DOPE LABS RAISING FEARS

The prevalence of illegal pot-growing operations across the city is
striking fear into residents, a Mississauga councillor says.

Ward 4 Councillor Frank Dale said efforts to fend off the danger presented
by marijuana labs must be stepped up before the problem spirals out of control.

"It puts fear into a community," Dale said of the rise in pot-growing
activity. "It poses a serious health and safety risk to people. And it
affects peoples' property values as well."

Peel Regional Police drug cops say increasingly crafty crooks are turning
large new homes in affluent neighbourhoods into hydroponics labs to make
millions of dollars a year from the sale of pot.

Police attribute the dramatic rise in the number of such operations to the
potential for profit and lenient sentences dished out to those who
participate in grow-house schemes.

In the absence of stiff penalties, Mayor Hazel McCallion has suggested to
police that City employees who move across Mississauga daily could help
identify pot houses. Parks and Recreation workers, for example, can be on
the lookout if they know what to look for, she said.

Police say the pot-growing numbers are staggering. So far in 2003, police
have dismantled 82 pot houses in Peel. Last year, 234 pot labs in Peel (147
of those in Mississauga) were busted, and approximately $128 million in
marijuana was seized by police overall.