#Canada - RCMP launch grow-op website

 

The RCMP announced a new initiative to combat marijuana grow operations on Wednesday. (Joe Bryksa/Canadian Press)

Toronto — The RCMP has launched a website listing the addresses of where marijuana grow-ops were found.

The National Grow Initiative is an RCMP-led project launched on September 21st, 2011 in Ottawa that will focus on enforcement, deterrence and awareness as part of the National Anti-Drug Strategy.

The addresses will remain on the RCMP website for a period of one year.
The website's address is www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/

drugs-drogues/mgi-ircm/index-eng.htm.

British Columbia leads the list with the most grow-ops discovered, with several dozen locations listed, mainly in the Surrey area. A property in Hope, B.C., displayed on the website, was said to have had 6,496 marijuana plants found on it in June, 2011.

Categorized by provinces, the website lists the addresses of homes, outbuildings and businesses where search warrants were executed. It also lists when the busts were made and how many marijuana plants were found. Clandestine drug labs are also included in the database.

"Grow-ops can be major headache for Canadian Real Estate investors" says Navtaj Chandhoke, founder of Professional Real Estate Investors Group (PREIG) Canada,” this information will empower Canadian home buyers as well As Real Estate Investors since there is no database known to Canadians of former grow-ups".

So far, the only way for a Canadian home buyer to know if a home was a grow-op is for the property seller to disclose that information.