Pubdate: Mon, 06 Feb 2012
Source: North County Times (Escondido, CA)
Copyright: 2012 North County Times
Contact: http://www.nctimes.com/app/forms/letters/index.php
Website: http://www.nctimes.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1080
Author: Morgan Cook

POT-PLANT VALUES FIXED, REGARDLESS OF GREEN THUMB

Police officers, medical marijuana patients and everyday stoners 
generally agree: One-eighth of an ounce of high-quality marijuana 
costs about $50. But ask around about the value of a living marijuana 
plant and you're likely to get all kinds of answers.

One answer is $3,000. That's the estimated value the San Diego County 
Sheriff's Department assigns to every marijuana plant it discovers, 
whether it is young or old, short or tall, grown inside or outdoors, 
of high quality or low, cultivated by an experienced grower or a 
first-timer, said sheriff's Lt. Hank Turner.

"What we do is estimate if each was a mature budding plant, what it 
could make on the open market," Turner said.

Defense attorneys and medical marijuana advocates generally agree 
with authorities on the price of pot, but they said authorities' 
estimates of how much marijuana the average plant can produce in its 
lifetime is unrealistically high in many cases ---- especially when 
the plants are grown inside.

The argument is more than theoretical, they say. Larger amounts of 
marijuana mean tougher penalties for those caught possessing it.

The Sheriff's Department arrives at its per-plant estimate by 
gathering what it and other law enforcement agencies know about 
marijuana strains, prices, production and sales, and then starts 
plugging numbers into an algorithm, Turner said.

The result is a number authorities will use again and again 
throughout the year for every plant they find, regardless of circumstance.

For example, authorities used the $3,000-per-plant estimate to 
calculate the value of 100 plants discovered Jan. 10 on Keys Creek 
Road in Valley Center, Turner said. As a result, the total estimated 
value of the plants was $300,000.

The across-the-board, per-plant value estimate may not be precise in 
every cultivation scenario, but it produces a reliable frame of 
reference the public can use to get a fairly accurate feel for the 
overall size and value of the marijuana market each year in San Diego 
County, Turner said.

"Is it the best way?" Turner asked rhetorically. "I don't know if 
it's the best way, but it's the most accurate way as far as we know."

The dollar value of a plant has no legal significance, Turner said. 
It's the number of plants that matters in court.

Context is key

Medical marijuana advocates and defense attorneys said most law 
enforcement agencies appear to use methods similar to the Sheriff's 
Department's to estimate the value of marijuana plants.

They said it's important for people ---- whether they are judges, 
jurors or members of the public ---- to consider the estimates in context.

For one thing, it's unrealistic to assume that every plant will not 
only live into adulthood but also produce a lot of pot, attorneys and 
advocates said.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego doesn't have 
a set formula for figuring out the value of a marijuana plant, but 
agents estimate that one plant ---- whether it is grown inside or out 
- ---- can produce 1 to 2.2 pounds of usable marijuana in its lifetime, 
said Amy Roderick, public information officer for the DEA's field 
division in San Diego.

A plant is capable of reproducing "buds," or the flowers where the 
plant's psychoactive chemicals are most concentrated, after the 
grower has harvested them. Under the right growing conditions, a 
plant may yield several harvests in its lifetime.

It may be possible for an indoor plant to produce a pound of 
marijuana, but most growers have limited space and can't allow plants 
to reach their maximum size, said Michael Cindrich, an attorney and 
executive director of the San Diego office of National Organization 
for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a nonprofit aimed at 
decriminalizing responsible marijuana use by adults.

"There are a lot of factors involved, but most growers will tell you 
it is extremely uncommon to produce a pound or more with one indoor 
plant," Cindrich said.

In many situations ---- especially when growers are inexperienced 
- ---- some plants die before they are mature, attorneys and advocates 
said. Others plants fail to produce much usable marijuana.

"Some people are good at growing things, and some are not as good as 
growing things," said Melissa Bobrow, a criminal defense attorney in 
San Diego who handles medical marijuana cases. "It matters in court 
because they say, 'Look at all these plants, and look at all the 
money involved. They must be dealing it; there's no way they could be 
doing this legally.'"

Personal use or sales?

The question of how much marijuana a plant can produce is key to 
establishing in court whether people are growing marijuana for 
themselves or to sell, Cindrich said. Possession of marijuana is a 
less serious crime than possession for sales, and the punishment for 
sales is stiffer.

Depending on how much marijuana is involved, possession can be 
prosecuted as an infraction punishable by a $100 fine, or a 
misdemeanor with a penalty of up to six months in jail and a $500 
fine, said Steven Walter, a prosecutor with the San Diego County 
district attorney's office.

Possessing marijuana for sale is a felony, and people convicted of 
the crime face up to three years in prison, Walter said.

"If the person has 12 plants and law enforcement says they can 
produce 12 pounds, that might be considered an unreasonable amount," 
Cindrich said. "For a patient to possess 12 pounds if most patients 
are only allowed 8 ounces, 12 plants seems like a lot."

"The estimate definitely matters because whether it's a judge or a 
jury, they're using that estimate to determine the amount, and 
whether that person is possessing for sale," he said.

A medical marijuana user following recommended dosage may smoke 
between 1.5 pounds and 4.47 pounds in a given year, depending on the 
quality of the pot, according a 2004 study by researchers at UC San Francisco.

Estimates of marijuana's shelf life vary, but many say it can stay 
good for months or years if stored correctly. "Time-capsule weed" is 
often drier and less potent than fresh marijuana.

Ultimately, judges and juries are the ones who decide how much 
marijuana a grower really has, and whether that amount is reasonable 
for personal use, said Bobrow, the defense attorney.

To help them decide, defense attorneys commonly bring in expert 
witnesses who can explain to a jury how marijuana cultivation works, she said.

"It's really critical as a defense attorney to have an expert come in 
and do an evidence review to make sure the weight that law 
enforcement is reporting is accurate, or at least put it into 
context," Bobrow said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom