ALL THOSE INDOOR POT FARMS

Federal Campaign Drives Growers Indoors

No doubt without intending to, a U.S. Justice Department report on
the ambitious federal marijuana plant eradication program (called
Campaign Against Marijuana Planting or CAMP in California), documents
that the campaign has not only failed to make much of a dent in the
marijuana marketplace, it has had the perverse effect of driving
producers to indoor sites, notably to suburban homes.

In other words, if one of your neighbors (probably in a rented house)
has converted the place to an indoor marijuana plantation, guarded by
somewhat unsavory-looking characters who look as if they might be
packing heat and attracting a number of disreputable-looking
hangers-on, you can thank the state and federal governments. Your tax
dollars at work.

Here's how the National Drug Threat Assessment from the National Drug
Intelligence Center of the Justice Department put it:

"Federal, state, and local law enforcement reporting indicates that
vigorous outdoor cannabis eradication efforts have caused major
marijuana producers, particularly Caucasian groups, to relocate
indoors, even in leading outdoor grow states such as California and
Tennessee." The report goes on to say that one side effect of
shifting to indoor sites is that "The groups will produce
higher-potency marijuana year-round, allowing for exponential
increase in profits derived."

While aggressive eradication activities have had some impact,
especially in driving production to the suburbs, the report makes
clear that it hasn't done much to reduce overall production. While
the feds are seizing record numbers of plants, production operations
in California (mostly Northern) "are extensive, widespread, becoming
more sophisticated, and increasing in size." Meanwhile, "marijuana
availability is widespread."

So the drug warriors don't reduce availability, but they push growers
into your neighborhood and increase their profitability. Is that what
the drug war was intended to do?