Truemors
Opinion
Barry Artiste, Now Public Contributor
Canada's Red Hot Real Estate Market has real estate buyers scrambling to get into the profitable real estate market while the getting is good. Buying, cleaning and renovating older and newer homes as well as purchasing low cost Grow op or Meth Lab to flip for a profit has started a growing and disturbing trend amongst Real Estate Speculators.
In my activities attending many drug busts, I have witnessed every type of home used as a drug lab, from trailers to 5,000 square foot mansions. Believe it or not, there are more million dollar modern built homes used for manufacturing drugs 20 to 1 versus an old home.
Homes built before 1980 have asbestos (a cancer causing mineral fiber) in their drywall mud and plaster, so drug lords don't like to cut holes in the walls of these homes because of the health risks, they prefer new homes to ply their trade. So much for the myth of dilapidated crack houses like in movies. Vancouver's Point Grey and Kitsalano areas are ideal, as well as tony rich homes in Whistler are favourites for these Drug lord types. I have been to them all.
Homebuyers should know they may be owning a toxic wasteland when purchasing a former Grow op or meth lab, expecially if it was not revealed beforehand it was a drug house by unscrupulous Sellers. Sort of like the Leisure Suited Car Salesman who rolls back the odometer, fixes previously totalled cars with a bit of bondo and paint.
If the Grow Op or Meth Lab was busted by police or the municipality there will be a record of it.
If the Grow op or Meth Lab was never discovered and busted then homebuyers will never know.
Now Public Readers should know, before buying a home, check with the municipality to see if the home was ever used as an illegal drug facility. Nowadays Banks and Insurance companies usually request proof of this from the home purchaser before lending money or insuring the home. Homebuyers should know, just because you bought the home, if the mortgage and home insurance company feel it was a drug lab, they will not offer you insurance coverage, and without insurance coverage bank loans are impossible to obtain.
If you suspect the home you own was a drug lab, there are easy ways to find out. Take a black light and check all wall surfaces and floors for evidence of massive cleaning, phosphorous used in cleansers will light up the area, freshly painted concrete basement or garage floors are a clue to hide telltale circular potting marks where they kept the plants. Looking along the wall and ceiling with a sideways glance, look for circular areas where ducting may have passed through the drywall and was patched with new drywall to hide the ducting holes. Wallpaper is another clue to hide duct marks.
Go to your attic and inspect for wood patches in your roof sheathing, a tell tale sign that venting and ducting was used to vent the odours. Though some Druggies use carbon canisters and modify the fireplace flue to vent the toxic fumes.
Hire an Environmental Hygienist to perform a series of mould, yeast and bacteria, and chemical sampling in your home. These contaminates are usually associated with grow ops and meth labs, though mould can be found in most homes. Certain mould spores associated with Grow ops are pathogenic, such as Stachybotrys and other mycotoxins which are harmful to your health.
Get a Electrician to check your electrical panel for tampering, as well as have an enhanced potable water testing of your drinking water.
Finally when in doubt, don't buy it. If you still want that house obtain the services of a Environmental Hygienist to perform a battery of tests on the home, if it was used to manufacture drugs a Hygienist will find it. This will give you and your family peace of mind as well as prove to the banks and insurance company that the home was not a drug lab and is fit for occupancy.
Beware of companies that both clean and test your home as this is a conflict of interest always use a third party when having testing and sampling performed.
Municipalites usually have a short list of companies who perform these Environmental activities.
As an Environmental Hygienist, Now Public Readers should know it is home buyer beware out there.
It is estimated by the RCMP that there are 18,000 drug labs currently in the lower mainland alone. This does not take into account thousands of previous drug labs that unsuspecting homeowners are now living in.
url="http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=ead85879-9f05-4ab7-85d1-c312a64c88cb&k=8613&p=1"]Homes that have been renovated to clean up mould and indoor air problems caused by marijuana-growing operations may still be unfit for habitation, says a federal researcher who will begin a study of the problem this fall.
