Pubdate: Tue, 23 Oct 2007
Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2007 Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Contact:  http://www.heraldtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/398
Author: Heather Allen
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)

PROPOSAL TO TOUGHEN MARIJUANA GROWING PENALTIES

Authorities Say Drug Cultivators Are Keeping Their Crops Small to 
Avoid Felony Charges

Marijuana cultivators in Southwest Florida know that numbers are a 
very important component to their business plan.

But instead of focusing on the bottom line, they are planting smaller 
crops to skirt drug trafficking laws -- and bypass potential prison time.

Law enforcement officials say drug traffickers' savvy has made it 
harder to prosecute them, contributing to the proliferation of 
marijuana "grow houses" in the area.

But help in the fight against the facilities may be on the way. The 
Florida attorney general and two state lawmakers have created 
legislation to stiffen the penalty for marijuana cultivation, 
lowering the number of plants needed to charge someone with drug 
trafficking, a first-degree felony.

The bill also contains penalties for owners of "grow houses" as well 
as paid caretakers. And it would let detectives videotape and 
photograph equipment and marijuana plants seized from grow operations 
and destroy the evidence, rather than storing it until trial.

Lawmakers will not consider the legislation until next spring, but 
law enforcement officers are already talking about its potential to 
help their efforts to combat the large-scale drug operations.

"Someone is finally listening to what detectives are saying and what 
problems they're having," said Kathy Ayers, a detective with the 
Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.

Currently, cultivators often have just under the number of plants 
needed to charge them with trafficking, reflecting their awareness of 
state and federal statutes against their trade. As a result, they 
face lesser charges and, often, a probation sentence.

In Florida, growers can only be hit with a state trafficking charge 
if they grow 300 or more plants. Federal trafficking laws require 100 
or more plants for the same offense.

If the "Marijuana Grow House Eradication Act" passes, the state 
threshold will be lowered to 25 plants.

Instead of a third-degree felony, growers will face a first-degree 
felony, which carries at least a three-year sentence.

"The laws right now are inadequate," said Florida Attorney General 
Bill McCollum, who is working with Sen. Steve Oelrich, R-Gainesville, 
and Rep. Nick Thompson, R-Fort Myers, on the bill.

Ayers said that many of the grow houses busted in Charlotte County 
had 99 or fewer plants, just under the federal trafficking threshold.

Prosecutors often have no choice but to charge growers with intent to 
distribute, which often carries a probation sentence with no jail time.

State and federal officials have busted 30 grow houses this year in 
Lee County alone. There have been another 12 in Sarasota County -- 
mostly in the city of North Port -- and 11 in Charlotte County. 
Manatee County Sheriff's Office spokesman Dave Bristow said he could 
not recall any recent grow house busts there.

Last year, only three were busted in Charlotte County.

The increase has been attributed to a migration of cultivators from 
Florida's east coast to take advantage of the glut of cheaper housing 
in a slack real estate market.

"What they're looking for is ... an isolated location in a low-cost 
market," said Sarasota County Sheriff's Capt. Jeff Bell, head of the 
special investigations unit. "Those are definitely things that they 
can find in North Port."

Once inside, cultivators convert the home into a sophisticated 
growing operation. Some use only the garage, while others even knock 
down bedroom walls to help grow plants up to 6 feet tall.

Electricity is diverted to bypass the meter, allowing growers to 
steal thousands of dollars of power monthly for high-watt lights and 
irrigation systems, both set to timers.

Large fans and several air-conditioning units also counter the heat 
from the lights.

As law enforcement agencies make more arrests, their evidence rooms 
have become crammed. In Sarasota County, the Sheriff's Office rents 
storage units to hold the equipment seized from these operations, 
said Sarasota County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Jim Minchin, part of an 
eight-member narcotics task force.

Charlotte County is similarly running out of space, Ayers said.

The proposed law would let detectives use video and photographic 
evidence of a grow house's contents, along with a sample from each plant.

Marijuana cultivators can fetch between $3,000 to $4,000 a pound on 
the local wholesale market and upwards of $7,000 in northern markets, 
such as New York and New Jersey.

"These are very elaborate money-making ventures," said Bell, adding 
that the operations are "deteriorating our community." 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake