Pubdate: Tue, 02 Jun 2009
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2009 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact:  http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Chris Doucette
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?241 (Methamphetamine - Canada)

GROWING LIKE WEEDS

Grow-Ops Are A Booming Business In A Couple Of Ways

The rest of the economy may be faltering but business is booming when 
it comes to clandestine drug labs.

Last year, 91 marijuana growing operations were uncovered in Toronto 
alone. And so far this year, police have already shut down 60 in the 
city, up 50% over the 40 found in the same period in 2008.

But it's not just a big city issue and the problem extends far beyond 
the production and sale of illegal drugs.

The Ontario Fire Marshal's Office says it is now being called in to 
investigate a fire involving a drug lab every 15 days somewhere in 
the province.

"It's a real problem here in Ontario," Ernie Yakiwchuk, an OFM fire 
protection adviser, said yesterday at the Metro Convention Centre.

Yakiwchuk and other stakeholders determined to stamp out the 
clandestine operations have gathered in Toronto for a three-day 
American Industrial Hygiene Association's convention and expo.

Aside from the millions of dollars in lost revenue from stolen hydro, 
the retired firefighter pointed out there is also untold millions 
being spent for police, courts, addiction centres and to correct 
environmental damage.

"And who is paying for it? You and me!" Yakiwchuk said.

"There is a lot of risk at the time they are producing, from 
chemicals, bio-hazards, electrical hazards, the criminal activity 
that's going on, the violence and the drug use," he said.

"But then after they leave, there is usually a mess left behind 
that's even more dangerous because of the chemical residues and what 
they've done to the property," he said.

"Some homes are so badly damaged from the chemicals and mould that 
they have to be torn down," Yakiwchuk added.

There are also health concerns for those who smoke the pot, most of 
which is believed to be shipped south of the border.

"I've never heard of any growers washing their marijuana before they 
sell it," Yakiwchuk said. "So people are smoking herbicides, 
insecticides, pesticides, fungicides and whatever else."

And marijuana is not the only drug business that's flourishing. The 
highly addictive methamphetamine, or chrystal meth, the popular club 
drug Ecstasy, which now often includes meth to get the user hooked, 
rohypnol, also known as roofies, and GHB, commonly referred to as the 
date rape drug, are being mass produced in communities across the province.

And now "superlabs" -- like the one found last April in Mississauga 
that is believed to be the country's largest ever meth and Ecstasy 
lab -- are now cropping up.

The cleanup of the industrial complex on Sismet Rd. took 11 months, 
Yakiwchuk said.

Police officers, firefighters and paramedics are put at risk every 
time they happen upon a clandestine lab, he said. And with such 
operations becoming so prevalent, it's more important than ever for 
those "first responders" to be trained by industrial hygienists in 
how to deal with such an encounter.

A mock drug lab set up in a trailer and used to train first 
responders is on display at the expo, enabling visitors to walk 
through and take a peak into this dangerous world.

The tour starts in a kitchen of a pot house where a filthy stove is 
covered in drug paraphernalia and a deadly looking tangle of wires 
runs from a hydro box near a hot water heater.

GROW FASTER

Joe Watkins, provincial manager of policing services with the 
Municipal Health and Safety Association, explains how grow operators 
often disconnect a home's hot water tank and use the carbon dioxide 
to manipulate the environment and encourage the plants to grow faster.

Stepping through a narrow doorway, lush green marijuana plants fill 
the room and bask in an assortment of coloured lights meant to trick 
the plants into blooming, ideally allowing the buds to be harvested 
up to four times a year.

"You can speed up mother nature by doing this indoors and controlling 
the climate completely," Watkins said. "It's all about manipulating 
the plants."

The last room is the most chilling.

The countertop is cluttered with cold medication containing ephedrine 
- -- the key ingredient in meth, Draino and glass jars filled with 
layered substances and meant to depict the cooking stage.

A BBQ tank, tucked under the counter, would be emptied of propane and 
replaced with fertilizer, Watkins said.

It's not hard to see why explosions occur so easily in such an environment.

"The cooks are not scientists who have studied for years on how to 
work with dangerous chemicals," Watkins said.

"They are people who have read a meth recipe on the web or learned 
how to make it from friends or associates."

One answer to the problem might be hitting grow-ops with fire code 
violations which can involve a maximum $100,000 fine and up to one 
year in jail.

The tactic has been successful in Niagara Falls, said Trevor Bain, 
also of the fire marshal's office.

Five years ago, police there were shutting down 90 grow-ops a year, 
he said, but they have seen a steady decline and last year found only 10.

- ---

BY THE NUMBERS

- - From January to May, 2008, 40 grow-ops were found in Toronto.

- - Over the same period this year, 60 grow-ops have been discovered in the city.

- - In all of 2008, 91 marijuana grow-ops were shut down in Toronto.

- - The Ontario Fire Marshal's Office goes to one fire every 15 days 
involving a drug lab.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom