$30M grow op part of bigger problem: Cops

BARRIE -- A marijuana "factory" concealed within a sprawling old brewery
just steps from a busy highway is proof Canada's pot problem has reached
"epidemic proportions," police said yesterday. The former Molson brewery in
Barrie, which is visible from Hwy. 400, was raided on the weekend by 100
police officers.

They found marijuana with an estimated street value of $30 million, along
with a grow op of staggering proportions.

"This particular marijuana factory is the largest and most sophisticated I'm
aware of in Canada," said provincial police deputy commissioner Vaughn
Collins.

"Commercial marijuana operations have reached epidemic proportions in
Ontario; they are in every community and most are controlled by organized
crime."

PLANTS IN VATS

Across a 5,400-sq.-metre complex the size of a football field, police found
more than 25,000 pot plants growing everywhere -- even inside cavernous vats
once used to brew beer.

"This is not a ma-and-pa operation," said Barrie Police Chief Wayne
Frechette.

A police video shot after the raid showed the vats teeming with marijuana
plants and an elaborate electrical room where hydro was used to power the
lights that facilitate the growing process.

Huge drawers, used to hold harvested marijuana to allow it to dry, were seen
in the video, each one brimming with buds.

The facility was set up to operate 24 hours a day and included living
quarters capable of housing as many as 50 people at once, said OPP Det.
Staff Sgt. Rick Barnum.

"These areas ... included common areas with beds, televisions, fridges and
stoves similar to dormitory-type facilities," Barnum said.

Frechette, who cited the "big-box" operation as an example of how marijuana
has allowed organized crime to penetrate Canadian communities, urged the
public to be vigilant and watch for "suspicious activities."

The Barrie grow op is likely not the only one of its scale in Canada, law
enforcement officials warned.

"Just because we have not stumbled on them ... doesn't mean they're not
there," said RCMP Chief Supt. Raf Souccar, the force's director general of
drugs and organized crime.

"The risk is low, the profit is high, deterrence is not there, so it makes
it an attractive proposition."

'LUCKY FIND'

Police estimate there are some 15,000 illegal marijuana grow operations in
Ontario.

But operations like the one in Barrie are not commonplace, insisted Alan
Young, a prominent Toronto lawyer best known for his work as a marijuana
advocate and activist.

Young, who insisted that most marijuana cultivated in Canada is grown on a
small scale for personal use, accused police of trumpeting their discovery
in Barrie in an effort to sway the federal government away from
decriminalization.

"This really was a lucky find for the police and they'll exploit it to gain
greater support."


Pubdate: Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
Contact: oped@ott.sunpub.com
Website: http://www.fyiottawa.com/ottsun.shtml
Author: Canadian Press