Growing marijuana intoxicate homes around

If there’s something suspect in your neighborhood, Belleville Police want to hear from you.
What may at first seem to be strange activity — or inactivity — next door could indicate a marijuana growing operation.
And if that doesn’t sound harsh, police hope to convert your mind.
Unlike small-scale grows they uncover in their daily work, officers said Tuesday, major operations mean major trouble.
“This is organized crime,” said Det.-Const. Jason Marcotte of the Belleville Police drug unit.
“This isn’t someone who’s growing a few plants in their basement,” he said.
“A lot of people see it as ‘just marijuana’ and it’s not. This is bringing guns onto the streets. This is other drugs being traded for marijuana.”
The Belleville drug unit works closely with other forces, acutely the Ontario Provincial Police, as part of Project Longarm, a combined drug squad. Each year its officers seize millions of drugs from Kingston to Brighton to North Hastings and Prince Edward County.
That co-operation means cases that start in one area can be traced more without difficulty to other regions, as was the case this summer, when police allege a drug network operating in numerous municipalities was cracked because of an investigation begun in Belleville.
That case, dubbed Project Industrious, remains before the courts. Police say it was the most organized and sophisticated marijuana operation yet seen in Belleville.
Plants were begun in Belleville, officers said, then moved to rural outdoor plantations.
Investigators say such operations have widespread effects — all of them bad — on the public both locally and wherever the drugs are sold.
It has turn out to be common for illegal marijuana producers to rent or buy homes in low-crime, even affluent neighbourhoods and turn them into indoor drug farms.
Police said the growers care only about growing and selling drugs and virtually destroy houses in the procedure.
“It’s as close as you can get to a total loss,” said Marcotte.
Sgt. George Farrow of the Belleville Police intelligence unit said some homeowners have decided the repair bill will outweigh the value of the houses and simply level them. Much of that damage comes from black mold, a moisture-loving organism that can cause severe health problems.
“The plants need high moisture,” explained Marcotte. “The mold is a result of them sealing off and creating a tropical environment inside the house. It starts eroding the drywall and it gets in behind.”
In one recent case, he said, the pervasive mold was found inside a cement wall.
“That’s going for the period of vapor barrier; that’s going during your insulation, and right into the cinder block.”
Structural damage is another problem: ventilation holes may be cut at random — even during floor joists — meaning mould-contaminated air moves throughout and beyond the building.
“You can imagine living next door to that,” said Marcotte. “They’re venting that out of their attic and it’s blowing into your kid’s window.”
In a grow house, said Farrow, “quite regularly it means the removal of carpets, flooring, drywall, ceiling tile, blinds, the whole bit.
“They don’t care that they’ve got black mould all up the walls. A lot of times they’re not even in the house,” he said. “Everything runs on timers.”
And when they’re done, said Marcotte, “they’ll slap a coat of paint on that and put the house up for sale.”
“It can diminish the value of other people’s houses because individuals talk (and say), ‘Oh, that was a grow op,’” said Farrow.
High use of utilities can attract suspicion from electrical and water companies, so growers may bypass meters.
One house in Kingston had its electrical meter bypassed. The grow was discovered, said Marcotte, but not before an estimated $90,000 worth of electricity had been stolen.
Water used to cool the plants may just run down the drain — around the clock.
“You can imagine the cost of turning on your outside tap and leaving it running for a month,” Marcotte said. “The water use is in the area of $5,000 a month that they’re stealing. All of that is a loss.”
Any chemicals used in the growing are typically dumped down the drain or into the sewer, he said.
The officers said city police have encountered few local producers of pharmaceutical drugs such as ecstasy or methamphetamine.
Marcotte said he’ll soon speak to teachers at one city school to warn them, in part, about the dangers of students trying to make drugs.
Throughout an interview Tuesday he played a video from a popular Internet site displaying apparent instructions on drug making. Intercut with a music video and featuring on-screen instructions, it takes viewers through the steps needed to make a drug from household products — or so it seems.
“This is completely inaccurate,” the detective said. The method} doesn’t yield the drug, he explained, and similar misinformation found online is landing young individuals in hospitals across Ontario.
Home production can be dangerous for another reason}, Farrow noted: numerous processes usage fertilizer, lighter fluid and paint thinner that can catch fire or even explode.
“If they’re doing it in their basement or kitchen they’re putting the whole neighbourhood vulnerable,” said Farrow.
The investigators said public tips are valuable in alerting police to such major operations. They listed several usual signs of expected drug activity.
When growers search for houses, Farrow said, they may seek a instant sale or cash deposit. Homes with municipal water services may be sought, and unfinished basements mean more growing space.
Human activity surrounding the house may seem unusual as well.
“It’s kind of a standard of living that persons will notice,” Farrow said. “They usually select a place that has a garage so that with a garage door opener they drive straight in and the work can start. From time to time they even remove that garage door.”
The heat from a grow gathers in the attic, meaning that in winter, “in a neighbourhood where everybody’s house has snow on it, they’ll have no snow, or clear patches,” Farrow said.
Some other clues:
* Windows open in winter or early spring, boxed and insulated.
* Lights turning off and on without any signs of human presence, such as grass being cut.
* The distinct, strong, heavy organic smell of the plants.
* No trash left out for collection.
* Sounds of construction at strange hours.
“In one of the cases in Belleville neighbors heard construction going on at abnormal hours of the night,” Farrow said.
Police said they’re encouraged by the amount of public awareness and willingness to work with police by reporting drug activity.
“The advantage here in Belleville is it’s a strong community,” Marcotte said. “They individuals are letting the police know and not tolerating what’s going on.”
Tips can be directed to the Belleville Police at 613-966-0882 or anonymously to Crime Stoppers, which offers rewards of up to $2,000, at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

References: The Intelligencer