Pubdate: Mon, 01 Jan 2007 Source: Durango Herald, The (CO) Copyright: 2007 The Durango Herald Contact: http://durangoherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/866 Author: Ted Holteen, Herald Staff Writer Cited: The report http://www.drugscience.org/bcr/index.html Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Jon+Gettman Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Amendment+44 POT RANKS HIGH AS CASH CROP IN COLORADO LA Plata County Growers Keep Operations Inside A recent article published by Tribune Newspapers and the Los Angeles Times cites statistics by a Virginia researcher that says marijuana is now the nation's No. 1 cash crop, and the fourth most lucrative in Colorado behind only hay, corn and wheat. Information about Southwest Colorado is sketchy, but it's definitely a business here for some. Jon Gettman, who owns a research and consulting firm in Lovettsville, Va., compiled the report by tracking the amount of marijuana confiscated by government agencies and making state-by-state estimates for what the police don't find. The entire report can be found at www.drugscience.org Gettman estimates the value of Colorado's marijuana crops at $126 million, $15 million more than the state's vegetable output combined. That still puts Colorado at only No. 24 in the nation, far behind the staggering $15 billion pot industry of the top producing state, California. Here in the southwest corner of Colorado, the numbers are a bit more modest and harder to estimate. An investigator with the inter-agency Southwest Drug Task Force discussed the local pot crop, but only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the task force's work. The investigator said that in 2006, the task force has seized 43 pounds of marijuana with an estimated value of $484,350. Those seizures include vehicle stops and pot seized from outdoor and indoor growers. The agent said his office does not compile statistics relating to estimates for those who have thus far evaded the law. Dan Bender, spokesman for the La Plata County Sheriff's office, said that locally, law enforcement has observed a pattern among the pot-growing community. "The cultivation of marijuana with the climate that we have here has moved indoors, and that's not really a recent thing," Bender said. "We don't have that many outdoor growers, and when we come across them they're not usually very large. I imagine that would be different in warmer climate states." Recent history supports Bender's claim. In 2000, an Oxford woman received four years in prison for housing an indoor operation that authorities estimate earned her $700,000 that year. And in 2004, three Durango residents received varying jail terms for growing more than 100 plants inside a home in Forest Lakes during 2003. However, the largest bust in La Plata County history came from an outdoor operation where a man was convicted of growing more than 1,000 plants on a ranch south of Ignacio. Despite that and another high-profile case involving a growing operation on San Juan National Forest land east of Haviland Lake in 2005, Gettman's research upholds Bender's observation. Of the $126 million total, Gettman says just less than $79 million of Colorado's marijuana is grown indoors, which ranks 11th nationwide. And the drug task force investigator said that indoor growing arrests outnumber outdoor by a 4 to 1 ratio. He said catching them all is a tough task compared with tracking down other drug dealers. "Marijuana traffickers are more sophisticated and have a little more intelligence than the guys that are slinging methamphetamine and cocaine out there," the investigator said. "A lot are better educated, believe it or not, and these guys that are distributing pot seem to put the money in real estate or vehicles, or other investments, instead of being flashy about it." The numbers cited in Gettman's report and by local agencies should not surprise anyone who followed November's election in Colorado. Although Amendment 44, which would have made it legal to possess up to one ounce of marijuana, was defeated 60 percent to 40 percent, more than 557,000 voters supported the measure statewide. In La Plata, San Juan and San Miguel counties in Southwest Colorado, the ballot measure was supported by more than 50 percent of voters. That may be a factor in why the local drug task force has made pot busts less of a priority than some other drugs, but the investigator said that doesn't mean they'll look the other way when it comes to enforcement. "A street-level pot dealer, we're not going to be targeting that individual, but if it's a street level heroin dealer, yeah, we're going to go after that guy, because personally, heroin is a more dangerous drug," the investigator said. "But we would investigate any street level dealer if we thought it would lead to a larger dealer. If we have knowledge of a grower or a ton of marijuana, we're not going put that any lower on the list than anything else." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake