Pubdate: Wed, 07 Aug 2013
Source: Chronicle Herald (CN NS)
Copyright: 2013 The Halifax Herald Limited
Contact:  http://thechronicleherald.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/180
Author: Brian Medel

GROW-OPS ON RCMP RADAR

RCMP in Shelburne County Bag 222 Pot Plants As Monitoring Starts

SHELBURNE - It's that time of year again.

Outdoor marijuana growers are beginning to think about harvesting 
their camouflaged wilderness grow-ops, and police officers are 
planning ways to beat them to the punch.

RCMP teams in Shelburne County recently discovered 222 tall pot 
plants during the first day of their own annual harvest.

A RCMP chopper flying low over some prime back country helped them 
quite a bit in the discovery, Cpl. Nancy Mason of the Shelburne 
County street crime unit said Wednesday.

"We get destruction orders from Health Canada and we can get an 
emergency destruction order within 24 to 48 hours, so that 
marijuana's already been destroyed," she said of the truckload of 
dope that was collected and incinerated.

Last year, in Shelburne County alone, more than 1,040 plants were 
incinerated, and there's no reason to believe this season will be any 
different, Mason said.

She recalled when officers came close to walking into a booby-trapped 
dope field during Shelburne County's 2011 marijuana eradication operation.

Rusty 15-centimetre spikes driven through wooden platforms were 
sprinkled over the forest floor. The spikes were hard to see because 
they were partially hidden by debris.

Whether they were intended for law enforcement officers or to 
discourage dope thieves, the booby traps, which were not that far 
from a residential area, presented a danger to anyone who came upon 
them, Mason said.

The less marijuana that makes it to market, the less is available to 
young people, she said.

"We consider it to be a part, an important part, of the service 
delivery that we provide," Mason said of the eradication program. 
"It's a job that has to be done.

"One marijuana plant grown to its peak can harvest anywhere from one 
to three pounds of marijuana."

With marijuana often sold by the ounce - 28 grams - or even down to a 
single gram, a mature marijuana plant is capable of producing more 
than 500 joints.

Public assistance is very helpful, said Mason. People can watch for 
folks in out-of-the-way places, travelling back and forth to a patch 
of wilderness.

"It can be foot traffic or individuals who access the area with 
pickup trucks or, very commonly, ATVs."

Such activity would be common during the typical growing season.

It's also common for grow-ops to use tubs and buckets filled with 
dirt to grow the pot, she said. They even use bags of soil from 
garden centres to grow plants.

"They just simply cut the bag open and plant right in the bags," said 
Mason. "They're often using fertilizers and chemicals."

Mature plants are harvested between the end of August and the end of 
September. Many outdoor grow-ops are also near a natural water supply 
like a river or lake shore. And some feature fencing to keep wildlife away.

"It think we have better intelligence. I think we are a lot more 
strategic than we were in the past," Mason said.

Anyone with information may call police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Mason said the program will run "right through the summer, until the 
end of the harvesting season."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom