Pubdate: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB) Copyright: 2008 The Edmonton Journal Contact: http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134 Author: Stephane Massinon, Canwest News Service Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) CROOKS GET POT SMART Grow-ops Smaller, But Operators More Stealthy In a year that saw two record-sized marijuana grow-ops found in Calgary, police say the illegal operations are actually getting smaller and the people running them better at hiding their telltale signs. On Dec. 10, a police raid found 2,600 plants with an estimated street value of $3.25 million, the largest in the city's history. It was only on May 9 that police made their previous record, after discovering plants worth $3.05 million. But in the roughly 100 busts that happen in a year, the operations are getting smaller, not bigger, police say. Sgt. Keith Hurley of the Southern Alberta Marijuana Investigative Team said despite the high-profile busts netting thousands of plants, most grow-ops average about 500 to 600 plants. "There was a time when the 1,000-plant grow was pretty much the norm," said Hurley "They can go a bit more undetected when they're smaller. They don't create as much moisture." What's more, the people growing the drug are getting more adept at making the houses fit in their neighbourhoods. Traditionally, police have told people to be on the lookout for signs that houses don't appear to be lived in. Once that message got out, the people running the grow ops -- the majority of whom are tied to organized crime, says Hurley -- have taken steps to make the houses look occupied. "The people who are doing this have definitely refined their skill over the years," Hurley said. "They've made more of an attempt to try to hide their illicit activities, shovelling snow, cutting the lawn. Regardless of what they try to do to give the appearance that there's somebody living there, it never fails that when you talk to people in the neighbourhood, they always say the same thing: 'There was something suspicious about the house.' " But determining how Calgary compares to other cities remains elusive, said one researcher. University of Fraser Valley criminologist Darryl Plecas, who studied grow-ops in Alberta and British Columbia over nine years, said efforts to continue the study have hit a roadblock. He can't find any government money to continue studying grow-ops' locations, sizes and other characteristics. "We need to have accurate data to know what's going on. The single biggest problem at the moment is we don't know what the hell is going on, and there doesn't appear to be any political will to change that," Plecas said. The previous study found Alberta had about one-tenth of the grow ops operating in British Columbia. Alberta also had higher rates of charges being laid, he said. Use of the drug in Alberta is above the national norm. In Statistics Canada's most recent look at cannabis use across the country, 13 per cent of Albertans 15 years of age and older had smoked marijuana in the last year compared to 12 per cent nationally. The 2004 study also found a four-percentage-point increase in Alberta from 1994 to 2002, the most recent data available. So far this year, the Southern Alberta Marijuana Investigative Team has turned up roughly $60 million in drugs, on par with last year. Their record year was in 2004 when they pulled in $101 million worth of marijuana. Hurley said the difference in numbers comes from a change in police focus. "Back then it was more a matter of eradication, just getting rid of these things. The focus has been more and more in these last few years to bring up our arrest rate as opposed to our seizure rate," he explained. "We're in the game to do both, but in the investigation, in order for the police to get more arrests, it takes more time." - --- MAP posted-by: Doug