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Plainsman1963

Grow-op arrests cropping up less
Suburban police tout their efforts
Pot growers trying harder to blend in
04-05-06 | TheStar.Com | PETER EDWARDS

The number of suburban marijuana grow operations shut down by police over the past few years has dropped dramatically, meaning pot growers are either getting discouraged or smarter.

"All the (Greater Toronto Area) police forces are hammering them," said Det. Rob Muscat of the Peel Region police morality bureau.

Fewer than 40 grow operations have been busted in Peel this year, putting the region on roughly the same pace as last year, when 152 grow operations in houses were shut down.

That's a sharp drop from 2004, when Peel police raided 239 operations, and 2003, when 376 grow operations were closed.

In 2000, Peel police closed just 33 grow ops, but the number climbed dramatically to 152 in 2001 and 234 in 2002.

"It's going back down," Muscat said.

Despite the apparent success, he said plenty of work is left to do, noting police estimate the dollar value of marijuana exported from Canada is greater than the value of Canadian wheat sold abroad.

"We're the No. 1 source of marijuana into the U.S.," Muscat said.

Today's operators routinely install small cameras on their homes to keep an eye on hydro workers or police who might drop by to check on the property, officials said.

They also try to blend into neighbourhoods, cutting their lawns, leaving garbage at the curb and often keeping small children with them.

"They're living in them more now," Muscat said.

The average grow op is in a detached house of between 2,500 square feet and 3,000 square feet, and contains some 400 to 500 plants.

Corner lots are preferable, as they reduce the likelihood of suspicious neighbours.

York Region Police confirmed they have executed search warrants at seven houses on tiny Purcell Cres., near Teston Rd. and Keele St., since 2003 for grow operations.

Muscat's comments came as York Region police last week shut down a grow operation with some 290 plants, worth $290,000, in a Woodbridge home.

They also recovered $100,000 in stolen jewellery at the residence.

Police busted the home after suspects were seen stealing metal shelving from a Fortinos Market in Vaughan last Wednesday.

Charged with possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking, cultivation of marijuana, possession of stolen property and theft less than $5,000 are George Molnar, 56, and Beata Vajda, 32, both of Woodbridge.

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"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." - Claire Wolfe

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troublemaker_42

While US cannabis consumers are getting more sophisticated all the time, I bet Mexico imports WAY more pot into the US than Canada could dream of at this point.

Buzzby

Or they're moving to areas with less strict enforcement. Or they're finally paying off the right cops.


I wish. It's estimated that Canadian weed represents 5% of imported marijuana. The great bulk of it comes, as it always has, from Mexico. He should have said, "We're the No. 1 source of high end marijuana into the U.S."

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reggie_the_dog

I have read numerous estimations, some from high times, some from the DEA, but they suggest that just over half of the cannabis consumed in the USA is grown in the USA, and the highest of high end cannabis smoked in the USA is grown indoors IN THE USA....;

troublemaker_42

I wouldn't doubt a great share of KB is domestically produced, but I doubt the statement about half of the total us consumption is grown domestically

 

reggie_the_dog

http://www.unodc.org/pdf/WDR_2004/Chap2_cannabis.pdf


united nations office of drug control says
"Nonetheless, some concentrations can be identified.
North America seems to be the world's largest cannabis
market, accounting for 2/3 of global cannabis herb
seizures over the 2001-2002 period. US authorities
report that two thirds of cannabis herb is domestically
produced. Out of cannabis herb imports into the USA,
63% came from Mexico and 23% from Canada in
2002. Mexico reported that 95% of the cannabis herb
on its market came from domestic sources; 5% was
imported from Guatemala. The Canadian authorities
reported all seized cannabis herb as having originated
from domestic sources."

so indeed, us Americans are our own number one source of cannabis.

also there is this gem
"According to US government estimates cannabis herb
production outside the USA was around 15,400 tons in
2002, up from 11,200 tons in 1999s. Annual production
of marijuana in the USA was estimated by the US
authorities to amount to more than 10,000t tons in
2001/2002. This would result in a global cannabis herb
production of more than 25,000 tons."

so the USA is estimated to produce 40% of the worlds cannabis herb, not bad considering how strong the prohibition movement is in the USA.

MrIMStoned

I would never dare grow pot in my home in the US. I have 5 buddies doing good in my Canadaian apartment and the worse thing i fear is being caught and put on probation as opposed to getting caught and bunched together with murderers and rapists.

__________________
"In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable what then?"

MrIMStoned

Oh. My. God. It's almost as though the're real people and not violent criminals.

Plainsman1963

Plains...Doing his part by growing his own...

FreeUpJahCure

I guess thats 1 of the reasons why there scared to legalize the holy herb. But anyway if most of the weed thats coming to the US is suppose to be Mexican shwag, then those numbers,(63%) seem terribly wrong. I'm from a very popular state and it seems like the weed I get my hands on is always high grade whether it be green or haze. So I guess the herb I be getting is either locally grown or from Canada.