GROW-OP DESTROYS HOME

Landlord Spends Thousands After Bust of Sophisticated
Marijuana-Growing Operation

A sophisticated grow-op in Cranberry caused thousands of dollars in
damage to a house owned by a former Powell River resident.

On Sunday, November 10, police raided a house on Manson Avenue and
seized about 160 marijuana plants and equipment.

The owner of the house, who asked that The Peak not use her name, had
relocated at the end of August and had been renting the house. She
said it will cost her thousands of dollars to repair the damage done.

"It was just a nightmare," she said. "The repair bills and rehook-up
fees will be enormous for restoring power and fixing damages."

The marijuana plants were being grown on the floor of the bedroom. A
hydroponics system was set up in the house, which was filled with
sophisticated, expensive equipment. "There was equipment basically all
through the house. There were hoses through the whole house and water
everywhere. They were ready to grow plants in every room of the house."

There were numerous propane bottles and boosted power in the house to
grow the marijuana. "They did a lot of damage. There were broken
windows. The amount of electrical equipment that was in there was just
phenomenal."

The owner is also concerned that had there been a fire, her insurance
would not have covered the damage because it would have been as a
result of illegal activity. As it is, she has to spend thousands of
dollars to repair the damage that was done.

"There's no recourse at all. I just have to pay out a lot of money to
get my house back to a livable condition again."

The person she rented the house to had good references, she pointed
out.

Powell River RCMP Sergeant Andy Brinton said the matter is still under
investigation and no charges had been laid as of November 14.

Brinton also said grow-ops seem to be on the rise in Powell
River.

"It's fair to say we're seeing more than we have in the past," he
said. "We know that they're out there, and as information comes in and
we have enough to support search warrants, we take action when we can."

As well, the grow-ops are using an increasing level of equipment. "All
of the operations that we've come across and dealt with, the majority
of them have been fairly sophisticated as far as the watering systems
and that type of thing. At the same time our observations have been
that they've generally resulted in some damage to the home, either
associated with the moisture, or there's been damage to wiring, it's
been rerouted, or structural changes have been made that the landlords
haven't given approval to.

"If there's a message, landlords have to realize that they have to
monitor these rentals because sometimes it's been very significant
money they've had to put into the place afterwards. It's defeated the
whole purpose of collecting the rent in the first place a lot of times."