Pubdate: Wed, 02 Sep 2009 Source: Standard, The (St. Catharines, CN ON) Copyright: 2009 The Standard Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/ro9MVsol Website: http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/676 Author: Joe Belanger, Staff Writer POLICE CRACK DOWN ON OUTDOOR POT OPERATIONS Police forces across the London, Ont., region say they've eradicated outdoor marijuana grow operations with the potential street value of more than $22 million -- an amount almost equal to what they found in all of Ontario last year. RCMP, OPP and nine other municipal police services, including Stratford and Oxford Community Police, say about 22,000 marijuana plants found on the properties of "unsuspecting farmers" were destroyed. No charges were laid. Police used aircraft to spot the operations and directed ground teams to the locations in the one-week crackdown that began Aug. 24. The various police services, which also included Wingham, Hanover, Guelph, Waterloo, Owen Sound, Saugeen Shores and West Grey, shared intelligence gathered from numerous sources. "Police officers across the country have come to believe that marijuana use is the gateway to the consumption of harder drugs," RCMP Corporal Gary Boutilier said. "The illegal use of drugs, such as marijuana and other controlled substances is often seen as a contributing factor to other forms of crime including acts of violence and/or theft.... Our marijuana eradication efforts endeavor to promote safe homes and safe communities." The announcement came a day after OPP and RCMP drug enforcement teams announced they'd seized marijuana plants valued at $5.5 million from a North Huron outdoor grow operation. In that case, police arrested three suspects who are charged with production of marijuana and possession for the purpose of trafficking. The estimated 22,000 plants destroyed last week is just short of the 23,723 plants destroyed in Ontario last year and almost double the 11,694 found in 2007. Nationally, the eradication program found and destroyed 196,630 plants in 2008. Sgt. Marc Laporte, media relations officer for London-based "O" Division, said marijuana plants are distinguishable from other plants - -- a fluorescent green -- because they aren't native to the area. As well, the plants are often planted among corn and the plots are oddly shaped and clearly visible from the air. Police find the plants in secluded, hard-to-get-to areas a variety of ways, including calls from the public, farmers, private pilots and police airplanes and helicopters, including some on loan from the national defence department. Two weeks ago in the Kingston area, police found and destroyed nearly 15,000 marijuana plants, another indicator more people are growing the drug. "The numbers this year are going to be fairly high," Laporte said. "I think it's just more people now growing it." Laporte said marijuana plots range from small to large, some clearly intended for personal consumption, while others are "clearly more organized, more sophisticated" and possibly linked to organized crime. Catching the growers is difficult, Laporte said. "It's hard to link individuals to a site, unless we find them there," he said. "Our main focus is just to get it off the street, collect and destroy." Experts say the cultivation of marijuana in Canada, especially indoors, has exploded over the last 30 years into a multibillion-dollar industry, with estimates of indoor grow operations ranging from 50,000 to 650,000 across the country. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr