Police say marijuana grow operations becoming increasingly dangerous

While a serious threat to the safety of investigating police officers, neighbours and unsuspecting visitors, police say "pot pirates" are the real target of these illicit security measures.

"They're used to protect (marijuana growers) from other criminal groups going in and ripping them off," Ogden said, adding there's "absolutely no doubt organized crime has a very strong hand in the production and distribution of marijuana."

Gone are the days when booby traps involved dangling fish hooks and razor blades in corn stalks, said Det.-Supt. Frank Elbers of the Ontario Provincial Police drug enforcement unit.

He said his officers are encountering dangerous traps such as cribs filled with rocks or spiked logs and hoisted into tress, and spiked saplings attached to trip wires covered in animal parts so as to cause infection in victims.

In a recent bust near Bracebridge, Ont., police were confronted by 20 people armed with bulletproof vests, handguns and Tasers.

"We're seeing everything imaginable from machetes to machine-guns. Detonator cords, blasting caps," said Elbers.

Over the last year, he said, there have been multiple shootings, some of them fatal, as a result of marijuana grow operations. At least one officer was injured by a spike board during an investigation, said Elbers.

"Our big, big concern is for the members of our community. If they were to stumble into one of these places, obviously they could become very hurt, maimed or even killed."

Thursday's bust by Toronto police at a 13-storey apartment building resulted in the seizure of more than 6,000 plants and 13.6 kilograms of dried marijuana.

Three men face charges, including Daniel Wallace, the building's 47-year-old superintendent who is charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence charges. Tat Thang Nguyen, 35, and Dinh Pham, 46, of Toronto, face charges of conspiracy, marijuana production and possession.

All three men appeared in a Toronto courtroom Friday.

Det.-Sgt. David Malcolm said the sophisticated operation is among the largest that Toronto police have seen, and posed a serious health and safety risk.

"We had approximately 700 people living in this apartment building, and the threat of fire from this type of soil-based hydroponic grow thing is incredible for us," Malcolm said.

"There's also the mould issue, there's also the spores from the fertilizer, and the fertilizer that's being dumped down the drain in order to enhance the growth and the quality of the marijuana."

Police said a fire in April at the same building was the result of a marijuana grow operation. At the time, police were not aware there were others.

Law enforcement officials maintain the only way to clamp down on the proliferation of grow ops - which they say have grown more in terms of size and sophistication rather than volume - is through increased enforcement and prosecution.

Still, others suggest the decriminalization or legalization of marijuana is the only solution.

Paul Burstein, a Toronto lawyer who's long advocated for decriminalization, argues that "we create the problem by continuing to treat it as a problem."

Burstein cited reports tabled in the Senate and House of Commons that show the decriminalization of marijuana would serve to eradicate illegal grow operations, free up police to tackle more serious crime, and stop turning Canadian youth into criminals.

Burstein thinks organized crime plays less of a role in marijuana production than police would have the public believe, and suggests the activity would be less dangerous if producers weren't afraid of getting caught.

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