WHITE HOUSE: VALLEY TEAM PUTS POT TO THE FIRE

Smoking Out Growers Earns 3 Of 11 Awards

WASHINGTON -- The White House has honored Central Valley
drug-fighters for efforts to eradicate marijuana in a region that's
become increasingly popular with outlaw growers.

The Central Valley California High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a
cooperative effort spanning the area from Sacramento to Bakersfield,
won three out of the 11 awards given nationwide by the White House
drug czar's office. In part, the awards recognize the Fresno-based
group's campaign to clear pot plantations away from Sierra Nevada
parks and forest.

"I don't care if these guys are growing freakin' potatoes," Bill
Ruzzamenti, executive director of the Central Valley HIDTA, said
Friday. "I don't want them growing anything in the national parks."

The three awards honored Central Valley officials for leading efforts
in "investigations involving surveillance, intelligence, informants,
wire taps, search warrants and arrest teams."

Their work, which targeted what was described as a large multistate
drug-trafficking network, led to the seizure of more than a million
marijuana plants, 9,800 pounds of marijuana and other drugs, and the
apprehension of 149 suspects involved in drug-related operations.

The awards were presented in a low-key event hosted by the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Since the Central
Valley chapter was founded in 1999, the group has received more
national awards than any HIDTA in the United States.

"I'm very proud," Ruzzamenti said. "It's a very fine commentary on
the great state, local and federal law enforcement partnership that
we've formed in the Central Valley to deal with the acute drug
problem we are faced with."

Ruzzamenti, who accepted the award on behalf of the Central Valley
group, said that in recent years the marijuana industry has
drastically expanded from mom-and-pop gardens to multibillion-dollar
marijuana plantations.Theseplantations, Ruzzamenti said, generally
are controlled by Mexican gangs and may be manned by up to 150men,
many of them armed.

But the men in the field aren't the ones HIDTA is after.

Ruzzamenti said most of the field workers are Mexican nationals who
are told they'll be paid some amount of money and given a green card
once the marijuana is harvested.

"They're just doing the bidding of the organization," Ruzzamenti said.

Marijuana plantations are particularly problematic when grown on
public land, including national parks like Yosemite, Sequoia and
Kings Canyon. The marijuana planters have been blamed for everything
from poisoning parkland with fertilizers to damming up rivers for
irrigation purposes.

Although the awards Ruzzamenti received focused on big plantations,
he also is concerned about the drug at the small-town level.

Proposition 215, which allows Californians to obtain marijuana if
they have a serious medical need for it, has given rise to
uncertainty among some as to when marijuana is legal and when it is
not. Part of the marijuana problem in California is that a lot people
want to think it's legal, Ruzzamenti said.

"Prop. 215 has been bastardized to the max," said Ruzzamenti. "Now
everything from a hangnail to a potential migraine is used as an
excuse to possess and grow marijuana."