Pubdate: Sat, 01 Sep 2012
Source: Modesto Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2012 The Modesto Bee
Contact:  http://www.modbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/271

MARIJUANA IS LARGE 'CASH CROP' WITH CRIME, VIOLENCE AS BYPRODUCTS

It would be tempting to crack jokes about our area's hot new cash 
crop. You know, the one that grows taller than corn but looks more 
like a tomato plant. But there's nothing funny about the startling 
number of major marijuana grows that authorities have been finding in 
back yards and hidden fields in the area.

An increasing amount of violent crime has been associated with these 
large marijuana-growing operations, including three homicides in the 
Modesto area this summer.

Over the past several years, authorities say marijuana growing has 
been a factor in a number of home-invasion robberies. The drug angle 
often does not surface in the initial news coverage of such events.

Said Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager, "Clearly, a 
lot of marijuana is being grown in the Central Valley ... and it is 
destined for the mass market and nationwide distribution - not cancer 
patients."

That's a critical distinction. Local authorities are not going after 
people who are growing a half dozen or dozen marijuana plants for 
their own personal use. Those who have legitimate doctor's orders to 
use marijuana are not - and should not be - the targets of 
law-enforcement crackdowns.

But that's not what we're seeing here. Officers are hacking down 
hundreds or even thousands of plants at a time, and getting tips 
about more such grows.

Modesto's acting police chief, Gene Balentine, said there are 
marijuana raids almost daily. There were four more raids on marijuana 
plots Friday. Some suspects have been linked to Mexican drug cartels, 
but those arrested aren't easy to stereotype. Both genders and all 
ages and ethnicities are represented.

Because the harvest - and therefore the busts - are still going on 
this harvest season, there aren't yet solid numbers to show an 
increase in busts or where marijuana now stands as a problem in 
comparison with methamphetamine, cocaine or heroin.

Authorities say meth production is down in the valley, though not 
necessarily usage. Law enforcement made progress in reducing the 
number of meth labs by making it harder to get the precursor 
chemicals. That's why it can be difficult to buy many cold medicines.

What's needed to cultivate marijuana - good soil, sunshine, water and 
fertilizer - are the same things needed to grow a nice vegetable 
garden. So preventing large-scale marijuana cultivation is harder. 
Police get tips from people who detect the distinctive odor of 
marijuana or who become suspicious when a neighbor suddenly nails 
plywood to the fence, making it 10 feet tall. Marijuana grows are 
easily seen from the sky.

Stanislaus is not part of Operation Mercury, a joint effort of 
federal, state and local authorities in several valley counties. 
Federal officials say their crackdowns on marijuana plantations in 
national forests and other public lands seem to be pushing growers 
into other states. Similarly, Stanislaus County might be seeing more 
large grows because of the zealous eradication efforts in the 
southern San Joaquin Valley. Police say those arrested in a recent 
raid were from Fresno.

Regardless of where the marijuana plantations are found, authorities 
are convinced the intent is criminal and not medical.

"Marijuana grown in this state supplies the nation," Benjamin Wagner, 
the U.S. attorney in Sacramento, said at a news conference last 
month. "Huge amounts of marijuana growing here are flowing to the 
East, to other states in the East."

California has an inconsistent attitude toward marijuana. In 1996, 
voters supported Proposition 215, which allowed marijuana for 
medicinal use. Few valley cities ever OK'd medicinal marijuana 
dispensaries, and some of urban areas that did approve them are 
trying to pull back because of problems and the enormous number of 
them. Los Angeles OK'd the dispensaries and then recently banned 
them, provoking a petition drive to stop the ban.

Many people advocating the legalization of marijuana say the drug is 
harmless and authorities should not harass people who find marijuana 
as the only or best way to relieve severe or chronic pain. But 
Fladager said authorities making arrests have found copies of 
doctor's orders that turn out to be fraudulent.

If you need more evidence that growing marijuana is a criminal 
enterprise, look at what those arrested in connection with the plots 
are carrying - guns, knives and other weapons, and often other drugs.

This isn't what voters had in mind when they approved the so-called 
Compassionate Use Act.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom