Pubdate: Sun, 12 Jul 2015
Source: Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
Copyright: 2015 The Plain Dealer
Contact: http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/letter-to-editor/
Website: http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/342
Note: priority given to local letter writers
Author: John Caniglia

POLICE SEIZE $326 MILLION IN POT SINCE 2008, BUT PLANTS ARE HARDER TO FIND

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Growing pot in Ohio is fast becoming an inside job.

Investigators have seized $326 million in marijuana across the state 
since 2008, but the number of plants found in recent years has 
plummeted. Authorities attribute the drop to a greater push by 
growers to cultivate their plants indoors. The reasons are simple: 
Growers can avoid police, thieves and unpredictable weather. More 
importantly, they can make far greater profits with more potent pot.

As organizers push a state plan to legalize marijuana in Ohio, police 
continue to go after an underground market that thrives. Finding that 
market, however, has become much more difficult.

"People know how we work; they know what we do in the summer and 
fall," said Jason Park, an agent with the U.S. 23 Major Crimes Task 
Force in Chillicothe. "They're taking their product inside. They're 
making just as much as they did, if not more, and there is greater 
availability (of equipment). There are (more) shops that sell growing 
materials. Their billboards are popping up."

 From 2008 through 2014, authorities seized more than 326,200 
marijuana plants across Ohio. Officials uprooted a third of those 
plants in 2010. Since then, the numbers have dropped dramatically, 
state records show.

But taken as a whole, the number of plants seized appears staggering. 
Narcotics officers estimate that each plant, when mature, is worth 
$1,000. If that's correct, that drives the cost of the pulled plants 
to $326 million.

Records show that nearly two of every five plants seized came from 
counties in Southeast Ohio, where the some of the state's best 
marijuana has grown in the Appalachian region for decades.

Investigators in Muskingum County led the state by seizing 32,021 
plants. Vinton, Meigs, Perry and Jackson counties in Southeast Ohio 
also were ranked atop of the state. Cuyahoga County was ranked ninth, 
with investigators nabbing 7,340 plants, according to state records.

This summer's hunt for pot

Authorities annually have seized tens of thousands of the plants 
through a program run by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's office. 
Using a federal grant of $500,000, DeWine's office places drug agents 
in helicopters to spot plots and signal authorities on the ground to 
where the plants can be found. This summer's hunt will begin in about 
six weeks.

Prosecutors and police across the state are strong proponents of the 
program. Critics call it a waste of time and money, claiming that the 
amount of plants confiscated is a tiny fraction of what is there. 
They say that for every plant seized, there are 10 to 15 more that 
are never found.

Keller Blackburn, the prosecutor of Athens County, estimated that 95 
percent of the crime in his county is linked to drugs. He said that 
while many consider marijuana harmless, he has seen violent attacks 
take place when naive Ohio University students attempt to buy it, 
only to be robbed and beaten.

In an interview, DeWine said he is unsure what would happen to the 
eradication program if voters would pass the state amendment to 
legalize marijuana.

"We'll cross that bridge when, and if, we come to it," he said.

To many, the program is one of the key reasons why some growers 
across the state have moved indoors. They fear a summer of work lost 
to police in helicopters and other nuisances.

And that is reflected in the numbers.

Last year, authorities seized 31,402 plants, a fraction of the 
105,121 cut down in 2010, state records show. In 2013, the numbers 
were even smaller, as investigators found 24,577 plants. Police 
chopped down slightly more than 30,000 plants each in 2011 and 2012.

It is impossible to determine the depth of indoor growing in Ohio, 
but investigators say they have seen a spike of higher-grade 
marijuana, which often comes from upscale production. In addition, 
they have noticed an increase in the number of stores selling indoor 
growing equipment and the amount of information informants give about 
basement operations.

"We've seen a lot more indoor grows than we have in the past," said 
Dennis Cavanaugh, the chief deputy of the Lorain County Sheriff's 
Department and the leader of its drug task force. "They've refined 
their process, and they've become much more sophisticated."

Sophistication breeds profits

Depending on the quality of marijuana, outdoor growers can sell a 
pound for as low as $1,200 in Ohio, according to interviews. In 
Southeast Ohio, growers can sell a pound of cannabis for $2,500.

Indoor growers can turn a greater profit, making $4,000 to $5,000 a 
pound, as they seek to produce high-potency strains using advanced 
systems of fertilizers, hydroponic irrigation and lighting. The items 
can be purchased legally at indoor gardening stores.

Charles Wachenschwanz lived for the profit.

The former police officer lived and worked in the rural town of 
Chauncey near Athens. For months, he helped protect a large-scale 
pipeline that funneled hundreds of thousands of prescription pills 
from Detroit and Chicago to Southeast Ohio, according to court records.

When investigators searched his home as part of that scheme in July 
2014, they found a high-end marijuana operation, with 69 cultivated 
plants, grow lights and other equipment.

He also grew his plants in the presence of a 5-year-old child, 
according to court records. Wachenschwanz, 46, pleaded guilty in 
Athens County Common Pleas Court to the marijuana charges and others 
linked to the drug pipeline. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in January.

William Degyansky paid, too. He forfeited $75,000 in May as part of a 
plea deal with Summit County prosecutors for growing 177 marijuana 
plants in his home on Valley View Road in Hudson last year.

Acting on a tip, investigators pulled his trash and found marijuana, 
and they noticed that Degyansky, 60, used two to three times more 
electricity than his neighbors.

Hudson police seized 11 grow lights, 18 fans, fertilizer, irrigation 
lines and garbage bags of marijuana. A judge placed him on probation 
for two years and suspended his driver's license for six months.

"It grew in the open for years around here," said Vern Castle, a 
former Athens County sheriff. "Now, people are more sophisticated. 
They're hiding it inside."

Castle served eight years as sheriff before Patrick Kelly defeated 
him for the office. Kelly was sentenced to seven years in prison this 
spring after a jury convicted him of corruption charges.

Castle, now retired, said he spent several late summers pulling 
marijuana in the fields of Athens and Meigs counties, and he faced 
years of complaints.

"People would tell us that we were wrong, that we were wasting tax 
money," Castle said. "But it was the law. It's not a violent bunch. 
They just wanted to smoke dope."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom