuana in a grow
operation in Mission, also east of Vancouver.

A week later, neighbours at a housing complex in Coquitlam, B.C., said
they weren't surprised when police found 28 separate marijuana
grow-ops in the townhome.

And it's not just B.C. Even Prince Edward Island has its share of
grow-operations. Last month, police in Princeton uncovered 3,000
marijuana plants, growing equipment and drug paraphernalia in the tiny
province's largest-ever drug bust.

One of the largest grow-ops in Canada's history was discovered mere
blocks from police headquarters in Winnipeg. Officers found more than
10,000 plants in the boarded-up, two-storey brick warehouse. The
largest indoor operation found in Canada, with more than 25,000 pot
plants, was uncovered Jan. 10, 2004, in the former Molson brewery in
Barrie, Ont., an hour's drive north of Toronto.

The culture of the grow-op has even morphed into a Monopoly-style
board game. Created by two Vancouver-based former grow-op operators,
the Grow-Op Game pits players against the authorities, and each other,
in an attempt to build a successful marijuana-growing operation.

Though the raid yesterday in Alberta proved to be ill-fated for the
officers involved, officials say grow-ops are also a health concern
for many reasons.

Glenn Jenkins, an environmental health officer in Edmonton, says many
grow-ops are condemned as unfit for habitation because mould from
condensation releases spores that can cause respiratory ailments and
other health problems.

Grow-operations are also an increasing concern for homeowners. Those
who unwittingly rent out their homes to grow operators are left with
little recourse once the operation is busted.

Often, the homes are left severely damaged with mould and rot because
of the high humidity. Their reconfigured furnace vents create a risk
of carbon monoxide poisoning, and illegal wiring can be a fire risk.
Repairing the damage can cost tens of thousands of dollars and
officials at the Insurance Bureau of Canada say most policies will not
honour a claim for damage caused by a grow-operation, even if the
owner was an innocent party and the activity occurred without his or
her knowledge.

Luckily, Det. Clayton Sach of the Green Team, a joint operation of
Edmonton police and RCMP that investigates grow-ops throughout
northern Alberta, says most grow operators prefer to buy their own
homes rather than rent from nosy landlords.