MARIJUANA 'GROW OPS' FLOURISHING

Six Operations Busted In Last Year

Kingston is not immune to massive-scale marijuana grow
operations and more and more illegal operations are setting up near
schools and in residential neighbourhoods.

Kingston Police Chief Bill Closs is urging citizens and municipal
leaders to join police in addressing the growing threat from marijuana
"grow ops" in light of a study released by The Ontario Association of
Chiefs of Police.

"Organized crime is fuelling the expansion of commercial marijuana
grow-ops," says Closs.

The study, entitled The Green Tide: Indoor Marijuana Cultivation and Its
Impact on Ontario, reveals that grow ops cost consumers
millions of dollars in stolen electricity and higher insurance costs.

"Commercial marijuana grow operations are located in urban and rural
community, including residential areas," says Closs. "They are largely
controlled by organized crime, endanger children and their families
and cost our economy millions of dollars in stolen
electricity."

Last year, the joint forces drug enforcement team busted several large
operations in residential neighbourhoods - one in the Greenlees
subdivision and another in the Kingscourt area.

Staff Sgt. Chris Scott says there were six grow ops busted in the city
in the last 12 months.

"All of them were in nice neigbourhoods," adds Scott.

An average home - with two or three levels devoted to growing the crop
- - can turn out an estimated $1 million worth of marijuana, he says.

"After a year, the house is ruined."

Because ideal growing conditions require indoor temperatures be kept
at 90 degrees, condensation warps the gyproc and buckles the rafters.

The report, released this week, was compiled by the Criminal
Intelligence Service Ontario and examined data from 2000-2002.

In that time period, the report says commercial indoor grow ops
increased by 250 per cent, with as many as 15,000 grow ops in
operation in 2002 and 1.2 million plants seized.

Revenue from the grow ops is estimated to be as high as $12.7
billion.

The report points to organized crime as the push behind the
expansion.

"These criminal groups are well-organized, well-financed and ruthless
in pursuit of their business," the chief explains.

The problem is acute in the York, Peel and Waterloo
regions.

"York region has hundreds of [grow ops]," says Scott. In one raid
north of Toronto, suspects were wearing police uniforms and
bulletproof vests. They were also armed.

"The public is unaware of the danger behind these operations," says
Scott. "And most of the money is going to organized crime."

Scott says the industry has been pegged as second in the province -
behind the dairy industry - in terms of revenue generated.

Closs says he is looking for help from elected officials and business
leaders to "educate people and develop ways in which we can stop the
spread of marijuana grows in our community."

Report highlights

* As many as 10,000 children and their families may have been raised
in grow ops - living in grow houses and tending these plants - between
2000 and 2003. Many of the children are immigrants and they are
exposed to health and safety risks and physical violence associated
with these operations;

* In 2002, Ontario may have lost $85 million to illegal electricity
theft associated with grow ops;

* The likelihood of a fire in a grow op dwelling is as much as 40
times higher than in a regular household;

* Grow operations are increasingly found near schools and residential
areas.