Marijuana.com

Zilos

B.C.'s marijuana-growing industry, once based almost exclusively in the Lower Mainland, is rapidly expanding into every corner of the province as organized-crime groups seek cheaper property and less police scrutiny in more remote areas.

A study of marijuana growing released Friday by the University College of the Fraser Valley reveals that after rapid growth in the late-1990s, the number of new growing operations reported to police in B.C. has levelled off -- dropping six per cent between 2000 and 2003.

But that overall number masks a stark regional divide: While Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley have seen a 20-per-cent drop in the number of new reported operations, the rest of B.C. has seen a 15-per-cent increase.

And the jump has been even more dramatic than that in some communities. In the Kootenays, reported growing operations are up 64 per cent, from 158 in 2000 to 259 in 2003.

In the Central Okanagan, which includes Kelowna, growing operations are up 171 per cent -- from 96 to 260.

And in Powell River, reported operations are up almost three-fold (295 per cent), from just 19 in 2000 to 75 in 2003.

Insp. Paul Nadeau of the RCMP's Coordinated Marijuana Enforcement Team said the reason for the shift is simple.

In more remote areas, criminals have access to larger properties -- which allows them to grow more marijuana.

And they are farther away from nosy neighbours who might tip off police.

"If a criminal organization is wanting to generate as much product as they can, with as low a profile as they can, they're probably better off to head out of town," Nadeau said.

Another factor is that, unlike big urban detachments such as Surrey and Langley with dedicated "Green Teams" that focus exclusively on shutting down growing operations, many small rural detachments don't have the resources to go after them aggressively.

"Nobody's guarding the fort," said criminologist Darryl Plecas, the study's lead author.

Port Alberni RCMP Staff Sgt. Lee Omilusik said his detachment has two drug officers, but they're responsible for all drug files, not just marijuana.

"They're dealing with everything from methamphetamine to heroin," he said. "We don't have a team strictly for marijuana grow operations."

As a result, Omilusik said, the detachment has to balance its response to growing operations with the region's other policing needs.

"We do it as the manpower permits," he said. "We're busy with other things as well."

Sgt. John Jordan, head of the Kelowna RCMP drug section, said his detachment has been flooded with reports of growing operations in the past few years.

"There's been a marked increase," he said. "They're in just about every neighbourhood in Kelowna in significant numbers."

Jordan said the detachment, which has just six full-time drug investigators, has struggled to deal with the problem.

"It certainly does put a huge pressure on resources," he said. "They are time-consuming investigations."

To help deal with the backlog of cases, Kelowna has done occasional crackdowns. The most recent, a two-month blitz last spring, resulted in 40 busts.

But Jordan said the problem has become so big that Kelowna is looking at establishing its own full-time "Green Team".

Sgt. Andy Brinton of the Powell River RCMP said his detachment is doing what it can to crack down on the city's booming pot trade.

But he said it doesn't have enough officers to man a full-time growing operations team.

"It's dependent on the information we receive and the workload of the day," he said.

Of the operations the detachment has busted, said Brinton, it appears many of the growers have moved to Powell River recently from somewhere else, often the Lower Mainland.

"I would have to say that the more sophisticated, larger-scale grows that we've come across have been people from outside," he said. "A lot of them do seem to be from out of town."

One of the things that makes Powell River attractive to growers, said Brinton, is a wide selection of cheap property for rent.

"Powell River is a bargain, real estate wise," said Brinton. "So what we're finding is people from other areas are buying land here as an investment [and] in the meantime, they're offering the trailer or shack on it for rent."

And that combination of cheap rent and an absentee landlord is proving too tempting for growers to pass up, he said.

One of the challenges police in Powell River face, Brinton said, is that growing operations are a lot harder to investigate in rural areas than they are in the city.

In places like Vancouver or Surrey, drug investigators can often collect valuable evidence without a search warrant -- smelling marijuana from the sidewalk or viewing a fast-spinning hydro meter from an adjacent property.

"It's harder to make those observations when all you see is a long, twisty driveway that goes into the bush," Brinton said.

cskelton@png.canwest.com

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PotShot

Operation Overgrow in full effect!

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Buzzby

Think about how they "count" the number of grow-ops in an area. They can only count the ones that they're staking out or have busted. How much bearing can that have on the actual number of operations? Not much.

As professional growers learn how to be more stealthy and move into areas with thinner police coverage the number of ops might appear to decrease while actually increasing. Does anyone actually believe that something as lucrative as commercial pot growing is in decline?

What I want to know is why the usual market laws of supply and demand aren't lowering prices when there is so much supply. I suspect it has more to do with black-market profiteering than market economics.

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killer12382

It's all about supply and demand. Basic economics.

killer12382

Here's something to think about....Do operators of grow ops want marijuana to be legalized? If it were legalized then the prices would go down and profits would fall off.

 

smoking_joe_lee

If it were legal, the government would want a cut. And the way they tax alcohol and tobacco in Canada makes me believe it would be a BIG CUT.

The laws of supply and demand. Cost cutting to maximize profits (and avoid the RCMP). This is proof positive that capitolism is alive and well in Canada, eh!

Unregistered

i live in powell River and strongly recommend people to move up here and grow dope its has huge houses with big ass yards for cheap cheap right on the ocean! the police here aint got shiat though they think they might haha! the sunshine coast has the best dope indoor/outdoor bar none and its everywhere for amazingly cheap prices compared to cities. so come to Powell River and let the pounds flow!!! they cant ever ****ing stop us were to strong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! growers unite!~