The policy debate in Canada continues over the possibility of decriminalizing the possession of marihuana, media coverage and letters to the editor seem to indicate public opinion is becoming more tolerant of marihuana use.At the same time, the dangers associated with the cultivation of marihuana are becoming more acute.In a growing number of communities, marihuana grow-ops have become a serious problem, resulting in severe threats and risks to the public.Neither the public policy response nor the penalties imposed by the criminal justice system are taking into account the very real dangers these activities entail.
The proliferation of illegal indoor marihuana cultivation operations raises serious issues, well beyond the problems associated with the theft of power.Over the past couple of years we have witnessed an increase in organized, sophisticated multi-plant profit-oriented operations. The illicit profits generated are enormous and the involvement of organized crime is integral to these operations. In addition to the risks faced by utility personnel and law enforcement, these operations pose serious dangers to people living in or near them. Many operations contain power bypasses, which pose significant fire and safety hazards to the community.
The residential marihuana operations are increasingly sophisticated operations run by organized crime.Proceeds are frequently used to fund other criminal activities, such as the importation and trafficking of cocaine, ecstasy and heroin, the establishment of meth labs, or are laundered to be reinvested in legitimate businesses. Marihuana grown in Canada is distributed across the country to meet domestic demand, and a significant portion is also smuggled to the United States. Drug Enforcement Administration officials in Portland, Maine, report that Canadian-grown marihuana is sold in the region at up to five times the price of domestic and Mexican marihuana. Canadian marihuana sells for US$1,500 to US$2,000 per pound in Vancouver and between US$3,000 to US$8,000 in major American metropolitan areas.
Public Health and Safety Issues
Indoor marihuana operations enable growers to operate year-round and give them better protection from law enforcement and the criminal element than open-air marihuana operations. There are significant electrical and structural alterations needed to convert a residence into a high-yield, profit-oriented growing operation. These operations pose serious health and safety risks to the occupants of residences in which the cultivation occurs and, more significantly, to the community at large.
Growing marihuana indoors demands an amount of heat and electricity that is significantly higher than normal residential wiring and power supplies can handle safely. A large number of residential operations use electrical diversions or bypasses to circumvent utility meters in order to steal electricity. Bypasses are used to avoid the suspicion of utility companies and to conceal high electricity usage. In order to perform a bypass, holes are often drilled through the concrete foundation or walls to tap into the power lines. Through this bypass, the current generally does not go through fuses or circuit breakers, thereby removing safety controls on unsafe or excessive energy consumption. A household that operates a hydroponic lab needs three to ten times the power of an average home.
Bypasses are often performed by people who have little knowledge of electrical wiring or safe levels of usage. In B.C., from 1995 to 2000, there have been approximately fifteen electrocutions of growers as a result of improper electrical installations at grow operations.
In addition to electrical wire alterations and the diversion of electricity, marihuana grow-ops are often characterized by exposed live wires, high-intensity light bulbs and overheated electrical ballasts, used to operate fluorescent lamps, which are all significant fire hazards. Approximately one in ten bypass operations ends in a fire. These fires pose obvious dangers to surrounding communities, and overloading the power system can cause distribution transformers to overload, resulting in power outages in entire neighborhoods.
As well as considerable quantities of electricity, marihuana grow operations also require significant amounts of water, causing high levels of humidity within the residence. Constant high levels of humidity without proper ventilation can result in the build-up of mold, particularly inside walls and in insulation. Large indoor crops can also produce high levels of pollen within the residence. The continual high levels of molds and pollens can cause asthma, respiratory conditions and allergies in individuals who live or work in the residences. The emissions from a variety of chemicals used to grow marihuana rapidly can also cause respiratory health problems, particularly in children. Additionally, faulty rerouting of the residence's ventilation system and extensive indoor plant cultivation can cause the build-up of deadly levels of carbon monoxide.
The investigation and dismantling of growing operations poses a serious chemical and electrical hazard to law enforcement, rescue workers, including paramedics and firefighters, and municipal officials such as city housing inspectors and utility inspectors. Police drug units involved in raiding marihuana operations frequently wear full-length disposable suits and goggles for protection against fumes. Firefighters face hazards including unstable walls from structural alterations, dangerously high temperatures, electrocution or chemical traps.
Marihuana operations also pose significant dangers to electric utility crews who must repair the illegal electrical bypasses. The crew must dig deep down and disconnect the electrical bypass, a task that can lead to electrocution if live wires are touched. Furthermore, there is a significant safety risk to housing inspectors, contractors or future legitimate tenants.
In addition to the known potential hazards, there are more and more reports that some residences are equipped with booby-traps planted to protect the operation from other criminals or law enforcement. Structures have been found to contain spike traps or trip wires which activate harmful substances or electrical currents.
Increasingly, marihuana operations are being discovered in larger suburban houses located in upscale neighborhoods.
Violence is an integral part of profit-oriented marihuana operations run by organized crime. Homicides and assaults are carried out to exert control over production and distribution. Across the country but particularly in B.C., home invasions accompanied with severe beatings are perpetrated to steal harvests. In the B.C. Lower Mainland, a number of homicides have been related to the marihuana industry.
Organized crime groups will continue to be extensively involved in the large-scale cultivation and distribution of marihuana across Canada. Marihuana smuggling from Canada to the U.S. will probably increase if the demand for marihuana in the U.S. continues. Residential marihuana operations will continue to be a cost-effective and highly profitable way of growing large amounts of marihuana.
Concurrent with the continuation of residential marihuana operations will be the accompanying serious health and safety concerns. The number of children found living in residential marihuana operations is a serious and concerning trend. Similarly, the number of fires and violence related to marihuana operations is a public safety concern affecting entire communities.
How has the criminal justice system dealt with the grow-ops? Not very effectively if one looks at the research. A study by the Criminology Department of the University College of the Fraser valley which analyzed data for British Columbia from 1997 to 2000 found that a small number of cases result in significant jail time.
"Of the 11,733 cases coming to the attention of the police, 9,232 were fully investigated, and of these 8,010 proved to be founded. About half of these founded cases were dealt with informally (e.g., "no case" seizures), with this being a more likely outcome in smaller operations (i.e., under 10 plants).At the prosecutorial level, there are significant numbers of stays of proceedings and charges withdrawn as a result of plea bargaining practices, both of which result in a considerable attrition of charges and suspects…In the final analysis, 2255 of founded cases led to at least one offender being convicted. Overall, a total of 2551 offenders were convicted, representing 54% of those charged and 25% of suspects initially associated with a founded case. The majority of convictions did not result in custodial dispositions. Prison sentences were ordered in only 18% of cases, with an average term of 4.5 months."
Canadian law enforcement and other stakeholders are taking the issue very seriously.In Ontario, the Ministry of Public Safety & Correctional Services has assembled a stakeholder group to address the rise of grow-ops.The electricity industry in Ontario, through the Electricity Distributors Association is an active partner in the "Green Tide" initiative.At the national level, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been actively engaged on the grow-op issue and recently brought together a wide range of stakeholders at the first National Conference on Illicit Marijuana Grow Operations.A number of Canadian electric utility companies attended the conference, as well as the Canadian Electricity Association (CEA).Prompted by the serious economic and safety implications of grow-op electrical bypasses, the Canadian electricity industry through CEA has undertaken, in cooperation with other stakeholders, to examine more closely the possibility of establishing national guidelines to assist electric utility companies in identifying and addressing grow-ops.CEA is considering compiling an inventory of existing legislation and policies across Canada with the view of identifying best practices, which could be shared at the national level.Finally, CEA has identified as a priority the need to inform and educate the industry, as well as stakeholders, of the safety and economic impacts of MGOs, and will be investigating potential initiatives to address this.
The proliferation of illegal indoor marihuana cultivation operations raises serious issues, well beyond the problems associated with the theft of power.Over the past couple of years we have witnessed an increase in organized, sophisticated multi-plant profit-oriented operations. The illicit profits generated are enormous and the involvement of organized crime is integral to these operations. In addition to the risks faced by utility personnel and law enforcement, these operations pose serious dangers to people living in or near them. Many operations contain power bypasses, which pose significant fire and safety hazards to the community.
The residential marihuana operations are increasingly sophisticated operations run by organized crime.Proceeds are frequently used to fund other criminal activities, such as the importation and trafficking of cocaine, ecstasy and heroin, the establishment of meth labs, or are laundered to be reinvested in legitimate businesses. Marihuana grown in Canada is distributed across the country to meet domestic demand, and a significant portion is also smuggled to the United States. Drug Enforcement Administration officials in Portland, Maine, report that Canadian-grown marihuana is sold in the region at up to five times the price of domestic and Mexican marihuana. Canadian marihuana sells for US$1,500 to US$2,000 per pound in Vancouver and between US$3,000 to US$8,000 in major American metropolitan areas.
Public Health and Safety Issues
Indoor marihuana operations enable growers to operate year-round and give them better protection from law enforcement and the criminal element than open-air marihuana operations. There are significant electrical and structural alterations needed to convert a residence into a high-yield, profit-oriented growing operation. These operations pose serious health and safety risks to the occupants of residences in which the cultivation occurs and, more significantly, to the community at large.
Growing marihuana indoors demands an amount of heat and electricity that is significantly higher than normal residential wiring and power supplies can handle safely. A large number of residential operations use electrical diversions or bypasses to circumvent utility meters in order to steal electricity. Bypasses are used to avoid the suspicion of utility companies and to conceal high electricity usage. In order to perform a bypass, holes are often drilled through the concrete foundation or walls to tap into the power lines. Through this bypass, the current generally does not go through fuses or circuit breakers, thereby removing safety controls on unsafe or excessive energy consumption. A household that operates a hydroponic lab needs three to ten times the power of an average home.
Bypasses are often performed by people who have little knowledge of electrical wiring or safe levels of usage. In B.C., from 1995 to 2000, there have been approximately fifteen electrocutions of growers as a result of improper electrical installations at grow operations.
In addition to electrical wire alterations and the diversion of electricity, marihuana grow-ops are often characterized by exposed live wires, high-intensity light bulbs and overheated electrical ballasts, used to operate fluorescent lamps, which are all significant fire hazards. Approximately one in ten bypass operations ends in a fire. These fires pose obvious dangers to surrounding communities, and overloading the power system can cause distribution transformers to overload, resulting in power outages in entire neighborhoods.
As well as considerable quantities of electricity, marihuana grow operations also require significant amounts of water, causing high levels of humidity within the residence. Constant high levels of humidity without proper ventilation can result in the build-up of mold, particularly inside walls and in insulation. Large indoor crops can also produce high levels of pollen within the residence. The continual high levels of molds and pollens can cause asthma, respiratory conditions and allergies in individuals who live or work in the residences. The emissions from a variety of chemicals used to grow marihuana rapidly can also cause respiratory health problems, particularly in children. Additionally, faulty rerouting of the residence's ventilation system and extensive indoor plant cultivation can cause the build-up of deadly levels of carbon monoxide.
The investigation and dismantling of growing operations poses a serious chemical and electrical hazard to law enforcement, rescue workers, including paramedics and firefighters, and municipal officials such as city housing inspectors and utility inspectors. Police drug units involved in raiding marihuana operations frequently wear full-length disposable suits and goggles for protection against fumes. Firefighters face hazards including unstable walls from structural alterations, dangerously high temperatures, electrocution or chemical traps.
Marihuana operations also pose significant dangers to electric utility crews who must repair the illegal electrical bypasses. The crew must dig deep down and disconnect the electrical bypass, a task that can lead to electrocution if live wires are touched. Furthermore, there is a significant safety risk to housing inspectors, contractors or future legitimate tenants.
In addition to the known potential hazards, there are more and more reports that some residences are equipped with booby-traps planted to protect the operation from other criminals or law enforcement. Structures have been found to contain spike traps or trip wires which activate harmful substances or electrical currents.
Increasingly, marihuana operations are being discovered in larger suburban houses located in upscale neighborhoods.
Violence is an integral part of profit-oriented marihuana operations run by organized crime. Homicides and assaults are carried out to exert control over production and distribution. Across the country but particularly in B.C., home invasions accompanied with severe beatings are perpetrated to steal harvests. In the B.C. Lower Mainland, a number of homicides have been related to the marihuana industry.
Organized crime groups will continue to be extensively involved in the large-scale cultivation and distribution of marihuana across Canada. Marihuana smuggling from Canada to the U.S. will probably increase if the demand for marihuana in the U.S. continues. Residential marihuana operations will continue to be a cost-effective and highly profitable way of growing large amounts of marihuana.
Concurrent with the continuation of residential marihuana operations will be the accompanying serious health and safety concerns. The number of children found living in residential marihuana operations is a serious and concerning trend. Similarly, the number of fires and violence related to marihuana operations is a public safety concern affecting entire communities.
How has the criminal justice system dealt with the grow-ops? Not very effectively if one looks at the research. A study by the Criminology Department of the University College of the Fraser valley which analyzed data for British Columbia from 1997 to 2000 found that a small number of cases result in significant jail time.
"Of the 11,733 cases coming to the attention of the police, 9,232 were fully investigated, and of these 8,010 proved to be founded. About half of these founded cases were dealt with informally (e.g., "no case" seizures), with this being a more likely outcome in smaller operations (i.e., under 10 plants).At the prosecutorial level, there are significant numbers of stays of proceedings and charges withdrawn as a result of plea bargaining practices, both of which result in a considerable attrition of charges and suspects…In the final analysis, 2255 of founded cases led to at least one offender being convicted. Overall, a total of 2551 offenders were convicted, representing 54% of those charged and 25% of suspects initially associated with a founded case. The majority of convictions did not result in custodial dispositions. Prison sentences were ordered in only 18% of cases, with an average term of 4.5 months."
Canadian law enforcement and other stakeholders are taking the issue very seriously.In Ontario, the Ministry of Public Safety & Correctional Services has assembled a stakeholder group to address the rise of grow-ops.The electricity industry in Ontario, through the Electricity Distributors Association is an active partner in the "Green Tide" initiative.At the national level, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been actively engaged on the grow-op issue and recently brought together a wide range of stakeholders at the first National Conference on Illicit Marijuana Grow Operations.A number of Canadian electric utility companies attended the conference, as well as the Canadian Electricity Association (CEA).Prompted by the serious economic and safety implications of grow-op electrical bypasses, the Canadian electricity industry through CEA has undertaken, in cooperation with other stakeholders, to examine more closely the possibility of establishing national guidelines to assist electric utility companies in identifying and addressing grow-ops.CEA is considering compiling an inventory of existing legislation and policies across Canada with the view of identifying best practices, which could be shared at the national level.Finally, CEA has identified as a priority the need to inform and educate the industry, as well as stakeholders, of the safety and economic impacts of MGOs, and will be investigating potential initiatives to address this.
