Chemicals used in processing have levelled homes and blown the roofs off the neighbours’ houses.
Fires caused by dangerous amateur hotwiring, common in grow-ops where criminals steal power to avoid detection and nurture growing plants, are a constant threat.
That’s one reason why local RCMP was glad to shut down an elaborate grow-op in Pemberton last week.
"They can be very dangerous," said RCMP Cst. Michelle Nisbet.
When police raided the home in the 1400-block of Hemlock they found over 300 plants valued at more than $250,000.
Along with the plants they seized electrical equipment and other paraphernalia used to produce adult plants.
Nisbet said police suspect there are many outdoor grow-ops in the region as the weather is just right for the plants. But the only way to find them would be to do aerial surveillance on a routine basis.
For the most part there are few grow-ops indoors as the high rents discourage it.
But even Whistler has had a house fire or two thanks to dope growing operations.
But now municipalities are fighting back. Several areas of the Lower Mainland where the number of grow ops and chemical labs is burgeoning are drafting new bylaws aimed at keeping drug growers and manufacturers out of their communities.
And just as the American government finally got crime boss Al Capone for tax evasion, municipal governments are hoping to put grow-ops out of business using building code, health and safety, and fire safety infractions.
It made not sound as sexy as getting the organized crime bosses who run these chemical labs on criminal charges. But the hope is that it will keep them out of communities across B.C.
"We want to send a message really loudly and clearly that we are closing for business," said Chilliwack councillor Sharon Gaetz, chair of a safety committee which drafted a new and sweeping bylaw aimed at getting rid of chemical labs and grow-ops.
"You can't get away with this type of operation in Chilliwack anymore. And it is working, we are taking down two grow-ops a week."
Chilliwack, which officials suspect may have as many as 1,000 grow-ops in operation, shared its new bylaw with 30 other municipalities at the annual conference of the Lower Mainland Municipal Association in Whistler in May.
The bylaw, which is still being worked on in Chilliwack, is sweeping. It gives the municipal inspectors new powers and clearly outlines under what circumstances inspections can happen.
For example, if a resident is suspected of bypassing B.C. Hydro, which estimates $50 million a year of power is stolen, an inspector can go into the home.
And fire chiefs can inspect any building, at any time, if they are concerned there is a risk of fire.
If it is adopted it’s likely other municipalities will look at it and consider adopting similar by-laws to fight the growth in grow-ops and chemical labs.
The one thing drug growers and chemical lab operators don’t want is anyone poking around their operation.
The ability to get into the home has taken on new significance because, according to RCMP Inspector Paul Nadeau of the National Co-ordinating Committee on Organized Crime, more and more chemical lab operators are buying homes and condos for their operations instead of renting them.
"Believe me they can afford it," he said.
It's estimated that an average marijuana grow-op can harvest 25 to 30 lbs (11 to 13 kgs) every six-to-eight weeks. Each pound is worth US$3,000 – that's about US$75,000 every harvest.
Chilliwack, which has seen a 300 per cent increase in grow-ops and chemical labs since 1998, was able to draft this new bylaw following the adoption of the new Community Charter last year. Changes to the Residential Tenancy Act, which came into effect in January, are also helping in the fight against crime.
Chilliwack now requires landlords to inspect their properties every three months. If they find any infractions of the bylaw they must report them. If they fail to do so they will be fined $10,000 a day for each day the infraction is known to have occurred.
"This is sophisticated crime," said Gaetz.
"This is not a mom and pop operation. We want to protect all of our communities in the Lower Mainland from organized crime. I don't think anyone wants it in our neighbourhoods so these are some of the tools that municipalities are trying to employ to make our communities a safer place."
Municipalities are being forced to search out these new and creative ways of tackling crime because they are not allowed to write bylaws which specifically target activities which are covered under the criminal code or deal with morality issues.
Nadeau told the rapt audience of municipal administrators and politicians that his task force considers the growth in the numbers of chemical labs the number one priority.
"The numbers are on the increase everywhere," he said.
It used to be that B.C. had more grow-ops than anywhere else in Canada. That’s not the case anymore, said Nadeau. But its not because B.C. is winning the fight, it’s because drug czars are opening chemical labs and grow-ops all over the country.
Over the last three years police have had 5,500 to 7,000 grow-ops reported to them in B.C. But that number is only the tip of the iceberg Nadeau told the audience. The reality is that figure probably only represents about 30 per cent of grow-ops in operation.
That’s one reason why half of the riot troops in this province have been trained to conduct searches of grow-ops.
"You might say your own police officers might be able to do that but there are very serious safety issues associated with conducting those searches," said Nadeau.
"There are electrical bypasses, booby traps and those sorts of things. It is a dangerous environment. We need to have our people trained before they go into these places."
It makes sense to train riot troops as they are all over the province, they have specialized training with certain equipment, and they have all the proper safety equipment required for the job.
A new and disturbing trend is the decision by organized crime groups to operate as a cohesive unit where one part of the syndicate grows or manufactures the drug, another harvests and packages it, another transports it to the U.S., and another launders the money.
"When you have organized crime units integrating that is very bad news," he said, adding that criminal groups use grow-ops to fund other illegal activities.
Also on the increase are the number of criminals who can't be bothered actually running the chemical labs so they just go around neighbourhoods investigating when other criminals’ grow-ops are ready to be harvested then sweep in and steal the drugs.
That has led to an increasing number of weapons being found when police go into chemical labs and some lab operators are even booby trapping the premises.
Indeed the homes used for chemical labs and grow-ops can be seriously damaged. Holes will be punched in the walls, furnaces will be dismantled to allow deadly carbon dioxide to flow over the plants and cocktails of left over chemicals are often just flushed into the plumbing system.
These chemicals, often noxious pesticides, will infiltrate carpets, venting systems, and the walls. They can make it deadly to live in the home even 18 months after the operation has been stopped and the home "cleaned."
Fungus and moulds, common to all grow-ops, penetrate homes causing serious injury to residents long after the drug operation has ceased.
And criminals think nothing of taking all their deadly leftover chemicals and garbage and just dumping them anywhere, near streams, watersheds, wetlands and parks.
Gaetz and others hope stronger bylaws will help keep chemical lab and grow-op operators out of their communities.
"What it really comes down to is the safety of our communities," she said.
"Chilliwack is a safe and great community and it is getting safer and greater as we speak because we are taking some steps to get rid of a very dangerous problem."
