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Canadian Pot Growers Seek Cheaper Real Estate
Hector Duarte Jr. | All Headline News | 08/10/2005

Toronto, Canada (AHN) - A booming real estate market has Canadian marijuana growers looking toward cheaper land in northern Ontario as a way to cut down on costs.

In the past two weeks, police say they have made two massive pot busts in sparsely populated towns in northern Ontario, a region better known for its mining, timber and paper mills.

About 39,000 marijuana plants, with a street value of over $33 million, were seized in Iroquois Falls and Matheson, Ontario. Police say the operations extended the length of three football fields.

Reports indicate those arrested were from Toronto. Police cite the low cost of land as the culprit in many pot operations moving from the greater Toronto area.

Growers may also be moving to places that are isolated from the intense eye of Toronto law enforcement.

Last year, a marijuana factory was discovered in an abandoned brewery north of Toronto. The raid turned up 30,000 marijuana plants in what police say is the largest indoor growing operation in Canadian history.

Canada's government is trying to toughen penalties for growing or selling the drug, but is considering decriminalizing possession of small amounts of pot.

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