“I’ve seen houses listed for sale that still had marijuana grow op plants, they were dead mind you, that were still in the basement,� she said.
In addition, cash-flush criminals can artificially inflate house prices.
“Because the profits are so high with marijuana, they can just walk away from the house,� she said.
Colley-Urquhart said the city predicts it loses up to $35 million per year because of power theft — another loss that drains money from law-abiding citizens.
“I think this is one of the consequences when people try to marginalize the significance of marijuana,� she said. “A pound of marijuana can sell for between $4,000 and $7,000 in the U.S. And our streets get flooded back with drugs. That affects our kids. We have a serious, serious drug problem in Calgary and marijuana is a key part of the cycle.�
The alderman said neighbourhoods beset by drug houses aren’t necessarily bad areas.
“The neighbours might be more astute. They know what’s going on and report the tips to Crime Stoppers,� she said.
Both Colley-Urquhart and the police agree: the best way to fight grow ops is to know your neighbours.
But in new suburbs, or communities filled with transitional residents, that’s hard.
While marijuana may be benign, the homes that grow the drug are not.
Maxine Hendricks now lives next to a gutted, emptied house. The floors have been ripped up, air ducts removed and windows plastered with fluorescent signs warning passersby not to enter. If history is any guide, the eyesore may stay that way, untouched, for as much as two more years.
What’s worse, the terrible clatter heard on the day of the fire was actually the sound of arcing electricity. The perpetrators used a shoddy electrical connection to bypass the meter, a method that allows power thieves to evade detection. Organized crime Insp. Kevin Forsen, with the Calgary Police Service, has now seen the imported device involved in two grow op house fires in the past month.
“They’re doing it in a dangerous manner, actually, and electrifying the ground,� he said. A neighbour could “put a metal stake in the ground and end up being electrocuted. For me, that’s the big issue with marijuana grow ops.�
Scott Sampson, a detective with the arson unit, suspects a rogue electrician could be behind the two fires — which means more neighbourhoods near grow ops could be at risk.
“It’s not a matter of if a fire is going to happen, it’s when it’s going to happen,� he said. “Whoever is setting these things up, it’s horrendous, the workmanship. They don’t use protectors. They don’t use any connectors.�
Most people know a few obvious signs of a grow operation: drawn window covers, the smell of pot and roofs that stay snow-free in the dead of winter because of the heat.
But Forsen said the criminals have grown more canny.
They will install lights on timers to make the house look like it’s been lived in. They pick homes in suburban districts where they can work without notice.
“A big reason people run these grow ops on the premises in those neighbourhoods is that it’s a quiet neighbourhood. If they stick to themselves and their houses and don’t outwardly cause issues, people go on with their lives and don’t pay attention,� Forsen said.