PAIR OF KIDS TAKEN FROM PARENTS CHARGED UNDER GROW-OP LAW

For the first time in Canada, city parents have been charged under a
new law aimed at protecting kids from drug houses and grow-ops.

The two sets of counts under the Drug Endangered Children Act (DECA)
were laid against the mother and father of a four-year-old and an
18-month-old after the kids were taken by social services during a
raid on a suspected marijuana grow-op last Dec. 12.

On Dec. 12, police seized nearly $1.5 million of pot from a home where
they found 1,195 marijuana plants.

Members of the Child At Risk Response Team (CARRT) laid the charges
against both parents May 14 after a co-ordinated investigation between
CARRT, the Southern Alberta Marijuana Investigative Team (SAMIT),
Calgary and Area Child and Family Services and members of the
Regulatory Prosecutions Office. These charges were the first to be
laid under DECA in Canada.

On May 14, more counts were laid by CAART under DECA on the parents of
four children between the ages of seven and 16.

The kids were initially apprehended Dec. 8.

The Drug Endangered Children Act was enacted Nov. 1 in Alberta, and
since that time, 20 children in Calgary have been apprehended under
this legislation.

The names of charged parents will not be released in order to protect
the children's identities.