Pubdate: Thu, 14 Jun 2007
Source: Daily Press (Victorville, CA)
Copyright: 2007 Daily Press
Contact: http://www.vvdailypress.com/contact/
Website: http://www.vvdailypress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1061
Author: Katherine Rosenberg, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

INDOOR GROWS A LASTING TREND

San Bernardino County recently lost it's reputation as  a 
methamphetamine manufacturing mecca, but with several  recent indoor 
marijuana growth busts, a new trend has  emerged.

The Sheriff's Department alone has notched 38 busts  just this year, 
and the majority of the marijuana  seizures are taking place in 
newer, expensive homes  that have been gutted to make way for 
sophisticated hydroponics equipment, officials said.

"In the state of California in 2004 there were 54,569  indoor 
marijuana plants seized and in 2006 there were  196,994 plants, so 
you can see that the number has more  than tripled," said Gordon 
Taylor, head of the Drug  Enforcement Agency's Sacramento office.

Allen St. Pierre, the Washington D.C.-based executive  director of 
the National Organization for the Reform of  Marijuana Laws, or 
NORML, said there are several  reasons for the increase, not the 
least of which is  financial.

"Because marijuana is prohibited, it creates a  situation where 
individuals can make a terrific amount  of money on a very small 
investment," St. Pierre said.  "Plus, you're not all that far from 
the epicenter of  marijuana dispensaries, so now if they can supply 
to the medical marijuana clubs, they can really turn a  profit."

St. Pierre also suggests that the American neighborhood  is nothing 
like it used to be, where everyone knew one  another and interacted 
on a regular basis. For that  reason, he said it has become common 
practice to move  into a new development where neighbors are 
unfamiliar  with one another, and they fail to notice that there  are 
no kids playing in the yard, no one mowing the lawn  and no one 
coming to and from work on a regular  routine.

Taylor agreed, saying that pot producers are "buying  into the notion 
that they have more anonymity when  moving into newer neighborhoods."

With a wealth of new developments in the High Desert,  the area has 
become attractive to potential marijuana  growers, adding to the 
prevalence of busts.

St. Pierre also said that the homes tend to be upscale  and more 
expensive, because it raises the threshold for  what authorities 
would need to storm the house.

"The police would have to really know what they were  doing to invade 
the privacy of someone living in a  million dollar home. (The pot 
growers) could operate in  a run down area, and maybe I'm just jaded, 
but  individuals that live in those communities interact  with police 
much more frequently, and much more  violently," St. Pierre said.

Taylor further suggested that the crack down on outdoor  grows in 
past decades also pushed growers indoors.

"There's clearly some benefits to growing indoors:  You're not going 
to be able to see it from the sky and  you don't have to worry about 
hikers stumbling into  your grow, you don't need people living out 
there half  the year, and you can harvest four times a 
year,  creating more potent drugs that you can sell for more  money," 
Taylor said.

That the marijuana is more potent, St. Pierre  explained, comes from 
the notion that growers can spend  more time manipulating and 
tweaking the plant,  generally making it stronger.

Taylor also explained that in Northern California a  large percentage 
of the marijuana seizures have been  linked to Asian organized crime 
rings, but he could not  say whether that was the case locally.

Jodi Miller, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County  Sheriff's 
Department, said that she has not heard  investigators suggest that 
we are facing the same  problem in our area.

Organized or not, the problem is not likely to go away  anytime soon, 
unless citizens become actively involved  in reporting suspicious 
circumstances.

If the air conditioner is always running, if you never  see anyone at 
the home, or if the windows are always  closed, call WeTip at (800) 
78-CRIME to make an  anonymous report, officials urge.

"All someone needs is three square feet of soil and  they can earn 
more untaxed cash than the average  college graduate makes in a 
month, all from illegal  cannabis sales," St. Pierre said.

That, Taylor said, is the problem.

"I hope that when people look at this situation they do  so with a 
wide-angle lens, and they look at the whole  picture. Most 
law-abiding citizens have saved for years  to be able to buy a nice 
home and the next thing they  know they've got organized crime next 
door when they're  trying to walk the dog and play with the kids. 
This  type of thing is unacceptable."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman