GROWERS HEADING TO HIGHER GROUND

Getting high is taking on a whole new meaning these days as pot growers
move into Richmond's high-rise apartments.

Dave Gray has a different view of Richmond than most people.

"Standing at the detachment, there are apartment towers almost 360 degrees
around us and I can point out a grow-op in almost every one of them," Gray,
a constable with the Richmond RCMP's marijuana production unit, says.

In fact, in one tower alone, on the corner of Cooney and Saba roads, police
took down a record seven indoor marijuana plantations recently. More
remarkably, says Gray, is that four of the seven crops seized were
seemingly unrelated.

"That tells you the scope of the problem. It's shocking."

A business once confined to the single-family home, police now believe the
high-rise marijuana grow-operation is the latest move by the illegal
farmers to stay one step ahead in a lucrative, but all-too-often dangerous
game.

"I believe why we're seeing this now is because of this," says Gray,
pointing to a white board by his desk covered in the glowering mugshots of
over a dozen suspected grow-rippers, men who make their living stealing
someone else's pot crops.

It's a dangerous business, and one that has kept Richmond police hopping.

Conflicts between growers and rippers have often resulted in violence and,
in at least one recent case, is the theory behind the September 2002
beating death of 41-year-old Vi Soi Hoang outside a home on No. 4 Road.

Gray said the security of gated underground parking and well-above-ground
living of the high-rise apartment is proving alluring to more and more pot
growers looking to keep out of reach of the rippers.

Though the apartment grows are smaller - typically around 200 plants - than
those in a home or warehouse, they can be spread over more than one
location. That way, even if a crop is hit by thieves, the grower doesn't
lose everything.

"It's a matter of not putting all their eggs in one basket," Gray says.

The anonymity of the densely populated buildings also helps.

Looking up at a series of photos posted on another wall to the left of
Gray's computer, it's easy to see why the growers can slip under the radar.
These mugshots, all suspected or convicted growers, display a range of
mainly Asian faces, both young and old, male and female.

Many rent their apartments from an absentee landlord (a common theme in
Richmond), whether out of the province or out of the country. They simply
pay their rent, no questions asked.

Until recently, police, too, have had difficulty finding the bad apples.

"We had one RCMP member (from the Richmond detachment) living right next
door to one of these and didn't know it," Gray says.

Smaller crops in a smaller space have made it easier for that distinct
musky pot smell - the typical tip off to police of an indoor grow - to be
absorbed by charcoal filters and eventually dispersed high up off balconies
and out windows.

And even if someone catches a whiff of a grow, says Gray, "How do we know
what apartment it's coming from?"

Officers must now rely on meter readings, which will show which apartment
unit is using substantially more hydro than others - a task that just got a
little easier due to a provincial-court decision to grant search warrants
based on hydro readings.

Apartment hydro, unlike single-family homes, cannot be illegally bypassed,
says Gray.

Water leaks and hydroponics equipment showing up in the building's common
garbage can also tip savvy property managers and neighbours to the problem.

The Richmond RCMP has recently determined the issue of apartment grow-ops
to be a major problem, and one that deserves the immediate focus of its
green-team members, the informal name for Gray's unit.

To that end, Gray and his colleagues are offering their expertise to
property managers and building owners.

"If they want us to, we'll gladly come and tell them what to look for," he
says.

With the inherent fire risk of the illegal grow-ops, Gray hopes there's
enough incentive for the public to get involved.

Crazy wiring, multiple 1000-watt lights, each generating a lot of heat,
water and chemicals - "That's a dangerous mix," says Gray.

"The potential is there for a towering-inferno scenario."