Brazen new use for old greenhouse
The smell is unmistakable. Clearly, something is growing here and it looks much like … marijuana
BRESLAU — First, a pair of eyes peer out from behind a crack in the blinds, then the blinds snap shut. Finally, after repeated knocking, a metal door opens and out steps a small man.
He closes the door tightly behind him, and shakes a reporter’s hand. There are two vehicles in the driveway, including a high-end SUV with a “baby on board” sticker.
The man is standing in front of what used to be the office for the former Waterloo Flowers Greenhouse and Garden Centre, but today it’s closed to the public while the property around it has been left to crumble. Weeds sprout up here and there, and equipment has been left to rust in the sun.
The man, who only gives the name “Tommy,” explains the nursery’s new owners recently bought the property. They’re not sure what they plan to do with the place — and says they’re not growing anything yet.
But clearly, something is already happen-
ing at the sprawling complex on Kramp Road in the Township of Woolwich. A tall chainlink fence is being built around the perimeter of the property, with large gates at both entrances to keep people out.
The greenhouses’ fans are working around the clock to ventilate a sea of green plants growing inside.
The smell is unmistakable — and despite blackout curtains that have been hung up, long rows of what appear to be marijuana plants can be easily seen from nearby Highway 7.
It’s a brazen new use for an old nursery that was sold just six months ago. A year before the federal government plans to legalize recreational marijuana, cannabis appears to be growing in broad daylight, only metres away from a busy highway.
When the reporter tells “Tommy” he’s looking into a story on Canadian cannabis businesses, he just smiles and shrugs.
The owners of Waterloo Flowers Ltd. sold the site in December to a numbered company registered in Toronto for $1.35 million, according to provincial land registry records. The registered director of that company, 2536036 Ontario Ltd., is a man named Ye Feng Lin, who listed an address in Toronto’s Chinatown as his business office.
A man with the same name was one of 12 people charged in a $16-million marijuana bust outside Brockville in September 2009. At the time, it was one of the largest grow-ops ever discovered in that part of the province — and included an outdoor marijuana crop and a barn filled with harvested marijuana bud.
Lin was charged with production of marijuana and possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking — but was given an absolute discharge in 2012.
The former Waterloo Flowers property isn’t owned by one of the 27 federally licensed medical marijuana producers registered in Ontario. Under the law, you can’t contract out production of medical marijuana, so it’s unlikely any greenhouse would be growing cannabis for another legal operator.
Grow-ops aren’t new by any means in Waterloo Region, but this one would be particularly bold. Neighbours in the area say the smell a few weeks ago was particularly pungent, while others, including the township’s mayor, say they thought the greenhouse was legally growing medical marijuana.
But the region’s only licensed medical marijuana producer says it’s pretty easy to figure out who the legal growers are — they’re listed online through Health Canada and they have to register with the local police.
“Often, these guys who are growing for the dispensaries will claim they’re growing medical marijuana. They’ll claim they’re doing it legitimately, because that helps divert attention from them,” said Nathan Woodworth, CEO of James E. Wagner Cultivation.
“In the end, they’re just basically hoping no one comes to investigate.”
The province’s legal, medical marijuana producers are still a very small community; Woodworth said if another licensed producer started up in the region, he’d know about it.
“I’m not familiar with them, and I try to keep in touch with all new applicants in the area,” he said. “And if they’re a legitimate business, the police will know about it. That’s part of the process. So if people complain about the smell, police know who’s the blame.”
Waterloo Regional Police, meanwhile, did not respond to questions about the former Waterloo Flowers site, and wouldn’t confirm if they were looking into the business.
On Friday night, a group of men could be seen using a forklift to load a U-Haul truck that was backed up to the property’s large warehouse.
As Canada gets set to change the laws around recreational marijuana, pot dispensaries and their storefront cannabis sales remain a big market for illegal growers. Locally, police have been active shutting down those illegal retail outlets, but they remain a common sight in other cities.
“The dispensaries present a lucrative grey market opportunity. They might only be in operation for six to eight months before they get shut down, but they make a ton of money in that time period that makes it worth it,” Woodworth said.
The Township of Woolwich says it doesn’t know anything about the new owners of the former nursery, but added that grow-ops are increasingly popping up in rural areas around the region.
“It’s not the only one. There are others, and I don’t know where they are, but it’s becoming common,” said Valerie Hummel, director of council and information services for the township.