DOMESTIC POT FARMERS GROWING HIGH-TECH

Pot farmers turning to high-tech horticulture

Indoor operations a growth industry

When a Miami-Dade County doctor decided to plant a tree in his back yard not
long ago, he dug a hole.

He dug deeper. And then a huge jolt of electricity knocked him onto his
back.

The cause: His neighbors had needed extra power to operate their massive
indoor marijuana farm, so they ran a pirate power line under his back yard.

Unlike the doctor, the police were not shocked. They've seen it all when it
comes to the ingenuity of home-based pot growers: engineered superplants,
computerized "grow labs," organized cultivation rings.

Technological advances have made pot-growing a multibillion-dollar industry.
And that has spurred police to employ some ingenuity of their own.

A host of federal and local agencies recently created a task force to root
out pot growers. Last week, its agents raided eight Broward County and
Miami-Dade "grow houses," netting five arrests and half a million dollars
worth of dope.

But so far, operations like this have failed to stem the state's thriving
marijuana production. Pot is now Florida's second most popular crop --
second only to citrus.

"Money is the bottom line," says Miami-Dade police Detective Rudy Espinosa.
"They make more money growing marijuana inside a residence than they do
smuggling it into the country."

GRASS IS GREENER

In the 1970s, most marijuana was imported from Mexico or Colombia.

Pot plants in those days were tall -- up to 15 feet -- and had a relatively
low level of THC, the chemical that produces the high.

Since then, growers have used traditional horticulture cloning and
hybridizing techniques to create a master race of pot plants: dwarf versions
as small as a tomato plant that produce buds with 35 times the THC level.

Last year, agents raided a house in Sunrise where they found plants with
26.5 percent THC. The national record is 30 percent.

Rapid advances in hydroponics -- the science of raising plants in
nutrient-enriched water instead of soil -- also have helped fuel the
explosion.

For growers, these developments mean a larger crop of stronger dope in
tighter quarters in a shorter time. This has allowed the pot-growing
businesses to move behind closed doors -- perhaps even onto your block.

"Neighbors always say, `Gee, we never had a clue,' " says Brent Eaton,
special agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. "It's very
difficult to detect."

GROWING TREND

The newfangled methods may be difficult to detect, but they're relatively
easy to execute.

Growers rent a house, room or apartment, depending on the size of their
crop. They pay in cash to avoid leaving a paper trail.

They seal off doors and windows. They install bright lights, timers,
humidifiers and air conditioners -- mimicking cycles of day and night,
keeping plants at an optimum temperature of 68 degrees.

Some rig computers to monitor the environment. This kind of self-regulating
system allows them to stay away, returning only to harvest their bounty
three months later.

Low-tech growers have to come back occasionally to make atmospheric
adjustments.

With elaborate labs, growers are forced to go to great lengths to conceal
their operations.

In the case of the Miami doctor's neighbors, they needed a massive
air-conditioning apparatus to regulate their 1,400 plants. To cool the
system, they ran an underground pipe to the swimming pool behind their
rented two-story $350,000 house.

They covered the pool's surface with inflatable toys to avoid raising
eyebrows.

CONNOISSEURS

Such innovations have borne fruit.

The majority of marijuana smoked in the United States is now grown in North
America, the DEA says. About a third of that is grown indoors, according to
the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

"We used to catch barge-loads of marijuana coming in -- 20,000 pounds at a
time," Eaton says. "That just doesn't happen anymore."

The supply boom has created a degree of pot connoisseurship normally
associated with wines and cigars.

Growers have developed strains of marijuana that taste nutty. Or fruity.

There is "blue collar" pot with its relaxing high for menial laborers who
want to unwind at the end of the day. There is "white collar" dope that
gives its yuppie smokers a peppy buzz.

At the Cannabis Cup -- a yearly convention in Amsterdam -- marijuana
aficionados swap gardening techniques and seeds. They vote for the world's
best dope.

Chat rooms devoted to pot-smoking have bloomed on the Internet. Enthusiasts
engage in lengthy discussions on equipment, legal strategies and how best to
outwit authorities.

BOTTOM LINE

With the value of high-quality pot now hovering between $2,000 and $6,000 a
pound, the unprecedented profit potential has attracted throngs of growers.

A decade ago, agents raided eight indoor labs in Florida. Last year, that
number skyrocketed to 211, including 54 in Miami-Dade County and five in
Broward County.

For law enforcement, this has meant changing its tactics.

During the 1980s, police became adept at finding outdoor marijuana fields.
Trained spotters gazed down from an army of helicopters and aircraft funded
by the anti-drug initiatives of the Reagan and Bush administrations.

Other agents focused on interdiction. They stepped up anti-drug efforts in
Colombia and tightened U.S. borders.

Ironically, these very efforts helped drive pot growers indoors. And the
indoor operations are much harder to pinpoint.

STIFF PENALTIES

Not wanting to tip their hand to growers, agents are tight-lipped about
their new strategies.

They do say, however, that they pay close attention to power usage. Grow
rooms require massive amounts of electricity, which utility companies like
Florida Power & Light tend to notice and point out to the police.

Agents also have been forced to rely more on tips from informants. It was
such a tip that led to last week's Operation Green Thumb II.

On Feb. 11, a small army of local and federal officers raided hydroponic
labs in Hollywood, Pembroke Park, Miami Lakes, Miami Shores and North Miami
Beach. They seized 600 plants -- each capable of producing up to a quarter
pound of pot.

Those arrested in the raid face stiff penalties.

Federal law equates pot possession with that of harder drugs. State statutes
allow police to charge those caught with any number of plants with a felony.

Anti-drug advocates say this is warranted: As pot becomes stronger, they
say, so should the punishment for growing it.

But others argue that no amount of police work will snuff out the new breed
of marijuana growers.

"If they bust a thousand people a year growing pot, or 10 thousand, it's
still just a fraction," says 33-year-old Kyle Kushman, writer and editor for
High Times magazine, chronicler of marijuana culture. "It's never going to
go away.

"It's been part of every culture. And it always will be."