A provincewide information campaign to inform residents, visitors and businesses in rural communities about the potential dangers of illegal marijuana grow operations could be useful, says Mountain View County reeve Bruce Beattie.
Such a campaign is one of the recommendations coming out of the provincial Grow Op Free Alberta Final Recommendations Report, which was released last week following months of study and examination by an expert panel under the direction of Alberta Justice.
“As long as they are not encouraging people to go out and start looking for them, I think people should certainly be aware of the issues around those illegal operations,” said Beattie, adding, “I wonder what kind of resources they (the province) will put behind that?”
The panel conducted consultations with fire department officials, public health officials, safety codes officers, home inspectors, utility companies, mortgage lenders, real estate companies and others.
In all 37 recommendations were issued to address concerns about the health, safety and other impacts of grow operations on urban and rural communities.
“Far from being a harmless activity, marijuana grow operations present substantial immediate and long-term risks,” said Associate Minister of Public Safety Rick Fraser, who headed the panel.
“Fire, electrocution, mould, soil and water contamination, and chemical toxins endanger the health and safety of the dwelling, its inhabitants and the surrounding community.
“Remediation of these properties poses significant challenges for homeowners and municipalities alike.”
The panel's recommendations were outlined in seven categories: notification; community and environmental impact; inspection and remediation; child protection; safety and health hazards; utility usage and theft; and licensed grow- ops under the federal medical marijuana access program.
The first recommendation made by the panel calls for the creation of a public awareness campaign targeted at industry and the general public to “increase awareness of the signs of grow operations, increase knowledge about the safety and health risks associated with grow-ops and increase awareness of where to report suspected grow-ops.”
“Law enforcement stakeholders repeatedly told us that tips from community residents are one of the best front line defenses against having marijuana grow ops in residential communities, yet we know only a fraction of grow ops are reported to authorities,” the report states.
“Clearly defining what a grow op is and outlining the dangers associated with the activity may encourage Albertans to report a suspected grow op to their local law enforcement agencies.”
Another recommendation made by the panel is that work be undertaken to “establish protocols or ways to ensure municipalities are notified of a confirmed grow op.”
Asked for comments on that recommendation, Reeve Beattie said area RCMP departments routinely keep the municipality up to speed on criminal activities in the region.
“There is good communication,” said Beattie, adding, “We don't now get an official report (when grow-ops are uncovered).”
Other recommendations include that the province consider the following:
• Explore the creation of a process to report information about confirmed grow- ops, and make the information available to the general public.
• Consider options to require real estate agents, when they have knowledge, to disclose to potential purchasers whether the property they are selling was previously used for a grow-op.
• Develop a provincial inspection and remediation process guideline for municipalities when dealing with grow-ops.
• Consider legislation requiring landlords to inspect a property yearly and evict a tenant immediately if a grow-op is discovered.
• Consider legislation to ensure all municipalities have the authority to deal with hazardous issues of a property.
• Encourage partnerships between municipalities that have more experience with grow-ops and those that lack experience and capacity to deal with the marijuana grow-ops in their communities.
• Develop a communication plan to increase awareness of the risks to children exposed to drug manufacturing, trafficking and other serious drug activity.
Regarding legal commercial marijuana grow operations under the federal medical marijuana access program, the panel said the province should consider exploring ways to “regulate the operation of commercial grow-ops licensed (through the program), including the location of these operations and all other issues under provincial authority.
“A number of matters related to provincial regulation of federally licensed commercial grow ops were raised during consultations. For example, the locations of commercial grow ops within our communities, security arrangements for these facilities and inspections of the facilities were raised as unresolved issues,” the report states.
Reeve Beattie said a provincewide standard for legal marijuana grow facilities would be welcome.
“It would be helpful. They have done the same thing with intensive livestock operations, which lays down specific requirements and regulations,” said Beattie. “It wouldn't be out of line for the province to establish a provincewide standard in that way. It would be consistent across the province and would certainly be easier for municipalities to enforce if they had provincial backing.”
Some Cremona-area residents have recently expressed concerns with a medical marijuana facility now under construction north of the village.
Sundre RCMP Cpl. Ryan Hodges said although he cannot make comments on the report's recommendations, he would say that police across the region encourage people encountering grow-ops to report them.
“We need the public's help,” said Hodge. “Time and time again the public is our number 1 partner for finding crime out there.”
Police have encountered grow operations that include booby traps, making them dangerous to approach.
“From past experience we know that people should not enter them. If you see something just report it to the police,” he said.
Meanwhile, Reeve Beattie says the province may want to consider monitoring the ongoing situation in Washington State and Colorado, where marijuana use and possession have recently been made legal.
“It is an interesting experiment that is going on down there and I think it will be instructive to us to watch that to see what the impact is in terms of that kind of enforcement and whether there are criminal elements that become more or less in those situations,” said Beattie.
In 2010 – 2011, more than 130 marijuana grow operations were found in rural Alberta, with an additional 662 located in urban communities.
"It wouldn't be out of line for the province to establish a province-wide standard in that way."Reeve Bruce Beattie on legal grow ops.
