HOME POT FARMS A GROWING PROBLEM

London police say they could raid a house used only to grow pot every day
if they had the time.

"There's so many out there, I'm sure we don't even scratch the surface,"
said one undercover officer in the drug unit.

Since January, London police have searched at least 24 homes and apartments
for illegal grow operations.

More than $5.5 million in drugs have been seized. Police regularly find 500
to 600 marijuana plants in a single home.

A few years ago, it was rare to find more than 100 plants in a grow operation.

"Entire houses have been converted to the growing of marijuana," said one
undercover drug officer.

It's a trend that's making its way across Southwestern Ontario.

Area provincial police have seized nearly $6 million in drugs, $110,000 in
grow equipment and 5,742 marijuana plants so far this year in the counties
of Middlesex, Elgin, Oxford, Perth, Grey, Bruce, Haldimand, Norfolk, Brant
and Wellington, said OPP Det. Sgt. Brad Durfy.

"It's been a busy (few) months," he said recently. "We're seeing an influx
of the industrial-size grows" -- including as many as 6,000 plants in one home.

In the 10 counties, OPP have searched 23 marijuana grow houses and charged
58 people with 85 drug-related offences.

London police have charged 33 people and laid more than 100 drug-related
charges since January. In most cases, the homeowner hasn't lived in the
house, just used it to grow pot.

Police say that's becoming more common because real estate in London is
inexpensive compared to big cities such as Toronto.

Absentee landlords -- people who buy or rent a home to grow drugs but don't
actually live in it -- also make it tough for police to track them.

Of the more than 30 searches in London, 14 have come from the drug unit.
The rest are the result of police stumbling onto grow operations after
responding to a call for other reasons.

Organized crime often finances the startup of an operation -- about $30,000.

"They've realized the huge money potential from these operations and, of
course, it's just like a farm," said the undercover police officer.

"The bigger your operation, the more efficient it is and the more money you
can make off of it."

City police say one plant represents $1,000 in potential income for drug
dealers.

Marijuana takes about three months to mature from start to finish, so most
operations can get four crops a year.

"You can start to add up the numbers there and see what kind of money you
could bring in," the officer said.

For example, the average grow house with 250 plants, worth about $1,000
each, would yield about $1 million a year.

Utilities lose millions every year because of bypass operations --
siphoning off electricity -- throughout the province.

A large operation would use between 30 and 40 1,000-watt grow bulbs 12 to
18 hours a day, police said. That's about $2,000 in monthly power bills
that are never paid because people are stealing electricity.

Unmonitored houses with power bypasses are also a safety hazard.

"These houses are fire traps," said Det. Mike Klimm of York Regional
police, who co-ordinated Operation Green Sweep, a nationwide blitz on grow
houses that started in January last year.

By the end of the blitz, 46,796 pot plants had been seized.

Police say it's just a matter of time before a London grow house catches fire.

"I've seen one where the bypass (electrical wiring) is melted and charred
because it was done so poorly," the undercover London cop said.

The rapid increase in the number of grow operations started in British
Columbia about 10 years ago.

There are an estimated 10,000 grow operations in the Toronto area, and it's
suspected one in every 100 houses in nearby Markham is a grow operation,
Klimm said.

Some of the drugs grown in Canada stay in the country, but most wind up in
the U.S.

That's because Canadian drug penalties are more relaxed than those south of
the border, Klimm said.

A first-time offender with a large operation -- more than 500 plants --
might get a year in jail in Canada.

In the U.S., penalties range from 36 to 87 months in prison.