cannabisnews.com: Police To Use Property Laws Against Grow Houses

Police To Use Property Laws Against Grow Houses
Posted by CN Staff on June 08, 2002 at 09:05:19 PT
Editorial
Source: Toronto Star
Hamilton police, building and health officials are taking a new, hard-line approach to discourage home-grow marijuana operations. Police are identifying health, safety and building code issues they find during raids against houses filled with pot plants and notifying appropriate city authorities. Those officials, in turn, are issuing work orders which landlords must complete to make the homes habitable again. The intent is to make landlords more accountable about their rented properties.
Similar measures are targeting homeowers who choose to live in their homes while growing pot. Lien-type notices could be registered against properties, alerting potential new owners to possible health concerns because of chemicals used to grow the illegal crops. The use of health and building department orders to crack down on marijuana farm production is significant because it means police and the city have another method to fight the booming indoor pot-farming industry. Police and city officials are hopeful these measures may prevent landlords and owners simply abandoning houses used as pot farms to become neighbourhood eyesores and trouble-spots as landlords could be forced to clean them up. Three of four marijuana growing operations Hamilton police vice and drug officers shut down on Wednesday were rental homes. In the four raids, police seized marijuana they say could have realized more than $1 million. Six young children living in three of the homes were taken into children's aid society care. One of the houses, a one-year-old home on Fortissimo Drive, had never been lived in but was being rented by two Toronto area men strictly for marijuana production. Officers who entered the home found strands of black mould dangling from moisture-sodden ceilings which also reek from the vapours of pesticides and fertilizers used to grow the plants. Mould is a health hazard and Sergeant Rick Wills, head of the Hamilton police vice and drugs unit, said yesterday the interior of the once-beautiful home will have to be gutted before anyone could live there safely. That, he said, is the sort of problem health and building officials can order an owner to clean up before trying to rent or sell. Wills said police and the city are also looking at having costs of investigations registered as liens against properties as added financial incentive to get landlords to avoid renting to grow operations. As well, police are researching the feasibility of having a previous use disclosure clause registered against property titles so unsuspecting buyers don't get stuck with a mould and chemical saturated nightmare. Ward 7 Hamilton Councillor Bill Kelly says grow houses are always a problem after the busts happen. The homes are boarded up but teens use them as local clubhouses and create lots of neighbourhood problems. The city can't act because trespassing has to be a complaint by the owner (absentee in most cases). The four raids Wednesday - all conducted under warrants alleging theft of electricity - included a home on Fortissimo Drive, two on Rockway Court just east of Limeridge Mall and and one on East 11th Street. Police said the two operations on Rockway Court do not appear connected. They seized 248 plants worth $248,000 from one home. A one-year-old child in the home was turned over to the CAS. A man and woman, both 44, were charged with cultivation and possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and proceeds of crime. Further down the street, police found 547 plants worth about $550,000 and $50,000 worth of equipment in a home where three small children lived alongside the plants. The children age one, six and eight were taken into CAS care. Two men 31 and 30 years old have been charged with theft of hydro, cultivation and possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. Police were searching a home on Fortissimo Drive when two men arrived with chemicals and equipment for their marijuana crop. They were arrested and police seized $300,000 worth of marijuana in the basement. Two 29-year-old men, one from Etobicoke and one from Mississauga, are charged with cultivation and possession of a controlled substance. Complete Title: Police To Use Property-Standards Laws Against Grow Houses Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)Published: June 6, 2002 Copyright: 2002 The Toronto StarWebsite: http://www.thestar.com/Contact: lettertoed thestar.com Related Articles & Web Sites:Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmPolice Target Home Marijuana Grows in Blitzhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12701.shtmlU.S. Pot War Comes North http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11937.shtml
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Comment #5 posted by Jose Melendez on June 10, 2002 at 06:47:52 PT
great quote
from:http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1066/a08.html?397"When they took the Fourth Amendment I was quiet, because I didn't deal drugs. When they took the Fifth Amendment I was quiet, since I wasn't in organized crime. When they took the Second Amendment I was quiet, since I didn't own a gun. Now they have taken the First Amendment, and I can say nothing about it."
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Comment #4 posted by Lehder on June 08, 2002 at 16:26:50 PT
Welcome to the ghetto
Ward 7 Hamilton Councillor Bill Kelly says grow houses are always a problem after the
busts happen. The homes are boarded up but teens use them as local clubhouses and create lots of
neighbourhood problems. The city can't act because trespassing has to be a complaint by the owner (absentee in
most cases). Keep listening, Canada, to the DEA. You're learning fast. Before long you'll even enjoy an American-engineered coup for a day like Venezuela's.Take a day trip to the American side of the Falls. See if you like the litter and dirt, the surly people and the crime. Think about what you're doing to your own country. Do you really like a future where you are picking my blueberries for twenty cents per hour and living with six other families in a house trashed by the drug war? Maybe you're no brighter than Americans.
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Comment #3 posted by BGreen on June 08, 2002 at 09:34:40 PT
Uhm
I've got an acre of property that I'd like to plant some seeds on, but you keep flying your helicopters over it, making it necessary for me to try to recreate the outdoors inside.And, WTF are all these chemicals they keep talking about? Everytime the exterminator comes to your house, your kids are sucking up more toxins than Jr. Bushs' liver. I don't use ANY toxic substances around my food.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on June 08, 2002 at 09:31:41 PT
Related News Brief
Man Dies Tending Pot Grow-Operation

canada.com

Thursday, June 06, 2002

RCMP in Ridge-Meadows responded to a 911 call last night around 9:45 p.m. to a house in the 11900 block Best Street, Maple Ridge.

A 33-year-old male resident at the house had gone into the crawl space to tend to a marijuana grow operation.

The man was found deceased and electrocution is suspected as the cause of death.

The Coroner's office attended to the home and an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.

The RCMP and Hydro continue to be on scene today with a search warrant.

Attempts are being made to shut all hydro service down to the home before the approx.

Police have removed 100 marijuana plants from the home.

The man leaves behind a wife who is 8 months pregnant.

Comment #1 posted by goneposthole on June 08, 2002 at 09:22:57 PT
A Little More Obfuscation, Please
Gee whiz, If cannabis were legal, could it be that these problems would not exist?
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