DCHP-2

grow operation grow op, grow-op, growop DCHP-2 (November 2016)

• n. — especially Ontario, Alberta

  a marijuana growing facility, usually an illegal one.

  Type: 1. Origin — Grow operation is the long form of the more popular grow-op and refers to marijuana growing. Grow-op usually refers to criminal operations either run out of houses in cities (see the 2000 quotation) or larger buildings in rural areas (see the 1992 quotation). Recently, legal grow-ops have been certified by Health Canada. The oldest attestations of grow operation go back to the early 1990s (see the 1992 quotation). The shortened forms grow-op or grow op are the preferred forms today (see Charts 1 & 2, which mark them as Canadian by virtue of frequency as well). Both the long and short forms are most prevalent in Ontario and Alberta (see Chart 3), though British Columbia has been generally associated with marijuana culture and the earliest quotations come from that province. With the legalization of marijuana promised by the federal government - Colorado and Washington State having taken that step earlier in the US - the term is being adopted increasingly for legal operations (see the 2016 quotation). Until then, the term was overwhelmingly used for larger or smaller illegal operations.
  See COD-2, which labels the short form "Cdn".

  See also: grow rip  grow-op