MARIJUANA OPERATIONS HAZARDOUS TO KIDS, COPS

Children Play Among Plants In Booby-Trapped Houses

WATERLOO REGION -- An increasing number of Waterloo Region children are
being removed from home-grow marijuana operations where the hazards include
accidental fires, chemical cocktails and now, says a warning to police and
fire crews, life-threatening booby traps.

Police and firefighters in Waterloo Region were warned to be alert for
booby traps after deadly devices were discovered at home-grow marijuana
operations in the Hamilton, Tillsonburg and London areas.

This new warning just adds to the anxiety of regional child-welfare workers
and police, who are concerned about the increasing number of children --
more than 90 per cent of them Vietnamese -- exposed to dangerous living
conditions when parents use family homes to cultivate marijuana.

Police, who have raided more than 60 pot operations in local homes, believe
there are at least another 200 similar operations across Waterloo Region.

In the latest bust, a 40-year-old woman and an 18-year-old man were charged
after police seized 400 plants Tuesday at a Fraserwood Court home in the
west Galt area of Cambridge.

On Nov. 13, a man, woman and four children ran from a flame-filled
Kitchener house on Westheights Drive near Highland Road where marijuana was
being cultivated.

In December 2000, another fire gutted a home-grow house in Hespeler.

Rick Pedersen, Kitchener's chief fire prevention officer, said yesterday
police and firefighters are exercising caution after being warned by the
provincial fire marshal about the booby traps.

He said they included trip wires, detonation devices and steel doors hooked
to live hydro wires.

"We don't need that," said Pedersen.

"We already face risks of electrocution because of hydro bypasses at these
places . . . When we recognize one of these operations, we try to fight the
fire from outside rather than go inside."

Staff Sgt. Ray Massicotte of the regional drug squad said yesterday police
also tread carefully when they conduct home-grow raids because they know,
even without booby traps, they are surrounded by dangerous conditions.

"The way these people play around with hydro . . . I'm surprised we haven't
had someone barbecued," he said. "Now, with booby traps, they're willing to
put intruders at peril . . . that's a few criminal steps up from growing dope."

This year, child-welfare workers have been called in by police to take 15
children under the age of 10 into care after they were found surrounded by
fire, electrical and chemical hazards at home-grow houses, said Family and
Children's Services executive director Peter Ringrose.

He said checks are made to see if relatives can take care of children while
parents are in custody. If parents are released on bail, they get the
children once they prove they can provide a safe home.

If there are no relatives or safe homes, children are placed in foster care
until criminal proceedings are completed against their parents.

Pedersen and Massicotte agree with Ringrose that children living in
home-grow locations are surrounded by fire, electrical and other hazards.

Ringrose said his staff worries about children being exposed to pesticides
and chemicals used on plants in such confined living spaces.

Massicotte said police, who wear protective clothing and check air quality
when they raid a home-grow property, often discover unprotected children
"playing through the (marijuana) trees in the basement" near bright lights
and vats of chemicals.

He said operators of home-grow businesses hook up hydro bypasses so they
can use large amounts of electricity without attracting attention.

That creates major fire and electrical risks that could result in injury or
death for adults, children, hydro officials, police or firefighters.

Massicotte said home-growers use a mix of pesticides, growth stimulators
and a volatile cocktail of chemicals.

"Every time we go in, we find vats of unknown chemicals and sprayers full
of unknown substances," he said. "This type of drug culture is dangerous
for adults, let alone children. . . . We have no idea what the long-term
medical impact will be on kids."