When it comes to busting B.C. bud growers, Kelowna’s Mounties are at the top of their game, seizing more pot plants than any other detachment in the province.
“We’ve got an extremely hard working group of guys here (who) do everything they can do to take these down,” said Const. Kris Clark.
What that’s amounted to in the period from April 2011 to March 2012 was 13,706 seized marijuana plants— a feat aided by a couple of large scale busts in the early months of this year. (See chart below.)
It’s a record that dwarfed the plant seizures of other detachments, but is just the tip of the iceberg, regionally speaking.
“Kelowna has the most busts in that time period, but (the number) doubles when you add West Kelowna and Lake Country,” said Clark.
In an attempt to identify what sets the Central Okanagan apart from other centres, Clark said that it’s “a bit of a trend” that growers from the Lower Mainland relocate, and set up shop in cities with fewer police resources and lower real estate values.
Kelowna may not fit that profile, but surrounding areas do.
Another burgeoning trend buoying up busts locally is the misuse of Health Canada licences.
Those licences allow a limited amount of marijuana cultivation, for the sake of medical purposes, but quite often the allotment is exceeded.
“I don’t really have stats on numbers—it’s just, significant,” said Clark, adding that it’s not everyone who’s abusing the system, but enough that it’s noticeable.
Kelowna
• Belgo Road, 3,575 plants, 2012-02-08
• Upper Mission Drive, 5,539 plants, 2012-02-11
• Spencer Road, 163 plants, 2012-02-02
• Cardinal Creek Road, 660 plants, 2011-08-30
• Anderson Road 699 plants 2011-06-06
• Willits Road 440 plants 2011-09-14
• Anderson Road 768 plants 2011-07-28
West Kelowna
• Ross Road 1,653 plants 2012-01-23
• Auburn Road 750 plants 2011-12-17
• Bear Creek Road 395 plants 2011-07-13
• Boucherie Road 934 plants 2011-07-20 3237 Preston Road 676 plants 2012-03-14
Lake Country
• Lake Hill Drive 308 plants 2012-01-26
• Beaver Lake 707 plants 2011-12-23
• Bond Road 4631 plants 2011-06-23
• Santina Roa 250 plants2011-05-30
• Santina Road 103 plants2011-05-30
• Okanagan Centre 250 plants 2011-05-12
• Carrs Landing Road 103 plants 2011-06-07
• Okanagan Centre Road 8,288 grams 2011-12-07
• Santina Road 1,185 plants 2011-11-05
• Lake Hill Dr 66 kg 2012-03-29
• Shoreline Dr 505 plants 2012-03-23
