ALBERTA GROW-OPS GROWING IN SIZE

Police are busting fewer rural marijuana farms these days, but each
grow-op is getting much bigger.

"The number of grow-ops we're busting in rural areas is way down, but
the size of each bust is way up," said RCMP-EPS Green Team Cpl. Ian Gillan.

Alberta's population is ballooning high above national averages, with
Edmonton's population growing 10% from 2001 to 2005, and suburban
areas jumping as high as 28%.

Gillan said the surge finds police busting fewer and fewer grow-ops
with less than 100 plants. Most seizures these days net about 50 kg
of marijuana, harvested from as many as 5,000 plants.

In 2005 the Green Team shut down 75 grow-ops and grabbed about 21,000
plants. Last year they seized 3,000 fewer plants (nearly 18,000) from
only 44 grow-ops.

"(Rural) commercial operations are likely to become more of a problem
as more people move here," Gillan said.

And with British Columbia's new law allowing authorities to search
homes that use abnormal amounts of power, Gillan said B.C. growers
could soon be flocking to Alberta.