T
The420Guy
Guest
BARRIE, ONT. -- For the workers at Canada's biggest indoor marijuana farm,
there was no summer, no winter, and no day or night. Instead, there was the
artificial glow of more than a thousand industrial lights, the gurgle of
chemicals and mattresses set in windowless concrete rooms. And of course
there was the endless task of caring for more than 30,000 high-grade
marijuana plants that produced an annual cash crop worth an estimated
$100-million.
This was scientific farming taken to the extreme. The workers ate in a
makeshift cafeteria and worked shifts that ran around the clock, 365 days a
year. The plants were fed a carefully calculated mixture of chemicals that
boosted their potency, or THC content. To make sure that the crop matured as
quickly as possible, the lights were hooked up to computerized timers. The
harvested plants were dried in labelled racks, then vacuum-packed for
shipment.
And all of it took place just metres away from one of the busiest highways
in Canada.
This is the strange world that police discovered last weekend when they
checked out an implausible tip -- that someone had set up a giant marijuana
farm inside a closed-down Molson's brewery in Barrie. The tip turned out to
be right.
Since early Saturday morning, police have been exploring the biggest indoor
marijuana operation ever found in Canada -- a 6,000-square-metre farm
equipped with "state of the art" equipment and facilities for as many as 50
workers. Investigators have found themselves staggered by the scale and the
audacity of the enterprise.
"To use a retail term, this was what you would call a big-box approach,"
said Wayne Frechette, Barrie's chief of police services.
"It was not a Mom and Pop operation."
Before the weekend was over, the giant pot bust was virtually the only news
in Barrie, a pleasant city of just over 100,000.
"Welcome to what appears to have become the marijuana capital of Huronia,"
Mr. Frechette said at a heavily attended press conference yesterday. "This
is not a title that the city of Barrie takes pride in."
Although police are still investigating, it appears that the marijuana farm
was operated by an organized crime syndicate that rented space in the former
brewery, which was closed by Molson's in 2000. After the closing, the site
was sold to an investment firm that leases space to a number of companies
that operate on the site, including a coffee roaster and a trucking firm.
Investigators said they're still trying to determine the name of the company
that leased the space used for the marijuana farm.
"The ownership is complicated," said Deputy Commissioner Vaughn Collins of
the OPP's Organized Crime Unit. "We're still working on that."
Police believe the indoor farm was in operation for at least a year before
the weekend raid. The former brewery site provided a near-perfect cover for
the marijuana operation, investigators said.
"If you tried to set something like this up in a little village, you'd be
noticed right away," said Detective Sergeant Rick Barnum of the OPP's Drug
Enforcement Unit. "But in a place like that, there was nothing unusual about
trucks coming or going."
The raid on the pot farm resulted in nine arrests. Although police would not
elaborate, those arrested appear to be workers who were tending the plants.
Police say the operation was backed by organized crime, but say they have no
clear answers about who set it up. "We're still working our way toward the
top of the organization," Det. Sgt. Barnum said.
The marijuana farm was a self-contained world that occupied almost half of
the 11,600-square-metre brewery site. The facility included more than 30,000
marijuana plants, 1,000 high-powered growing lamps, hydroponic trays, an
irrigation system and tanks filled with specialized chemicals that were used
to boost the potency of the plants. There were also dormitory facilities
that could house up to 50 people. Police said the facility was staffed
around the clock.
Many of the plants were growing inside giant steel vats that were once used
to brew Molson's most popular brands of beer. The vats were six metres wide
and 30 metres long, with watertight doors. The vats provided an ideal
growing environment, police said, since it was easy to control the humidity
and temperature levels inside.
The Barrie marijuana farm is part of a burgeoning national trend that has
turned Canada into one of the world's larger exporters of marijuana.
According to statistics kept by the U.S. Customs Service, the amount of
marijuana seized at the U.S.-Canada border has risen sharply over the past
few years. In 1998, border officials seized 369 kilograms of marijuana
destined for the United States from Canada. By 2002, the amount had risen to
9,477 kilos.
