Pubdate: Tue, 07 Oct 2003 Source: Charleston Daily Mail (WV) Copyright: 2003 Charleston Daily Mail Contact: http://www.dailymail.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/76 Author: George Gannon POLICE TARGET THIS GROWING PROBLEM Police Finding More Plants In Searches Throughout State Through the first nine months of 2003, State Police have seized and destroyed 73,079 marijuana plants. That's more than double the number of plants seized in all of last year. Authorities also have arrested 83 people on drug cultivation charges, said 1st Sgt. Steve Jones of the State Police's Bureau of Criminal Investigations. Jones attributes the jump in plant seizures to increased flight surveillance by troopers and solid aerial support from within the agency, the Army National Guard, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the state's Civil Air Patrol. "They've given us a lot of time up in the air to look for this stuff," Jones said. Nearly every day that weather permitted this summer, officers were looking to get in the air so they could locate marijuana patches, he said. Although pot busts take place year-round, Jones said investigators begin looking for major outdoor patches in May and June. In late July and August, officers take to the ground and start chopping down the plants. That's not an easy task. Most of the plants are in remote, hard-to-reach places. "They're in the middle of nowhere," Jones said. Jones said once officers locate a patch, they start out by car or truck and go as far as the road takes them. They then mount all-terrain vehicles and go as far as they can. After that, "we'll use a machete and go the rest of the way. It's hard, sweaty work." Growers tend to favor cleared land in the middle of very dense foliage, but Jones said, "They'll grow anywhere." As if the getting there wasn't hard enough, those who grow the illegal plant are picky about who comes calling. Although the traps set by state growers are rarely lethal -- that has not been the case in other states -- Jones said they could be dangerous. Among the favorite defensive mechanisms employed by growers is stringing clear wire around the plants at eye level and then draping them with fishhooks. They'll fasten razor blades to the bottom of the plant and strategically place animal traps around their cultivation sites. Although this year's rainy spring and warm, wet summer may have been more conducive to growing, Jones said it really doesn't matter if the weather is supportive or not. Growers are always willing to give it a go. "I don't think the weather had any effect at all on how many people put plants out. The weather assisted them because the plants did well." While the climate may have helped to produce a better harvest, Jones said tall, mature plants are easier to see and police were able to spot more. Finding the plants is not an exact science. Jones said if marijuana is seen in one area one year, it likely can be found in the same general area the following year. Most of the mature plants found in the state seem to come from the southwestern counties. Historically, Boone, Logan and Wayne counties have yielded large crops. That also seems to be the trend this year, although Jones did not have specific numbers for each county. In addition to the number of plants, the actual growing area seems to have been increased this year. In 2002, officers raided 693 plots. This year, they've destroyed plants from 788 plots. Jones first started using helicopters to find plants in the early 1980s. He said the patches are not as large as what they once were and they usually don't harbor as many plants. However, there seems to be a larger number of smaller growing areas. He compared this year's haul to the number of plants destroyed when law enforcement officials first began scouting from the sky. In the early 1980s, Jones said there were multiple years when officers destroyed more than 70,000 plants. Although there was more aerial support from the National Guard this year, he said there were no guardsmen available to help with the actual removal of the plants because of the war in Iraqi. Jeff Wallenstrom, the resident agent in charge of the Charleston division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, attributed the high number of plant seizures to teamwork between federal, state and local authorities. "There's been great effort," Wallenstrom said. Wallenstrom said some of the pot grown in the state must be sold elsewhere. From the last numbers he saw, Wallenstrom said West Virginia ranked in the top states in the country for exporting marijuana. However, Jones thinks the program is at least somewhat successful in stemming the tide of pot actually crossing state lines. He says busts often involve people bringing pot into the state, but police rarely find those moving it out of state. Jones said police would continue focusing on large outdoor patches and also try to track down more clandestine indoor operations. The indoor plants, for obvious reasons, are harder to locate, but Jones said technology now gives investigators an edge. Other than thermal imaging cameras, Jones declined to say what kind of tools authorities use, for fear it might tip too much of their hand, but he said it was cutting-edge stuff. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth