Pubdate: Fri, 01 Jan 2010
Source: Albany Democrat-Herald (OR)
Copyright: 2010 Lee Enterprises
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/HPOp5PfB
Website: http://www.democratherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/7
Author: AnneMarie Knepper
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

MEDICAL POT A GROWING PROBLEM

Law enforcement officials in Albany and Linn County say  there's been
a decline in seizures of large marijuana  operations during 2009, but
they are growing  increasingly concerned about abuse of the medical
marijuana card system.

The Democrat-Herald talked with Det. Capt. Paul Timm of  the Linn
County Sheriff's Office and Capt. Eric Carter  of the Albany police
about trends in drug enforcement.

Timm said his agency's "top four" drug concerns are  marijuana, meth,
heroin and prescription drugs.

Here is a rundown of the year 2009 in drugs from the  sheriff's
office:

Seized: Some 1,294 grams of meth, 9,905 grams of dried  marijuana, 1 gram 
of heroin, 27 prescription pills and  six MDMA (Ecstasy) pills.

In 2008, 336 grams of meth were seized as were 1,831  grams of
marijuana, 1 gram of heroin, 3 grams of  cocaine and 95 prescription
pills.

During the summer, Linn County runs special marijuana  eradication
efforts. Of the 526 marijuana plants seized  in 2009, only seven were
in outdoor grows. In those  cases, 21 arrests were made.

In 2008, 380 plants were seized, including 18 outdoor  marijuana grows
and 16 arrests.

Timm said detectives are seeing an increase in abuse of  the Oregon
medical marijuana card program, so much so  that the office began
keeping statistics for those  cases this year.

"Of all those cases -- 43 were related to medical  marijuana -- 17 of
those being out of compliance," Timm  said.

Nearly 40 percent of medical marijuana cardholders  investigated were
abusing the system.

Being out of compliance includes having more plants  than legally
allowed, but more frequently it is having  more dried marijuana than
is allowed by law. Sometimes  the card is expired, or the person
applied for a card  but was never approved.

At the Albany Police Department, Carter said cases  involving Oregon
medical marijuana card abuse account  for most of a jump in marijuana
seized. The department  seized nearly 20 pounds of pot during 2009, up
from a  mere half-pound the year before.

He said APD dealt with 12 major card abuse cases in  2009, four of
which involved violence. In six of the  homes, the growers had firearms.

Carter said the trend is "concerning."

He clarified that people with glaucoma or stage 4  cancer are not the
ones abusing Oregon's medical  marijuana law.

He said the offenders have grow operations, rather than  a few plants,
and work with other growers to supply  customers. They are also
"polydrug" dealers, often  offering hallucinogenic mushrooms, Ecstasy
and diverted  prescription medicines.

"These are not the people with one plant over the  limit," Carter
said.

City police numbers show an increase in scheduled  medications seized
- -- 1,095 pills in 2009, up from 314  in 2008 -- which Carter
attributes mostly to oxycodone  abuse.

This includes both patients stealing written  prescriptions, stealing
filled prescriptions or buying  it from drug dealers. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D