Deputy Commissioner Collins said indoor marijuana operations have become a
$1-billion a year operation in Ontario alone.
"Commercial marijuana facilities have reached epidemic proportions in
Ontario," he said. "There are more of them every day. There aren't enough
people in Ontario to consume all the marijuana we produce."
Although the rising level of Canadian drug exports to the United States has
generated fears of a U.S. backlash, Washington appears supportive -- at
least so far -- of police efforts in Canada. John Walters, director of
national drug control policy, issued a statement yesterday praising the
Barrie raid.
"I applaud the professionalism and persistence of Canadian law-enforcement
officers for keeping these thousands of marijuana plants off Canadian and
American streets, and away from our young people."
Experts in the field say the boom in the Canadian marijuana industry has
been sparked by the comparative leniency of courts in this country when it
comes to drug crimes. Police say most people caught growing marijuana in
Canada get only a fine. In the United States, the same offence usually draws
a jail sentence of three to seven years.
"This is a high-profit, low-risk operation," Deputy Commissioner Collins
said. "The profits are huge. The sentence is short. That's what draws people
to it."
The Barrie pot farm is simply an extreme example of the indoor marijuana
trend, according to investigators. They said the equipment in the facility
was worth millions, and included elaborate electrical, irrigation and
chemical systems. The facility was designed for the needs of the plants, not
the humans who attended to them -- the temperature was "tropical," and the
air was pungent with the scent of the chemicals used to stimulate the
marijuana's growth rate and THC levels.
"It wasn't a nice place to be," said Det. Sgt. Barnum after touring the
facility. "When you come out of there, you feel like taking a long, long
shower. Det. Sgt. Barnum said it was "sad" that Barrie had become known as a
centre of marijuana production. "It's not what we want to be associated
with."
Pubdate: Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Section: Page A1
Contact: letters@globeandmail.ca
Website: The Globe and Mail: Canadian, World, Politics and Business News & Analysis
Author: Peter Cheney
there was no summer, no winter, and no day or night. Instead, there was the
artificial glow of more than a thousand industrial lights, the gurgle of
chemicals and mattresses set in windowless concrete rooms. And of course
there was the endless task of caring for more than 30,000 high-grade
marijuana plants that produced an annual cash crop worth an estimated
$100-million.
This was scientific farming taken to the extreme. The workers ate in a
makeshift cafeteria and worked shifts that ran around the clock, 365 days a
year. The plants were fed a carefully calculated mixture of chemicals that
boosted their potency, or THC content. To make sure that the crop matured as
quickly as possible, the lights were hooked up to computerized timers. The
harvested plants were dried in labelled racks, then vacuum-packed for
shipment.
And all of it took place just metres away from one of the busiest highways
in Canada.
This is the strange world that police discovered last weekend when they
checked out an implausible tip -- that someone had set up a giant marijuana
farm inside a closed-down Molson's brewery in Barrie. The tip turned out to
be right.
Since early Saturday morning, police have been exploring the biggest indoor
marijuana operation ever found in Canada -- a 6,000-square-metre farm
equipped with "state of the art" equipment and facilities for as many as 50
workers. Investigators have found themselves staggered by the scale and the
audacity of the enterprise.
"To use a retail term, this was what you would call a big-box approach,"
said Wayne Frechette, Barrie's chief of police services.
"It was not a Mom and Pop operation."
Before the weekend was over, the giant pot bust was virtually the only news
in Barrie, a pleasant city of just over 100,000.
"Welcome to what appears to have become the marijuana capital of Huronia,"
Mr. Frechette said at a heavily attended press conference yesterday. "This
is not a title that the city of Barrie takes pride in."
Although police are still investigating, it appears that the marijuana farm
was operated by an organized crime syndicate that rented space in the former
brewery, which was closed by Molson's in 2000. After the closing, the site
was sold to an investment firm that leases space to a number of companies
that operate on the site, including a coffee roaster and a trucking firm.
