STORED POT UNLIKELY TO GROW MOLD

Finding a life-threatening mold growing on marijuana plants confiscated for
evidence in criminal cases would be highly unlikely in the the central San
Joaquin Valley, law enforcement officials say.

For one, they don't store enough of the plants to be a host for mold.

"We only store what is required by the penal code. We take five random
samples from a field, for example," says Lt. Don Landers of the Tulare
County Sheriff's Department.

Sonoma County found a dangerous mold growing on marijuana plants stored in
its Sheriff's Department evidence room this fall.

Decontamination of the room began this past weekend.

A leak in the roof of the evidence room allowed rainwater to come in
contact with the plants, said Deborah Phillips, central information bureau
manager at the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department.

Since the mold was discovered, Phillips said the department is hanging
marijuana plants and drying them in a room before they are compressed into
a brick and packed in a heat-sealed bag.

Any marijuana stored at the Fresno County Sheriff's Department evidence
room is dried, said Lt. Robert Hagler.

"It's going to be dried marijuana -- not moist marijuana," he said.

The department takes photographs of large marijuana busts and then gets a
court order to destroy all but a few, small samples, Hagler said. "It's
just being practical. We want to keep the storage down."