DRUGS PUT RESIDENTS AT RISK

The public, and the firefighters and police officers who protect them, have
been thrown unwittingly onto the firing line of Langley's burgeoning and
illegal marijuana production industry, the officer in charge of the Langley
RCMP detachment maintains.

"Marijuana grow operations are happening with alarming regularity in
Langley and throughout the Lower Mainland," Supt. Cliff MacDonald told
Township council on Monday.

"And the main concern we have is the safety of our citizens, and I've been
preaching this to the Township and City for a year now," he added.

MacDonald appeared before council to convince members to adopt a property
maintenance and repair bylaw which compels landowners to return their
buildings to a habitable state before they can be occupied again after drug
ops have been dismantled.

In a visual presentation by Const. Edna Dechant, council saw firsthand how
grow-ops imperil police officers and firefighters who enter a building in
which dope has been grown.

MacDonald stressed that there is increasing fear that innocent people will
be killed or injured when things turn violent around indoor marijuana
plantations, or labs where potent drugs are concocted.

Some people are growing small amounts for their own use; the larger crops
are for export, principally to the U.S.

Either way, the illicit drug trade is so profitable that residents must
realize that if there is a grow next to them, there is a good chance that
someone will be hurt, MacDonald warned.

There is documented evidence of innocent people gunned down in a spray of
bullets, he told council.

In a later interview, MacDonald noted that several grow-ops have been
discovered in the same upscale Langley neighbour-hood, where one house
looks pretty much like the next one. Gangs or other rivals can easily
mistake one for the other.

The last thing he wants to see, he said, is a family tied up and terrorized
in a case of mistaken identity after home invaders picked the wrong house.

Dechant provided council and staff with a graphic illustration showing a
row of support trusses, one side of which had been cut away so that the pot
growers could make maximum use of space.

Physical alterations are common, and often the design of a house is changed
from top to bottom. Large foyers of upscale residences are reconstructed so
that they can accommodate extra rooms for growing pot.

Concealed crawl spaces are remodeled, and farm buildings, built ostensibly
for growing mushrooms, are modified for extensive and sophisticated pot
growing operations. Other outbuildings are put up expressly for the
production of illegal drugs.

The damage to the environment is incalculable. Growing marijuana requires a
hot and humid atmosphere which creates condensation, leading to mildew and
mould.

Clandestine labs, built for the manufacture of methamphetamine, and pot
grow ops, use a cocktail of chemicals. These include fertilizer and
pesticides, and solvents that are corrosive, toxic, flammable, explosive
and carcinogenic.

The residue is dumped down drains and toilets. The chemicals emit dangerous
gases into the environment; death can occur from inhaling or absorbing fumes.

In one case Dechant recounted, spilled chemicals rotted floorboards,
sending the ceiling crashing down.

But health and safety are not an issue for pot growers, Dechant said.
"Growers are only concerned with making money. They are not concerned with
what their place looks like. It's a sad but true statement," she said.

"It disturbs me that I have to go to these homes, rip down an op, and next
door there is a family with kids," she said.

One council member told MacDonald and Dechant that it appears police are
"fighting a losing battle." The problem is so widespread that police are
reluctant to give estimates on the extent of the illegal drug trade in Langley.

In 2001, local police made 63 drug busts, 57 of which were in the Township,
the rest in Langley City.

Last year, they made 60 busts, all but seven in the Township.

"There are thousands out there. I hate to say it, but we just can't get to
them all," Dechant said.

The cost to taxpayers quickly adds up. It takes a minimum of five officers
to conduct one drug bust which lasts at least three hours. Each bust costs
hundreds of dollars, and does not include police time before a search
warrant is executed, follow-up investigations or seeing a case through the
courts.