Investigators said they're still trying to determine the name of the company
that leased the space used for the marijuana farm.
"The ownership is complicated," said Deputy Commissioner Vaughn Collins of
the OPP's Organized Crime Unit. "We're still working on that."
Police believe the indoor farm was in operation for at least a year before
the weekend raid. The former brewery site provided a near-perfect cover for
the marijuana operation, investigators said.
"If you tried to set something like this up in a little village, you'd be
noticed right away," said Detective Sergeant Rick Barnum of the OPP's Drug
Enforcement Unit. "But in a place like that, there was nothing unusual about
trucks coming or going."
The raid on the pot farm resulted in nine arrests. Although police would not
elaborate, those arrested appear to be workers who were tending the plants.
Police say the operation was backed by organized crime, but say they have no
clear answers about who set it up. "We're still working our way toward the
top of the organization," Det. Sgt. Barnum said.
The marijuana farm was a self-contained world that occupied almost half of
the 11,600-square-metre brewery site. The facility included more than 30,000
marijuana plants, 1,000 high-powered growing lamps, hydroponic trays, an
irrigation system and tanks filled with specialized chemicals that were used
to boost the potency of the plants. There were also dormitory facilities
that could house up to 50 people. Police said the facility was staffed
around the clock.
Many of the plants were growing inside giant steel vats that were once used
to brew Molson's most popular brands of beer. The vats were six metres wide
and 30 metres long, with watertight doors. The vats provided an ideal
growing environment, police said, since it was easy to control the humidity
and temperature levels inside.
The Barrie marijuana farm is part of a burgeoning national trend that has
turned Canada into one of the world's larger exporters of marijuana.
According to statistics kept by the U.S. Customs Service, the amount of
marijuana seized at the U.S.-Canada border has risen sharply over the past
few years. In 1998, border officials seized 369 kilograms of marijuana
destined for the United States from Canada. By 2002, the amount had risen to
9,477 kilos.
Deputy Commissioner Collins said indoor marijuana operations have become a
$1-billion a year operation in Ontario alone.
"Commercial marijuana facilities have reached epidemic proportions in
Ontario," he said. "There are more of them every day. There aren't enough
people in Ontario to consume all the marijuana we produce."
Although the rising level of Canadian drug exports to the United States has
generated fears of a U.S. backlash, Washington appears supportive -- at
least so far -- of police efforts in Canada. John Walters, director of
national drug control policy, issued a statement yesterday praising the
Barrie raid.
"I applaud the professionalism and persistence of Canadian law-enforcement
officers for keeping these thousands of marijuana plants off Canadian and
American streets, and away from our young people."
Experts in the field say the boom in the Canadian marijuana industry has
been sparked by the comparative leniency of courts in this country when it
comes to drug crimes. Police say most people caught growing marijuana in
Canada get only a fine. In the United States, the same offence usually draws
a jail sentence of three to seven years.
"This is a high-profit, low-risk operation," Deputy Commissioner Collins
said. "The profits are huge. The sentence is short. That's what draws people
to it."
The Barrie pot farm is simply an extreme example of the indoor marijuana
trend, according to investigators. They said the equipment in the facility
was worth millions, and included elaborate electrical, irrigation and
chemical systems. The facility was designed for the needs of the plants, not
the humans who attended to them -- the temperature was "tropical," and the
air was pungent with the scent of the chemicals used to stimulate the
marijuana's growth rate and THC levels.
"It wasn't a nice place to be," said Det. Sgt. Barnum after touring the
facility. "When you come out of there, you feel like taking a long, long
shower. Det. Sgt. Barnum said it was "sad" that Barrie had become known as a
centre of marijuana production. "It's not what we want to be associated
with."
Pubdate: Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Section: Page A1
Contact: letters@globeandmail.ca
Website: The Globe and Mail: Canadian, World, Politics and Business News & Analysis
Author: Peter Cheney
