NORTH STATE OFFICERS WATCH FOR RISE IN POT DISTRIBUTION

'Tis the season for north state marijuana growers to smuggle their
illegal crop south.

"The harvest is done, they've dried their product and it's on the
move," said Kurt Heuer, spokesman for the California Highway Patrol
in Redding.

As officers cope with increased holiday traffic, they are on the
lookout for people who could be carrying drugs or large amounts of
money for dealers, Heuer said.

"Usually the dope is going south and the money is coming north," he
said.

There can be as many as 2,200 vehicles traveling across the Pit River
bridge on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, compared with the 800 to 900
vehicles on a typical November day, according to the state Department
of Transportation.

Heuer and other law enforcement officers were tight-lipped about what
they might be looking for in the rush of cars to tip them off to smugglers.

But he did say marijuana can be hard to hide because of its bulky
size compared to other illegal drugs, and its pungent, tell-tale scent.

In searching for smugglers, the CHP and other agencies often call on
the help of drug-sniffing dogs whose noses can pick up the smell even
when people can't, Heuer said.

Often smugglers will use hidden compartments and other tricks in case
they are pulled over.

"They go through a lot of pains to hide it in vehicles to smuggle,"
said Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko.

Some smugglers aren't so cautious, stuffing the pot in trash bags
before piling it into their trunks and hoping they won't get caught,
Heuer said.

To search a car or truck, law enforcement officers either need
probable cause -- which can be the skunky smell of pot -- or consent
from the driver, he said.

And that's usually received after a vehicle has been pulled over for
speeding, having faulty equipment or another reason.

"You have to have a reason to stop it," said Susan Gravenkamp,
spokeswoman for the Siskiyou County sheriff's office.

U.S. Forest Rangers and state game wardens also keep an eye out for
suspicious activity in the north state backcountry while checking on
hunters.

Law enforcement officials said they didn't have statistics available
for how many busts occur each year in the north state, but they all
agreed that Interstate 5 is a major drug trafficking corridor.

Thanks to an all-out blitz on illicit marijuana plantations dotting
public land in Shasta County this summer, there could be less pot
being moved out of the north state, Bosenko said.

During the three-week Operation Alesia in July, his office joined
with 16 other agencies to raid 60 gardens, uprooting more than
283,000 pot plants in the process. The surge helped make for a record
year of marijuana eradication, with more than 365,000 plants pulled
out of Shasta County soil.

"I think it had a major impact on marijuana coming from Shasta
County," Bosenko said.

While a recent federal Department of Justice report says such efforts
could push pot growers into starting indoor operations, Sgt. Todd
Larson of the Shasta County sheriff's office's marijuana eradication
team said that hasn't been the case in Shasta County.

"We haven't seen them going indoors at all," he said.

The true impact of Operation Alesia won't be gauged until next
growing season, when law enforcement officials can assess whether
there are more or fewer gardens in Shasta County.

But the pot now being smuggled through the north state doesn't just
come from the nearby hills. Crops from coastal counties, Oregon,
Washington and even Canada's British Columbia, pass through on their
way to the San Francisco Bay area and Southern California's
population centers, Heuer said.

The stream of illegal drugs isn't limited to pot, although the amount
of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and other drugs doesn't spike
this time of year because of a harvest like marijuana's, Heuer said.

"We are looking for all the drugs, all the time," he said.