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