Pubdate: Fri, 07 May 2010
Source: Langley Advance (CN BC)
Copyright: 2010 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.langleyadvance.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1248
Author: Matthew Claxton
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

BIG MONEY IN B.C. MARIJUANA TRADE

Pot is a big business - for gangs, and for some legitimate firms on 
the edge of the drug world.

One of B.C.'s biggest cash crops remains illegal, underground, and 
largely controlled by gangs. The marijuana trade in B.C. nets about 
$6 billion a year, and approximately 85 per cent of that trade is in 
the control of organized criminal gangs, according to police estimates.

The trade spreads its tendrils into the economy in several ways, said 
RCMP Chief Supt. Janice Armstrong. Armstrong, a former head of the 
Langley detachment, now oversees the Lower Mainland's integrated 
policing teams, including the Integrated Gang Task Force.

On the illegal side of the economic equation are the growers and the 
gangs. Armstrong noted that as with street level drug dealing, gangs 
keep their members away from the actual grow ops most of the time.

Low-level people are hired to grow the plants and keep an eye on the 
houses, industrial buildings or barns where the pot is cultivated. 
The "babysitters" assume most of the risk, while the gangs reap most 
of the profits.

Once grown, harvested, and packaged, the pot is sold locally, to 
other provinces, or smuggled into the United States. The danger to 
the growers is high, and not just from the police. Violent home 
invasions known as "grow rips" target the illegal farms.

The violent gang members are often the perpetrators, said Sgt. Jason 
Wilde, head of the Langley RCMP Drug Section. It isn't too hard for 
them to find a grow op in Langley, since criminals don't have to 
worry about getting search warrants.

"They do a lot of the same as anybody else, they smell it," Wilde 
said. They also watch for properties that look like grow ops: windows 
sealed off, the property seemingly abandoned. In some cases, the 
gangsters may have inside knowledge. It isn't uncommon for a gangster 
to work on a grow, switch sides and rip it off later for easy money.

Usually the gangsters will burst in in the middle of the night, armed 
with guns. Violence is frequent. In a recent attempted grow rip in 
Langley, the resident of a grow op apparently tried to fight back 
against a group of invaders and was injured.

Wilde said the excitement of armed invasion is a lure for some 
gangsters. "That's why they choose that lifestyle, the action, the 
adrenaline," Wilde said. On the legal side, grow ops impact landlords 
and real estate agents who have to clean up the mess afterwards [see 
story, page A17].

Those selling the hydroponic equipment and lights know who their 
customers are. There are an inordinate number of such stores in B.C., 
noted Armstrong. "We probably don't have that many tomato growers 
here," she said. Do the store owners know they're selling to gangs?

"There's those that turn a blind eye in some cases," Armstrong said. 
In other cases, undercover police have found store owners willing to 
offer tips on how to set up a grow op. Armstrong is hoping to see new 
regulations that would make it easier for the police to find out 
which customers of hydroponic stores are growing drugs, and which are 
growing tomatoes.

If someone buys a 1,000-watt bulb, he can't simply plug it in to a 
normal home's wiring system, Armstrong noted. Growers illegally 
rewire their buildings, often creating fire hazards. Armstrong wants 
the purchase of such equipment to automatically trigger an inspection 
of the building where the bulbs are used. Municipal governments have 
a legitimate interest in checking out the electrical system to make 
sure they are up to code, and the tomato growers shouldn't mind, 
Armstrong said.

She would also like to see inspections of legal, medical marijuana 
grow ops. They are subject to the same electrical and fire hazards as 
illegal grow ops right now, and there are more than 2,000 across Canada.
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