Pubdate: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU) Copyright: 2006 The Gazette, a division of Southam Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) SOME OF THOSE CHARMING HOMES HAVE GONE TO POT Be careful - that charming little split-level in Terrebonne (or St. Constant or Greenfield Park) you're thinking of buying, the one with the nice double garage and well-groomed shrubs, might be less innocent than it appears. The previous owners might have used it to raise not a family but a very lucrative crop of marijuana, and that could mean major trouble for you down the road. This is no isolated problem. The Association des courtiers et agents immobliers du Quebec, the professional group that represents real-estate brokers and agents, says that thousands of perfectly ordinary-looking homes across the province were once used to raise cannabis. Right now, the real estate association is about the only protection home buyers have, other than hiring a good inspector. The association says its members are ethically obliged to reveal to buyers anything they know about a property that could affect its value or safety. Keeping mum about marijuana production would certainly violate that principle. Indoor grow-ops are typically hydroponic operations, which means lots of high-powered lamps and lots of water. The result is often unsafe wiring, structural damage, and mold infestations that are difficult, sometimes impossible, to eradicate. Repairs are often expensive and sometimes the damage is so severe the only solution is to tear the place down and rebuild. To its credit, the ACAIQ has been tackling the problem with some vigour. Ten months ago it sponsored a major grow-op seminar in Boucherville that brought together home inspectors, police departments, public-health officials and real estate agents and brokers. It has also held education sessions for agents across the province. More recently it showed its teeth by hauling two Montreal-area agents up before its disciplinary board on charges that they'd failed to tell prospective buyers that what they were getting was more a plantation than a home. That's a good sign of serious intent, but the comments of one busted agent were hardly reassuring. It was unfair to single her out, she whined, because plenty of other agents had done the same thing and got away with it. That might just have been so much self-serving hot air, but all the same, it's a sobering thought. Home buyers deserve a little more protection than the ACAIQ can offer. Ontario's community safety minister, Monte Kwinter, recently proposed an idea that would be worth considering here - a central database of homes that have been used to make or grow drugs. That would certainly make life easier for both buyers and agents. This problem is not going to go away any time soon. The demand for marijuana shows no sign of abating, and as long as there's a demand, someone's going to try to meet it. Until Canada overhauls its antiquated and irrational marijuana laws the situation is unlikely to change. In the meantime, forewarned is forearmed. If you're looking for a home, hire a good inspector before you buy anything. And don't fall for that I'm-just-an-innocent-split-level look. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman