PROVINCE LOOKS TO FALLS FOR GROW-OP TASK FORCE

NIAGARA FALLS -- The Ontario government is cracking down on marijuana
growing operations and is looking to Niagara Falls as a prototype for
its new province-wide task force which aims to protect Ontarians from
dope-growers.

Monte Kwinter, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services,
was in the Falls Wednesday to announce $800,000 a year in funding for
a new Provincial Task Force on Marijuana Grow Operations. The unit,
being established by the Ontario Fire Marshal's office, will try to
protect Ontario's neighbourhoods from the health hazards associated
with grow-ops.

The Niagara Falls Fire Department and Police Department, as well as
several other local agencies, began their city-wide war on grow-ops in
2004 after a local firefighter was caught in a burning grow-op home
and barely escape.

The plan has been very successful, resulting in the inspection of some
100 local grow-op buildings and more than 115 fire charges being laid
against grow-op owners and those responsible for operating such outfits.

Kwinter said it was easy to turn to such a successful blueprint for
guidance.

"Niagara Falls has really become a model of what can be done in
detection and enforcement," he said.

A major goal of the task force will be establishing standardized
protocol for cleaning up former grow-op homes, many of which become
mould-infested safety hazards.

Kwinter described these places, which often have sub-par electrical
wiring, as dangerous "firetraps."

The team will also look to create a comprehensive grow-op training
package for police forces and a public information package to help
people spot such homes in their neighbourhoods.

Kwinter said it's important to stomp out illegal pot-growing
operations because they help fund organized crime, which uses pot as
currency to purchase guns and other drugs from the United States.

Patrick Burke, Ontario's Fire Marshal, was instrumental in getting the
Niagara Falls anti-grow-op initiative off the ground when he was the
city's fire chief. He will head up the task force.

Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor, who pushed for an Ontario-wide grow-op
plan, said he was happy to see the city held up as an example.

"It's a model I fully believe can be used throughout the province," he
said. "Other municipalities are having this same problem. Now they
don't have to re-invent the wheel."

The task force is part of a larger $12 million provincial initiative
to fight guns, gangs and organized crime.