POLICE are vowing to end South Australia's reputation as the nation's cannabis capital

Police vow to end 'cannabis capital' | NEWS.com.au

Police vow to end 'cannabis capital'

By Doug Robertson

October 04, 2008 01:16am

POLICE are vowing to end South Australia's reputation as the nation's cannabis capital by unleashing a series of raids on hydroponic stores and "grow houses".
Seizing on laws to come into force this month, police will target hydroponic stores they believe may be smuggling cannabis interstate.

The laws ban the possession of about 30 types of hydroponic equipment - including industrial-strength lights, exhaust fans, plant bud strippers and carbon filters - unless the owners can prove they are being used to grow vegetables.

In an interview with The Advertiser , drug investigation branch officer in charge Detective Superintendent Linda Fellows said police believed some of the equipment sold at more than 50 metropolitan hydroponic stores was used to grow cannabis.

She said police in the past year had uncovered hydroponic equipment and cannabis in 80 raids on shops and suburban "grow houses", which are used to secretly grow the drug.

"Not a tomato or cucumber found - that, to me, paints a picture," she said.

"The hydroponic industry is the link to this whole process."

Attorney-General Michael Atkinson said the laws would "strip the veil" from criminals operating in the hydroponics industry.

Adelaide has been dubbed the cannabis capital since 1987, when personal use of the drug was decriminalised.

Since July 1 last year, police have conducted 10 successful operations into cannabis trafficking.

"The concerning thing about that is each (criminal) network was not linked," Det-Supt Fellows said.

"That's indicative of a substantial problem in this state. We don't have to look too far to find a cannabis network."

The drug crackdown will extend to methamphetamine, also known as ice, because police have uncovered disturbing evidence of a growing number of amateur backyard labs.

Police are uncovering more secret labs which are usually run by amateur "cooks" who learn from the internet how to mix volatile chemicals to make ice.

In the past 15 months, drug investigation branch detectives found 88 clandestine laboratories hidden in Adelaide suburbs.

While cannabis was the main drug of choice in SA, the popularity of methamphetamine was rising fast.

Legislation to ban the possession of precursor chemicals is expected to be debated in Parliament this year.

"Everything starts with the hydroponics industry (and) at this point there's nothing we can do about the process until we find plants in someone's house," Det-Supt Fellows said.

"We can't disrupt the chain until we get the new laws (but) once the new legislation is in, we will be able to make an impact on the illegitimate sales from those hydroponic stores."

Det-Supt Fellows said it was difficult to know the extent of hydroponic cannabis trafficking in SA but she assumed most traffickers were escaping detection.

"I can definitely say there's a very strong demand from the eastern states and SA is very well meeting that demand," she said.

"I think methamphetamine use and production is an Australia-wide problem. We are simply reflecting the national trend.

"If you go by the number of labs, supply and demand, the trend is up and the trend wouldn't be up if the demand wasn't there."

The National Drug Strategy Survey last year found 17.5 per cent of South Australians aged 14 to 24 used cannabis, along with 16.6 per cent of 25 to 39-year-olds.

In 12 months, the branch has seized $1.6 million in cash, 330kg of dried cannabis and more than 2000 mature cannabis plants and has charged 114 people involved in trafficking cannabis from Adelaide. All had links to the hydroponics industry.

Five managers of hydroponics stores were arrested last week. In August, the crime gangs task force seized drugs, cash and two expensive sports cars in raids on three homes in Greenwith.

A Finks Motorcycle Club member, 29, from the northeastern suburbs, and a northern suburbs man, 31, believed to be a nominee of the bikie gang, were arrested and a store owned by one of the men was searched.

Det-Supt Fellows said laws banning sales of cold and flu tablets containing pseudoephedrine in chemists had forced criminals to import the chemical to manufacture methamphetamine.