Saying ‘no’ to home grow-ops
Real Estate association warning growing pot at home causing health concerns, property damage
Damage to homes and to their residents' health will be the most likely results of any law that lets recreational marijuana users grow pot inside their own homes, warn officials with Canada’s biggest real estate association.
“Four (marijuana) plants with proper lights and irrigation is a grow op and it’s a legitimate problem. The humidity has nowhere to go,” said Randall McCauley, vicepresident of government and public relations for the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), in an interview.
“We’re against growing it in a home. Period,” he said.
Under the Cannabis Act now before the Senate, recreational pot would become legal in Canada. And while some provinces are already dead set against letting people grow marijuana in their own homes, most have so far kept silent on the issue, paving the way for the possibility that Canadians could grow up to four marijuana plants at a time in their homes.
Across Canada, several condo boards have banned the growth of recreational marijuana, which is still illegal. Police and fire chiefs have also come out against letting homeowners grow their own pot.
“Risks associated with regular growing of cannabis include mould, spores and fungus. People living in these surroundings with any type of respiratory illness could be adversely affected,” wrote CREA chief executive officer Michael Bourque earlier this year. “And the damage to the home or apartment is well known to realtors who have encountered grow-ops across the country.”
When a home is damaged due to the problems associated with intensive, indoor marijuana growing, it sometimes needs to be gutted, the drywall removed, and brought down to the studs, said McCauley.
Officials at the Canadian Home Builders’ Association did not return a request for information about possible amenities developers could offer during new home construction, such as rooms with added ventilation, better humidity control, or additional electrical outlets for extra lights or heaters, to allow homeowners to grow marijuana safely.
Sherry Donovan, chief executive officer of the Nova Scotia Home Builders’ Association, described the prospect of developers possibly gaining a competitive, marketing edge in some of their residential projects by offering such marijuana-friendly amenities as interesting.
So far, though, no home builders in Nova Scotia seem to have publicly discussed plans to offer such marijuana-growing rooms or areas in their residential developments.
“We haven’t at the provincial level talked about that and it hasn’t come up,” said Donovan.