LANDFILL SITE FINAL RESTING PLACE FOR TONS OF POT PLANTS

Barrie has gained national, and international notoriety, for the
mammoth drug bust at the former Molson brewery two weekends ago.

This week, thousands of marijuana plants were buried at the city's
landfill facility, and the jokes continue.

The city has become the butt of many jokes since more than $30 million
in marijuana, and sophisticated drug-growing equipment, was discovered
in an overnight raid by more than 100 law enforcement officers on
Saturday, Jan. 10.

The comments have mainly been tongue-in-cheek, such as the outdoor
billboard on Yonge Street for the Purple Pig restaurant which states,
"Come on in - We serve Molson's but we only smoke ribs."

And the story is featured at hundreds of Web sites on the Internet,
including such locations as: www.cannabisnews.com, www.pot-tv.net,
www.marijuana.com and www.bikernews.net.

Rick Mercer's Monday comedy series on CBC last week featured a segment
with people carrying pot plants, with the background music of the old
Ontario marketing piece, A Place to Stand, A Place to Grow.

Even Bette Midler made a crack about the pot bust in her recent show
at the Air Canada Centre.

Barrie police chief Wayne Frechette says he can enjoy a good-natured
joke as much as anyone, but says there are clearly some aspects about
the episode he doesn't find amusing. Since Jan. 10, Barrie Police
Service officers have been on the site 24 hours a day, seven days a
week.

"At the outset, we had up to 50 officers at the site," Frechette said.
"We're still responsible for 24-hour security. I'm hopeful we'll get
out of there this week."

OPP officers are still at the brewery scene and are in the process of
removing large equipment, such as ventilation apparatus and lights,
used in the production of the indoor grow operation. All equipment is
being seized as evidence.

This drain on personnel has resulted in a substantial amount of
overtime hours for the Barrie Police Service, a cost which will
ultimately be borne by local taxpayers.

He admits that he did take exception to the lawyer acting on behalf of
several of the defendants, who made light of the situation when he
came to Barrie for the bail hearings.

As to the marijuana plants found in the former brewery, Frechette says
it's his understanding all of it is gone.

"It was taken to an undisclosed location, and is under six to eight
feet of landfill."

For obvious reasons, he wouldn't reveal where the illicit crop was
trucked, but did admit the tons of stalks stayed fairly close to their
point of origin.

"You could probably narrow down (the location) fairly quickly,"
Frechette says. In fact, The Advance has learned from other sources
that the pot was buried at the Barrie landfill facility on Ferndale
Drive, where it is guarded 24 hours a day by police.

While there were inquiries as to cultivating the crop and supplying
the harvest to legally-approved, medicinal users of marijuana,
Frechette says this really wasn't a viable option.

"The chemical composition was unknown," he says. It would have been
too risky to give it (to medicinal users.)"

As the operation has been gradually dismantled, there have been
several hazardous moments, Frechette reports.

"A large amount of the heat in the plant was the grow lights," he
says. "As they were turned off, it got colder."

This resulted in a number of water pipes bursting late last
week.

"We had water cascading down on electrical panels," which created a
dangerous situation, Frechette states.

"None of the electrical work was done to code, or inspected. You could
be electrocuted. I don't see a lot of humour in that. You wouldn't
want these guys wiring your house."

Some of the chemicals used in the grow operation can be volatile under
certain conditions, too, Frechette adds. "They can be explosive. Some,
or all of it, will end up at the Barrie Water Treatment Plant, and
eventually go into Kempenfelt Bay."