Pubdate: Sat, 6 Jun 2009
Source: Review, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2009 Osprey Media Group Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/8den7vMS
Website: http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2907
Author: Chris Doucette
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Marijuana - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?241 (Methamphetamine - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

ECONOMY A BUST? NOT FOR GROW-OPS

The rest of the economy may be faltering, but business is booming when
it comes to clandestine drug labs.

Last year, 91 marijuana growing operations were uncovered in Toronto
alone. And so far this year, police have already shut down 60 in the
city, up 50 per cent over the 40 found in the same period in 2008.

But it's not just a big city issue and the problem extends far beyond
the production and sale of illegal drugs.

The Ontario Fire Marshal's Office says it is now being called in to
investigate a fire involving a drug lab every 15 days somewhere in the
province.

"It's a real problem here in Ontario," Ernie Yakiwchuk, an OFM fire
protection adviser, said recently at the Metro Convention Centre,
Yakiwchuk and other stakeholders determined to stamp out the
clandestine operations gathered in Toronto this week for the American
Industrial Hygiene Association's convention and expo.

Aside from the millions of dollars in lost revenue from stolen hydro,
the retired firefighter pointed out there is also untold millions
being spent for police, courts, addiction centres and to correct
environmental damage.

"And who is paying for it? You and me," Yakiwchuk said.

"There is a lot of risk at the time they are producing, from
chemicals, bio-hazards, electrical hazards, the criminal activity
that's going on, the violence and the drug use," he said.

"But then after they leave, there is usually a mess left behind that's
even more dangerous because of the chemical residues and what they've
done to the property," he said.

"Some homes are so badly damaged from the chemicals and mould that
they have to be torn down," Yakiwchuk added.

There are also health concerns for those who smoke the pot, most of
which is believed to be shipped south of the border.

"I've never heard of any growers washing their marijuana before they
sell it," Yakiwchuk said. "So, people are smoking herbicides,
insecticides, pesticides, fungicides and whatever else."

And marijuana is not the only drug business that's flourishing. The
highly addictive methamphetamine, or crystal meth, the popular club
drug Ecstasy, which now often includes meth to get the user hooked,
rohypnol, also known as roofies, and GHB, commonly referred to as the
date rape drug, are being mass produced in communities across the province.

And now "superlabs" -- like the one found last April in Mississauga
that is believed to be the country's largest ever meth and Ecstasy lab
- -- are now cropping up.

The cleanup of the industrial complex on Sismet Rd. took 11 months,
Yakiwchuk said.

Police officers, firefighters and paramedics are put at risk every
time they happen upon a clandestine lab, he said. And with such
operations becoming so prevalent, it's more important than ever for
those "first responders" to be trained by industrial hygienists in how
to deal with such an encounter.

A mock drug lab set up in a trailer and used to train first responders
was on display at the expo, enabling visitors to walk through and take
a peak into this dangerous world.

The tour starts in a kitchen of a pot house where a filthy stove is
covered in drug paraphernalia and a deadly looking tangle of wires
runs from a hydro box near a hot water heater.

Joe Watkins, provincial manager of policing services with the
Municipal Health and Safety Association, explains how grow operators
often disconnect a home's hot water tank and use the carbon dioxide to
manipulate the environment and encourage the plants to grow faster.

Stepping through a narrow doorway, lush green marijuana plants fill
the room and bask in an assortment of coloured lights meant to trick
the plants into blooming, ideally allowing the buds to be harvested up
to four times a year.

"You can speed up mother nature by doing this indoors aand controlling
the climate completely," Watkins said. "It's all about manipulating
the plants."

The last room is the most chilling.

The countertop is cluttered with cold medication containing ephedrine
- -- the key ingredient in meth, Draino and glass jars filled with
layered substances and meant to depict the cooking stage. A barbecue
tank, tucked under the counter, would be emptied of propane and
replaced with fertilizer, Watkins said.

It's not hard to see why explosions occur so easily in such an
environment.

"The cooks are not scientists who have studied for years on how to
work with dangerous chemicals," Watkins said.

"They are people who have read a meth recipe on the web or learned how
to make it from friends or associates."

[sidebar]

* From January to May, 2008, 40 grow-ops were found in
Toronto.

* Over the same period this year, 60 grow-ops have been discovered in
the city.

* In all of 2008, 91 marijuana grow-ops were shut down in
Toronto.

* The Ontario Fire Marshal's Office goes to one fire every 15 days
involving a drug lab. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake