WHERE DRUGS GO TO DIE

Business's Boiler Doubles As Pot Incinerator

Fifty years from now, when members of the Gibbard family tell their
grandchildren the long history of their family business, one wonders
if they'll include this particular tidbit.

For at least the last 20 years, the boiler at the Gibbard furniture
factory has been doubling as a drug incinerator.

The OPP detachment in Napanee, where the Gibbard furniture store has
been operating for the last 172 years, uses the facility - at no
charge from the Gibbards - to dispose of seized narcotics, mainly
cocaine and marijuana.

According to acting Det.-Sgt. Jim Bannon of the OPP's drug unit, once
the courts are finished with a drug case, police bury whole plants in
an undisclosed location, often a farmer's field or a landfill. All
other drugs are incinerated. Samples of the drugs seized are sent to
Health Canada for testing. Bannon said Health Canada then authorizes
the detachment to dispose of the drugs.

Gerry Down, chief engineer for Gibbard, said the process has always
been low key.

"It's basically a pretty straightforward thing."

He said the police call the factory when they need to use it, and two
officers usually arrive with the goods later the same day. He said
they watch until the incineration is complete. The company doesn't
typically get more than one call a year, Down said, and the last
burning happened about two months ago.

Despite the nature of the material being burned, Down said he has
never had any complaints about the process.

"We burn pretty hot so it's instantaneous. ... With the stack being up
where it is, it dissipates by the time it gets to anybody's nostrils."

Down said the RCMP have also used the factory several times, but
because Gibbard's boiler is not a government-designated burning
facility, the paperwork involved for police is excessive, and the
federal force tries to find alternatives.

The factory dismantled the boiler two weeks ago for annual
maintenance, which means the OPP won't be able to use it to get rid of
its latest batch - 85 pounds of marijuana seized after police pulled
over a car for speeding last Saturday on the 401. In any case, it
would have taken several burning cycles to destroy that much weed,
Down said.

Byron Perry, owner of Perry Automotive and Gibbard's next-door
neighbour on Dundas Street East, said he's never had any problems with
the place.

"I've had no complaints whatsoever, and I get all their
smoke.

"You can't hear it or smell anything."

Born and raised in Napanee, Perry has been frequenting the auto shop
since he was eight years old and it was run by his uncle. He took over
the business about 40 years ago. He said he's always known about the
operation.

"It's fairly well known to anyone who's been around." But, he said, if
you hadn't been told it was happening, you would never guess. "They
don't want to be obtrusive and I don't think they really want anyone
to know."

Angie Prentice, who has lived in the area for the last two years, said
she had no idea the drug incinerations were going on.

"I've never heard of this before," she said outside her home on
Adelphi Street, which runs perpendicular to Dundas Street across from
the factory. She said she notices the presence of the factory mainly
because of the smell, but has never sniffed anything suspicious.

"I just smell stuff like lacquer and stuff."