Why busted marijuana grow-ops pose a challenge for remediation and demolition

Peter Kenter from the Daily Commercial News recently interviewed Fisher Environmental on how marijuana grow-ops damage buildings. Below is an excerpt from that article.

 

The stereotypical marijuana grow-op involves a house in a small town crammed to the rafters with marijuana plants and greenhouse paraphernalia. But the RCMP estimates there are at least 50,000 marijuana grow-ops in Canada alone, and as many as 15 per cent of them are located in commercial or industrial buildings. 

Visible Mould from a Marijuana Grow-op

“One of the biggest busts in Ontario history occurred at the abandoned Molson Brewery in Barrie, in 2004 where police seized 30,000 plants,” says Gordon Onley, business development manager with Fisher Environmental Ltd. of Markham. 

The company has recently established growophomes.com as a central database to help prospective buyers of residential and commercial real estate to identify properties used for illegal drug operations.

“There are various lists of these properties available across the country, but we’re attempting to make it easier for buyers to identify properties used as grow-ops,” says Onley. 

In a typical case, a grow-op is located in a rented or abandoned property where growers often perform major remodeling to create a property suitable for marijuana cultivation.

Read the entire article: http://www.dcnonl.com/article/id49896