Ontario's Attorney General went to an Oshawa neighbourhood Thursday to seize a home under the Civil Remedies Act which had been used as a marijuana grow-op.
"The house has been forfeited to the Crown," Michael Bryant said. "The marijuana grow operation is out of business and up in smoke."
It is the first time the Civil Remedies Act has been used in Oshawa to seize a house which was once used as a grow-op. Bryant said it will not be the last.
"We have used the Civil Remedies Act to forfeit this property and we will continue to use the legislation to forfeit property used as grow-ops," Bryant said in a written statement.
Durham Regional Police went to the home at 208 Severn Street in June 2005 armed with a search warrant. Inside officers found an active grow-op.
Officers seized over 500 plants and dried marijuana worth more that $540,000 on the street.
Neighbours who lived through the initial police search watched on Thursday as the Crown took control of the property. Harry Kirkwood breathed a sigh of relief that the house was seized.
"I've got a three year old daughter in this house and I want her to be brought up in the right way," Kirkwood said. "I don't need that across the street from me."
At least one Ontario community goes one step further in response to former grow-ops. Niagara Falls demolishes former grow-ops which have not been properly cleaned and the structure restored to city code.
In contrast, the City of Toronto -- where 19 apartment units in a single building were identified by police as marijuana grow-ops -- has no protocols in place.
Seizure and demolition go too far, according to real estate lawyer Bob Aaron.
"I think addresses of these grow-ops should be posed on websites," Aaron said.
Bryant said it would be the responsibility of individual municipalities to create those websites.
With a report from CTV's Desmond Brown
