MARIJUANA MAYHEM

Not Much Science, Just Lots Of Danger, In Grow Labs

They're everywhere.

Whether it's a new townhouse development, a run-down apartment
complex or a luxury home in an up-scale neighbourhood, marijuana
growing laboratories, (or marijuana grow labs, as they've come to be
called), continue to appear at an alarming rate in Peel.

Just ask prominent public figures such as Peel Regional Police Deputy
Chief Paul Tetzlaff or Brampton West-Mississauga MPP Vic Dhillon.
Both live on respectable, unsuspecting streets. Both were shocked to
learn what was happening in their neighbourhood recently.

Suspicious melting

"I noticed in March the snow melting on a house right next to mine
and I was rather suspicious as to why this was happening," said
Dhillon. "There was no melting of snow outside my home. I phoned
police and...before I could make it to my office, my wife was calling
me telling me they were pulling out hundreds of marijuana plants."

Tetzlaff had a similar scenario back in May of 2006.

"I looked out the back window one day after my wife said 'what are
all the police cars doing on our street,' and they were dismantling a
marijuana grow lab three doors down," he said.

The proliferation of these home grown labs prompted the police force
to form a "Green Team," back in 2000.

The five-officer team is dedicated to taking down these multi-million
dollar, homegrown marijuana operations.

In 2006, the drug squad took down 95 marijuana labs, seizing more
than $68 million worth of drugs.

This year, 35 have been dismantled, 13 of which have been in
Mississauga, with a street value of $14 million.

While statistics show the number of grow labs police are dismantling
is on the decline, investigators say it's difficult to gauge the
effectiveness of their efforts.

Better at concealing

"They may be concealing them a little better," said Det. Sgt. Rob
Ryan, who directs the Green Team. "They keep the plants in the
basement, vent the house better, cut the lawn, live in it and
maintain it better.

"People are getting smarter. They are moving out of certain areas and
jurisdictions and going elsewhere. I like to believe that, because of
our policing, ( raiding ) them continually, it's had an effect on the
overall viability of having ( a grow lab )," he said.

Ryan said there are numerous dangers to the public regarding grow
labs. The intense heat and lighting used increases the chances of a
fire, and also creates mould, making the home a health hazard for
future homeowners and their families.

By-passing the electricity, as growers often do, can make the ground
outside live and hazardous.

During a recent raid, Ryan said, he came across a toddler in the home
that "was walking right by these transformers," being used to grow
marijuana. He could have easily been electrocuted, Ryan said.

While real estate agents must, if they have knowledge of the home
formerly being a grow lab, disclose that information to a potential
buyer, there is no law stating agents must find out whether a home
used to be a drug house, Ryan said.

Police are working with the Region of Peel to develop a section on
the Region's website indicating which addresses have been used as
marijuana labs over the past five years, Ryan said.

In the meantime, there are several signs of a marijuana grow
operation inside a home in your neighbourhood, police said: little or
no human activity in the residence, neglected lawns and gardens,
windows always covered and full of condensation, no snow on roof
during the winter and

people coming and going at odd hours, pulling into the garage and
closing the door quickly, and items such as planters, fans and large lights

being brought into the home.

Patrol officers and firefighters sometimes come across the labs in
the course of their routines-- investigating a report of a break-in
at a home or a fire.

Police say marijuana labs continue to flourish because the penalties
given are too lenient, according to Peel Insp. Mark Marple, head of
the force's Morality Bureau.

Peel resident Sang Hoang Nguyen, 36, was recently convicted for the
third time of charges relating to a marijuana lab. He served 18 days in jail.

Sentences too lenient

"The judges just don't consider it a tough crime, so they're not
giving tough sentences," he said. "What we're seeing most of the time
is conditional sentences and fines of $200 or $300. These (sentences)
aren't even close to what they should be. The U.S. is livid at the
types of sentences Canada gives for these crimes."

Police said until the grow labs are regularly linked to violent
crimes, there will be little done with regards to sentencing.

A lot of the marijuana grown here and throughout the GTA is shipped
by truck to the United States, Ryan said.

More meth labs

Meanwhile, unlike marijuana labs, methamphetamine (meth) labs are new
to Peel Police, with the first one ever in the Region being
discovered in Mississauga last summer. However, experts believe there
are more here.

Mark McLaughlin, president of the Crystal Meth Victoria Society, said
there are labs here that police and the community have yet to locate.

"I would think that would be a reasonable assumption," he said. "The
movement of this product from the west (B.C.) is well under way and
the sad part is we don't notice them unless we get a big explosion,
big fire, or dead people."

Police discovered a "super lab" on Mariner Court last July, when an
explosion and fire in the home killed 33-year-old Jason White, who
lived there, and left 45-year-old Rino Fazio, with permanent scarring
all over his body.

It took investigators two days to get into the home, as the levels of
dangerous, potentially-deadly chemicals were too high.

Eighteen homes in the area needed to be evacuated.

Furthermore, this lab cost Peel taxpayers $116,000 in environmental
and chemical disposal costs, to dismantle and render safe, according
to Police Chief Mike Metcalf.

McLaughlin said these labs are extremely dangerous to the producers
and neighbours.

"These are not university graduate chemists producing the drug. These
are people who are probably stoned themselves trying to cook up meth
using products under the kitchen sink," he said.

There is a huge market for meth because "for cheaper than the price
of a movie ticket, you get a 10-14 hour intoxication."

Methamphetamine is a powerful stimulant that affects the central
nervous system. Illegal in Canada, it's known by various street names
including speed, meth, crystal meth and chalk.

Meth is produced by cooking a mixture of more than a dozen chemicals,
including a cold remedy blended with iodine, ammonia, paint thinner
and other lethal substances. A $150 investment can produce about
$10,000 worth of the drug.

The drug-making process also produces unstable fumes, which can
explode or catch fire.

Like marijuana labs, meth labs are easily disguised in residential
homes and their presence in Canada has increased significantly in
recent years, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

What to look for

The following things, McLaughlin said, should have residents
suspicious that they might be living near a meth house:

* several bottles of chemicals being left on the side of the house or
being left out on the curb for trash pick-up;

* propane tanks that have turned a blue/green colour at the top from
the chemicals eating away at the metal and brass.