CHIEF WANTS POT GROWERS BEHIND BARS

HOUSE ARRESTS NO DETERRENT FOR WEALTHY CASH CROP OPERATORS

With the number of marijuana grow operations reaching "epidemic
proportions", York Region's top cop wants mandatory minimum sentences for
anyone convicted of cultivating the cash crop.

"There are automatic sentences for crimes involving firearms. We need
minimum sentences for marijuana grow labs and they have got to be
substantive," York Regional Police Chief Armand La Barge told Markham's
Rotary Club last Wednesday.

"We have to let these people know they're not just going to walk away with
house arrest."

Chief La Barge's push is being backed by chiefs across the province who are
urging the federal government to pass a law handing down minimum sentences
of two years as a deterrent for marijuana growers.

"The judicial system must implement tougher sentences and assurance that
judges will impose these stiffer penalties," said a January 2004 Ontario
Association of Chiefs of Police report on grow operations. "Grow ops are a
serious threat to the public and police officers."

Police estimate Canada has more than 50,000 marijuana grow ops. In
Vancouver, where the trend began, authorities say there are still more than
10,000 in operation, but the problem has steadily migrated east. The police
chiefs association claims there are now more than 15,000 in Ontario, up 250
per cent over the past three to five years.

Chief La Barge said at least 10,000 of those are in the Greater Toronto
Area.

In York Region alone, 173 pot labs were raided in 2003, up from 170 the year
before. Police made 136 arrests, laid 342 charges and found plants with a
street value of $52 million.

"In the past the marijuana grows were often found in rural areas like King,
Georgina and Stouffville. Now, most marijuana grow ops are found in
high-density residential subdivisions ... where people are less likely to
know who their next door neighbours are," Chief La Barge said.

Last year, 80 labs were found in Vaughan, 63 in Markham, and 16 in Richmond
Hill -- the latter which has "risen dramatically and will continue to rise,"
the chief said.

Because a pound of pot sells for $2,000 Canadian and up to $3,000 in the
United States once it's smuggled across the border, grow operations have
become a "financial investment dream", Chief La Barge said.

It's easy to see why when homes with unfinished basements are rented cheap
or bought with little money down and turn over crops ranging from 40 to 700
plants yielding a half pound each, two or three times a year.

"A lot of it's grown in Canada and exported to the United States. Canadian
marijuana is in demand," he explained. "Marijuana is also being traded for
cocaine and heroin in the U.S. and then brought back here."

Border statistics show authorities uncovered 369 kilograms of marijuana
being smuggled into the United States at Canadian entry points in 1998. By
2002, that number had skyrocketed to 9,477 kilograms.

In York Region, the chief said the vast majority of growers police catch are
of Vietnamese decent. Often they are families with young children who he
said are working as "crop sitters" for criminal organizations because they
arouse very little suspicion.

Last year, 22 children were found inside York marijuana grows, many of whom
were handed over to the Children's Aid Society or sent to live with
relatives. "We found kids from 2 months to 17 years old," he said. "Just
recently we found six kids living in a Richmond Hill grow op."

The chief said 38 York Region schools were within 500 metres of grow ups
raided last year.

A police chiefs association report in December 2003 estimated 3,700 children
lived in grow op dwellings in 2002.

Growers use electricity-intensive intricate lighting and heating set ups to
create an almost tropical environment required to grow plants.

Because police have been working with utility companies to identify large
spikes in hydro as a part of their grow op investigations, many growers have
taken to bypassing hydro meters, costing utilities millions of dollars,
Chief La Barge said.

Ontario's electricity sector lost up to $85 million to electricity theft
associated with grow ops In 2002, according to the police chiefs
association.

Patchwork wiring, which is rarely up to code according to Chief La Barge,
has caused fires in several grow ops and continues to be a danger to entire
neighbourhoods.

But, because of the heating and high-powered lights used in grow operations,
the chief said infrared heat sensors can make a grow home easy to spot. In
fact, the heat is so intensive, he said it is, "enough to melt the snow off
of the roof in the winter".

Mould resulting from the heat and moisture inside a grow op can also have an
devastating impact on the home used.

In the past, police could identify potential labs using the sensors and the
force's helicopter. However, in January 2003, courts deemed the technique an
invasion of privacy and the practice was discontinued.

"That really was a naive decision and it is being appealed to the Supreme
Court," Chief La Barge said. "We're hopeful that we'll have that technique
back."

In addition to the hydro bypass, the chief said grow homes are often set up
with high tech surveillance equipment allowing growers to keep an eye on the
operation from another location.

He said officers have also encountered complicated set ups including ground
trip switches shutting off hydro when they're stepped on by utility or
police investigators and booby traps with shotguns inside to stop potential
thieves.

Crimes including murder, robbery, and home invasions have all been linked to
local grow operations, Chief La Barge said, adding although police are often
just arresting crop sitters in connection with the grow operations, the
force has been aggressively going after the organized crime element
involved.

However, with the average convicted marijuana grow operator getting as
little as 90 days to nine months in prison, he said officers still need help
from their judicial partners.

"There needs to be a two-year or one-year minimum sentence to act as a
deterrence," he said. "Some (growers) are just getting house arrest or
fines. They get house arrest and are forced to sit around the same house
they were growing marijuana in. It's not right."

York Regional Police Chief Armand La Barge said the force discovers most
marijuana grow labs through calls and tips from the public.

In fact, he said the heat from inside a grow operation is, "enough to melt
the snow off of the roof in the winter," making them easy to spot.

Here are other signs the chief said may mean a house in your neighbourhood
is a marijuana grow op;

. lights on 24 hours a day:

. covered windows;

. heavy condensation on windows;

. neglected lawns;

. people coming and going at odd hours and only entering thorough the
garage;

. strong smell, often covered with laundry softener and;

. evidence of hydro meter tampering.

Should you suspect a marijuana grow lab is in your neighbourhood, call
police at 905-764-1300.