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." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom