Pubdate: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 Source: National Post (Canada) 4A78D1B1023B Copyright: 2002 Southam Inc. Contact: http://www.nationalpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286 Author: Daryl-Lynn Carlson, National Post INSURERS EYE THERMAL IMAGER IN POT WAR A high-tech, infrared heat detection device could become Ontario's latest weapon in the war on drugs. The target: indoor marijuana-growing operations - -- in a neighbourhood likely near you. It's not the police eyeing this expensive portable piece of equipment but the insurance industry, which has been walloped with an onslaught of claims related to fires and damage following a 400% increase in residential marijuana cultivation operations in Ontario during the past two years. "From our perspective, there are upwards of 300 to 400 houses in some municipalities" that have been elaborately transformed into indoor marijuana farms, says Dan Little, president of the Ontario Chapter of the International Arson Investigators Association. "What we're seeing is extensive damage to these homes, usually in the way of a fire but also due to mould, moisture and renovations," Mr. Little said. Claims are paid unless it can be proven a registered homeowner was aware of a tenant's green thumb. Priced between $20,000 and $50,000, a thermal imaging device has not been an option for police. Instead, a private company called Asset Security and Protection, of Mississauga, has purchased one to lease to insurance investigators. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that thermal-imaging devices to detect indoor marijuana plots violate the privacy of citizens. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom