NORTH STATE OFFICIALS TRY TO MAKE A FEDERAL CASE AGAINST POT GROWERS

As soon as north state law enforcement teams learn the whereabouts of
illegal marijuana gardens, they start planning their raids.

Often supported by federal grants -- and sometimes National Guard
troops -- the officers don camouflage gear and hiking boots before
invading pot plantations.

The officers say their motivation for the raids is threefold -- stop
illegal activity, halt damage to the environment and protect the public.

"The longer those things (marijuana) stay out there, the more likely
it is that some citizen is going to stumble into it," said Alan
Foster, a special agent with the National Park Service who works out
of the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area.

But, by their accounts, there are still acres and acres of pot that
get processed and make it past police. The estimate of how much
marijuana that agencies keep off the streets depends on who you ask.
Some say they think they're catching 20 percent, others 30 percent.
Others don't offer a guess, saying that if the officials knew exactly
how much pot was really out there, they'd be raiding all those gardens.

A similarly low, but more defined, percentage is the number of pot
growers police arrest in their raids.

About "20 percent of the time we make arrests," said Ross Butler,
assistant special agent-in-charge at the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management's Sacramento office.

Those who are arrested on suspicion of growing pot don't always end
up serving hard time, said Jerry Benito, Shasta County district
attorney. In California, the maximum penalty for growing marijuana is
three years in a state prison, a $10,000 fine or both.

"Whether you are growing one plant or 5,000, the penalty is the same
- -- it's three years," Benito said.

If they behave, state convicts are often released after serving half
their sentence, meaning they serve 18 months, he said.

Because of the disparity in penalties, Benito said he refers the
biggest marijuana-cultivation cases to federal prosecutors.

Federal rules on marijuana are more strict -- with sentences starting
at five years in federal prison for growing 100 plants, and 10 years
for 1,000 plants. The sentences get longer if the growers are armed
and if they have a criminal record, said McGregor Scott, U.S.
attorney for California's eastern district and former Shasta County
district attorney. He said he doesn't know the conviction rate for
those charged with marijuana cultivation because his office lumps all
narcotics cases together, but said he's confident that most who are
charged with the crime go to prison.

"Nobody (in his office) can recall a time when we didn't gain a
conviction when we prosecuted someone for a big marijuana grow," Scott said.

He said his office mostly handles cases involving thousands of plants
grown on federally managed land.

"When you got these huge marijuana gardens by these guys, you want to
get some real sentences," Scott said.