MARIJUANA GROWING OPERATIONS CAN CREATE BIG PROBLEMS FOR LANDLORDS, NEIGHBOURS

It's a landlord's worst nightmare - renting to tenants who trash a property
and leave behind a big repair bill. But Chatham-Kent Crime Stoppers is
warning that the ultimate bad tenant will cause major damage and legal
problems by turning your property into a marijuana-growing facility.

OPP Crime Stopper officer Tom Harris says rental houses could be attractive
to people in the business of intensively growing marijuana because there
isn't a lot of overhead required to set them up.

Harris isn't just warning about the casual user who grows a few plants for
personal consumption, but professional growers who grow plants by the hundreds.

"There have been cases in (other nearby municipalities)," Harris says. "And
there are some in this area that we have some suspicion about."

Harris wouldn't elaborate about local properties that might be used without
the owner's knowledge, but he's asking anyone - landlords included - who
have suspicions about a property to call Crime Stoppers.

While the renters are likely responsible for any legal implications that
may come up, the landlord may end up paying thousands of dollars in
repairs, and could possibly face so much damage that the property becomes
worthless.

Houses converted to large-scale hydroponic operations can have so much
interior humidity that the beams begin to rot, and the landlord is
eventually faced with massive repair bills.

A veteran Chatham-Kent police officer says that isn't the worst that can
happen. The officer often works undercover so he spoke on condition that
his name not be used. He gave Chatham This Week some insights into how
homes are converted to grow sites, and some of the dangers that can, and do
happen.

He says marijuana needs a lot of heat and light to grow successfully
indoors, and that means big power consumption. So growers often bypass
hydro meters, essentially stealing electricity to power their operations.
If they don't do a good job of setting up the wiring, then fire is a real
possibility.

The undercover cop says a home in a Toronto suburb was partially destroyed
in an explosion caused by volatile chemicals being used to turn marijuana
products into hash oil. And there was a case in Hamilton where high levels
of cyanide were used to process the drug.

Is that type of problem possible locally? The officer says the conditions
happen here on a regular basis. In the last year, Chatham-Kent police
seized roughly 7,000 marijuana plants. About a third of them were grown
indoors.

In one house that was raided in Chatham-Kent, 1,000-watt light bulbs hooked
to bare wires were being used to supply light. There were several children
in the house.

The officer says the chances of a fire were good.

While the perpetrators try to disguise the growing operations, there are
several things landlords and neighbours should look for, especially if the
house was rented specifically as a grow site, not a residence.

They include houses that are rented but are not occupied. People may go in
and out at odd hours, late at night or early in the morning, but otherwise
the house appears to be deserted. Windows are often blocked with black
plastic to disguise the high amounts of light needed to grow the plants.

In some cases, marijuana growers have been known to put children's toys in
the yard as a disguise, but no children are ever seen near the home.

And there may the tell-tale sweet silage smell of high concentrations of
marijuana.

A tenant who doesn't seem to have a job, but has plenty of money and often
pays the rent in cash, is another clue.

To grow the plants in quantity, heat, light, nutrients, and fresh air are
needed.

Growers often vent the air through drier ducts, or through the furnace duct
work.

Sometimes there are unusual sounds. Drug growers often use transformers to
increase voltage for high pressure sodium bulbs. The transformers hum as
they operate. And some growers use generators to produce electricity, so
hydro bills won't be unusually high.

The hum of the transformer or the sound of a generator running, when normal
power is available, are clues a drug growing house may be nearby.

The officer says the type of person renting the house is not a help in
determining if it is being used to grow marijuana. In some cases, growers
are young, sometimes middle-aged. There is no pattern because the growers
are doing it for money, and as long as there is money to be made, people
will break the law.

Inside production peaks at this time of year, because it's impossible to
grow plants outside. But growing under lights is increasingly common
because police are getting better at pinpointing drugs growing in fields.

Harris is asking that anyone who suspects a house fits the profile of grow
house call Crime Stoppers at 351-TIPS, 351-8477.

Neighbours may prevent a fire or other problems in their neighbourhood.

Landlords may be protecting their property.