Fungicides, insecticides, solvents and other chemicals used in drug-making operations are absorbed by drywall, carpeting, wood, subfloors and concrete basement floors, said Virginia Salares, a senior researcher with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. They may also be found in backyards, where they are frequently dumped.
"People cannot take for granted it's safe," Salares said. Vapours from chemicals can permeate the entire house, not just the rooms where the plants were grown.
"The health risks vary depending on the concentrations of chemicals used, how long the growing-operation was in use, and the age, immune systems and health conditions of the people who move in.
"You wouldn't want to put an infant or a child under those conditions, being exposed to gases," she said.
The problem has a particular resonance in British Columbia, which has a burgeoning marijuana-growing industry.
It's hard to know the number of operations in Canada, but BC Hydro alone estimates there are potentially 18,000 homes on its grid that could be used for illegal purposes.
As the province with a reputation for a healthy marijuana industry, B.C. is considered to have more than one third of all the growing-operations in Canada. York Regional Police in Ontario have estimated there are about 50,000 operations in Canada.
Toronto real estate lawyer Bob Aaron, who has developed some expertise in dealing with them, says "there's tens of thousands."
Gillian Robinson, a spokeswoman for BC Hydro, said the Crown corporation closely monitors power consumption and will give municipalities the addresses of suspicious properties.
"We have about 18,000 homes using suspiciously high amounts of electricity, which is often an indication of a marijuana grow-op," she said.
The problem is also acute in Ontario, where in 2003 a police report called Green Tide estimated there were 15,000 operations in that province.
The United Nations World Drug Report for 2005 said 40 per cent of Canada's cannabis production is in British Columbia, with another 25 per cent in each of Quebec and Ontario.
Despite the risks, lower selling prices of former growing-operations -- 25 to 30 per cent less -- attract buyers looking for a deal, says Ottawa real estate agent Richard Rutkowski, who recently represented the seller and buyer of a former operation that had been on the market for two years.
Robinson said BC Hydro won't reconnect a house where marijuana has been grown until it has been inspected by an electrical inspecting authority.
Real estate agents have to ensure everyone involved in a sale is fully aware of the home's state, said Rutkowski. He estimates that for every 10 people interested in a property, eight will back out when they learn it's a former growing-operation.
Other agents refuse to list them and counsel their clients to avoid them.
"There are too many unknowns, especially with the chemicals," said Winnipeg realtor Cindi French. "I personally would never consider them a good deal at any price."
Salares completed a study earlier this year into mould problems and indoor air quality in rehabilitated growing-operations. It noted that while police succeed in identifying and seizing many of them, marijuana growers often avoid detection by buying and selling houses quickly.
"The homes are superficially repaired and sold to unsuspecting buyers who may be unable to locate the previous owners," the report states. "Where this occurs, new homebuyers can be unwittingly exposed to hidden contaminants from damage that was cosmetically covered over without proper remediation."
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Growers typically pack hundreds of plants into small spaces with high moisture and no natural light or air circulation. As a result, the plants get fungal diseases and insect infestations that are treated with high doses of chemical pesticides.
Growers are unlikely to use organic solutions or dispose of chemicals in an approved fashion, Salares says.
If a crop spoils, they cook it to extract the drugs, and these chemical vapours are also absorbed by the house and later released into the air. Chemicals are often spilled on floors and poured into soil surrounding the house, where future homeowners' children may someday play. Chemicals are also dumped down drains.
"The plumbing of course can be flushed and cleaned, but all those pesticides are going into the municipal sewage system or the septic system if it's a rural house," Salares said. "All of these processes have such harmful effects on the house, the people and the environment."
Aaron advises buyers to insist on a clause in the purchase and sale agreement stating the home was never used for the growth or manufacture of illegal substances.
Salares is studying how chemicals are used in growing-operations, how they're stored, how various surfaces absorb and give off toxic vapours, and how a house can be rehabilitated.
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