WNB

Pot business booming in rural regions
Shannon Montgomery | Canoe.ca | 7/26/2005

TORONTO -- The discovery of a northern Ontario marijuana grow operation spanning an area the size of three football fields is a sign that Canada's booming pot-growing business is expanding both in size and location, experts say.

Many grow-ops, which have been multiplying in the suburbs around Toronto in recent years, are making the move from urban locations to rural locations in order to take advantage of bigger growing areas and to escape police detection, according to the acting head of the Ontario Provincial Police's drug enforcement squad.

"We're seeing a trend where we see grow operators across the province move further north, and increase in size," said Det.-Insp. Frank Elbers.

"The most alarming thing is the size of the grows we're seeing."

Indoor grow ops used to be the norm because people felt that the plant produced was of a higher quality in terms of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, said Elbers, but this is no longer the case. As a result, more growers are moving from southern Ontario to rural regions where they can plant outdoors, he said.

More than 21,000 marijuana plants were seized Sunday from behind a home in Iroquois Falls, Ont., about 70 kilometres northeast of Timmins.

The seizure followed directly on the heels of a July 19 bust, in which Ontario police seized more than 7,000 plants, ecstasy pills and growing equipment in Sundridge, Ont., about 70 kilometres south of North Bay.

And in what is thought to be the province's largest bust, police discovered 25,000 plants growing everywhere inside the three-storey former Molson brewery last year in Barrie, Ont.

"This year we've just seen a real swing to where we've had half a dozen growers of a large nature, and everyone seems to be from southern Ontario," said Det.-Sgt. Bill O'Shea, a unit commander with the OPP's drug enforcement section in North Bay, who worked on that case.

He said another major consideration for these rural operators is something any potential property owner thinks about - that it costs a lot less to live in the country.

"It's like any other business, it's square footage," he said. "And you want to get your product on as much square footage as you can."

The deaths of four RCMP officers in Alberta in March provided evidence in that province that criminals were beginning to prefer the quiet isolation of rural spots.

Elbers said he wouldn't be surprised to find that the trend now so noticeable in Ontario is also prevalent in Quebec.

O'Shea said heavy policing in urban areas could be contributing to the move.

"(Growers) are moving to other areas where they don't feel we're as aware or sophisticated," he said.

But he said no one can be absolutely sure why more grow-ops are being discovered in rural regions.

"That doesn't mean they weren't here, it means we haven't detected them before."

Blair Longley, president of the Marijuana Party of Canada, said although he had no firsthand knowledge of trends in grow operation locations, from what he has seen, people will go wherever they can make the most money.

"I would expect it would be like water, it would flow anywhere it can go," he said.

Longley said as far as he knew, there was no organized decision to move away from urban centres.

"A move here, a move there, it's just each individual and little group taking up opportunities wherever they can."

Police were quick to emphasize that more outdoor grow-ops doesn't mean indoor operations are going away.

"My experience tells me this is just another branch of your company," O'Shea said. "It's like any other business. With GM, there's a truck plant and there's a car plant. This is the same idea."

Despite the added risk outdoor grow-ops will be discovered, Elbers said the payoff is so big that more people see them as an option.

"It comes down to money. There's so much money in this business," he said. "They're willing to take the risk."

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