Prince George has a grow-op problem, but no more so than any other city, according to local police. Disclosing the addresses of locally discovered marijuana operations, as well as all across Canada, should help put that in perspective while also helping local home buyers protect their safety.
"It is another tool that potential home buyers can use to check on a place they are interested in buying, ultimately to help them assess the health risks associated to the property," said Prince George RCMP spokesman Cpl. Craig Douglass.
The new list published nationally will help raise general awareness about the grow-op proliferation going on in almost all towns across Canada.
Douglass said there are some features to Prince George and similar northern towns that make this particularly important to think about.
"I think certainly in municipal settings there are more grow-ops indoors than outdoors," he said. "They are probably smaller in size, but there are more of them. Given our northern climate, an outdoor grow-op will produce only one crop per year to an indoor grow-op's four crops."
The police are not naive, said Douglass, they know they are not yet aware of a great many grow-ops in local homes. It is up to anyone with suspicions to call in a property that might be home to one of these, because each is a health hazard to the neighbours and anyone who might later live there.
"There is often significant electrical tampering, water system tapering, sometimes gas tampering, and mould. There are a lot of issues," he said.
The list only includes addresses that had court-approved search warrants issued to police. However, more addresses will soon be added. All the new cases will be submitted to the national list, but some older cases still have to be processed and will soon be available for viewing.
