Pubdate: Fri, 10 Aug 2007
Source: Mississauga News (CN ON)
Copyright: The Mississauga News 2007
Contact:  http://www.mississauganews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/268
Author: Louie Rosella
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?241 (Methamphetamine - Canada)

MARIJUANA MAYHEM

Not Much Science, Just Lots Of Danger, In Grow Labs

They're everywhere.

Whether it's a new townhouse development, a run-down apartment 
complex or a luxury home in an up-scale neighbourhood, marijuana 
growing laboratories, (or marijuana grow labs, as they've come to be 
called), continue to appear at an alarming rate in Peel.

Just ask prominent public figures such as Peel Regional Police Deputy 
Chief Paul Tetzlaff or Brampton West-Mississauga MPP Vic Dhillon. 
Both live on respectable, unsuspecting streets. Both were shocked to 
learn what was happening in their neighbourhood recently.

Suspicious melting

"I noticed in March the snow melting on a house right next to mine 
and I was rather suspicious as to why this was happening," said 
Dhillon. "There was no melting of snow outside my home. I phoned 
police and...before I could make it to my office, my wife was calling 
me telling me they were pulling out hundreds of marijuana plants."

Tetzlaff had a similar scenario back in May of 2006.

"I looked out the back window one day after my wife said 'what are 
all the police cars doing on our street,' and they were dismantling a 
marijuana grow lab three doors down," he said.

The proliferation of these home grown labs prompted the police force 
to form a "Green Team," back in 2000.

The five-officer team is dedicated to taking down these multi-million 
dollar, homegrown marijuana operations.

In 2006, the drug squad took down 95 marijuana labs, seizing more 
than $68 million worth of drugs.

This year, 35 have been dismantled, 13 of which have been in 
Mississauga, with a street value of $14 million.

While statistics show the number of grow labs police are dismantling 
is on the decline, investigators say it's difficult to gauge the 
effectiveness of their efforts.

Better at concealing

"They may be concealing them a little better," said Det. Sgt. Rob 
Ryan, who directs the Green Team. "They keep the plants in the 
basement, vent the house better, cut the lawn, live in it and 
maintain it better.

"People are getting smarter. They are moving out of certain areas and 
jurisdictions and going elsewhere. I like to believe that, because of 
our policing, ( raiding ) them continually, it's had an effect on the 
overall viability of having ( a grow lab )," he said.

Ryan said there are numerous dangers to the public regarding grow 
labs. The intense heat and lighting used increases the chances of a 
fire, and also creates mould, making the home a health hazard for 
future homeowners and their families.

By-passing the electricity, as growers often do, can make the ground 
outside live and hazardous.

During a recent raid, Ryan said, he came across a toddler in the home 
that "was walking right by these transformers," being used to grow 
marijuana. He could have easily been electrocuted, Ryan said.

While real estate agents must, if they have knowledge of the home 
formerly being a grow lab, disclose that information to a potential 
buyer, there is no law stating agents must find out whether a home 
used to be a drug house, Ryan said.

Police are working with the Region of Peel to develop a section on 
the Region's website indicating which addresses have been used as 
marijuana labs over the past five years, Ryan said.

In the meantime, there are several signs of a marijuana grow 
operation inside a home in your neighbourhood, police said: little or 
no human activity in the residence, neglected lawns and gardens, 
windows always covered and full of condensation, no snow on roof 
during the winter and

people coming and going at odd hours, pulling into the garage and 
closing the door quickly, and items such as planters, fans and large lights

being brought into the home.

Patrol officers and firefighters sometimes come across the labs in 
the course of their routines-- investigating a report of a break-in 
at a home or a fire.

Police say marijuana labs continue to flourish because the penalties 
given are too lenient, according to Peel Insp. Mark Marple, head of 
the force's Morality Bureau.

Peel resident Sang Hoang Nguyen, 36, was recently convicted for the 
third time of charges relating to a marijuana lab. He served 18 days in jail.

Sentences too lenient

"The judges just don't consider it a tough crime, so they're not 
giving tough sentences," he said. "What we're seeing most of the time 
is conditional sentences and fines of $200 or $300. These (sentences) 
aren't even close to what they should be. The U.S. is livid at the 
types of sentences Canada gives for these crimes."

Police said until the grow labs are regularly linked to violent 
crimes, there will be little done with regards to sentencing.

A lot of the marijuana grown here and throughout the GTA is shipped 
by truck to the United States, Ryan said.

More meth labs

Meanwhile, unlike marijuana labs, methamphetamine (meth) labs are new 
to Peel Police, with the first one ever in the Region being 
discovered in Mississauga last summer. However, experts believe there 
are more here.

Mark McLaughlin, president of the Crystal Meth Victoria Society, said 
there are labs here that police and the community have yet to locate.

"I would think that would be a reasonable assumption," he said. "The 
movement of this product from the west (B.C.) is well under way and 
the sad part is we don't notice them unless we get a big explosion, 
big fire, or dead people."

Police discovered a "super lab" on Mariner Court last July, when an 
explosion and fire in the home killed 33-year-old Jason White, who 
lived there, and left 45-year-old Rino Fazio, with permanent scarring 
all over his body.

It took investigators two days to get into the home, as the levels of 
dangerous, potentially-deadly chemicals were too high.

Eighteen homes in the area needed to be evacuated.

Furthermore, this lab cost Peel taxpayers $116,000 in environmental 
and chemical disposal costs, to dismantle and render safe, according 
to Police Chief Mike Metcalf.

McLaughlin said these labs are extremely dangerous to the producers 
and neighbours.

"These are not university graduate chemists producing the drug. These 
are people who are probably stoned themselves trying to cook up meth 
using products under the kitchen sink," he said.

There is a huge market for meth because "for cheaper than the price 
of a movie ticket, you get a 10-14 hour intoxication."

Methamphetamine is a powerful stimulant that affects the central 
nervous system. Illegal in Canada, it's known by various street names 
including speed, meth, crystal meth and chalk.

Meth is produced by cooking a mixture of more than a dozen chemicals, 
including a cold remedy blended with iodine, ammonia, paint thinner 
and other lethal substances. A $150 investment can produce about 
$10,000 worth of the drug.

The drug-making process also produces unstable fumes, which can 
explode or catch fire.

Like marijuana labs, meth labs are easily disguised in residential 
homes and their presence in Canada has increased significantly in 
recent years, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

What to look for

The following things, McLaughlin said, should have residents 
suspicious that they might be living near a meth house:

* several bottles of chemicals being left on the side of the house or 
being left out on the curb for trash pick-up;

*  propane tanks that have turned a blue/green colour at the top from 
the chemicals eating away at the metal and brass.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom