POT GROWING BUSTS HIGHER THAN EVER

Authorities Begin Annual Crackdown

UKIAH -- As the state launches its annual harvest crackdown on marijuana
growers, law enforcement agencies say more illicit pot gardens than ever are
being found.

The largest marijuana growing operation found so far this year in the state
was uncovered last month near San Diego. Agents uprooted a total of 102,000
plants found growing on Mount Palomar slopes.

But it's Northern California's Mendocino County that is on track to once
again be the state's top pot producer.

Since January, 75,696 plants from mostly indoor growing operations have been
seized in Mendocino County, which routinely ranks along with neighboring
Humboldt and Trinity as the top three pot-producing counties in the state.
So much of the green, leafy stuff is grown in the three-county region that
it's long been dubbed the "Emerald Triangle."

The marijuana black market in Northern California is estimated to generate
at least $1 billion a year for growers and sellers.

The state's anti-pot effort -- Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, or CAMP
- -- pays for teams of additional local, state and federal agents who, over a
eight-week period at harvest time, assist local agents. The state also
provides helicopters and other equipment.

More than 200 dope-growing sites have been identified so far in Mendocino
County, and more are being uncovered every day, said Sheriff's Sgt. Rusty
Noe. Noe, who leads the county's anti-marijuana efforts, said most of the
known sites are on public lands or on corporate-owned timberlands.

The Mendocino discoveries since January have included sophisticated indoor
growing operations camouflaged in structures designed on the outside to look
like new homes. Noe's unit in April also uncovered a marijuana-growing
operation inside five old shipping containers buried 5 feet underground in a
remote region near Covelo.

Authorities say the discovery in San Diego County and the "fake house"
operations in Mendocino underscore the dominance of large, commercial
marijuana operations in today's underground pot economy.

"We're seeing huge gardens everywhere, even in places where, traditionally,
marijuana cultivation is unknown," said Mike Van Winkle, a spokesman for the
state's annual program.