CALIF. REPORTS RECORD CRACKDOWN ON MARIJUANA CROP

California has seized a record amount of home-grown marijuana this year,
grabbing almost a quarter of a million plants with a wholesale value of
close to $1 billion, officials said Wednesday.

State Attorney General Bill Lockyer said the state's Campaign Against
Marijuana Planting (CAMP) had logged its best year ever with a haul almost
double that of 1998 and far higher than the last record set in 1985.
"Overall, the marijuana seized by CAMP this year could have produced about
219 million marijuana cigarettes,'' Lockyer said at a news conference.

The 1999 season also included the largest single seizure in California
history, when on Sept. 10 agents raided a southern California marijuana
plantation and seized more than 48,000 plants worth an estimated $192 million.

Lockyer said that despite the success in cracking down on some marijuana
farms, there were signs that cultivation was spreading from the remote
areas along California's northern coast to other areas, particularly in the
central and southern part of the state.

"Marijuana 'farms' are emerging on public lands,'' Lockyer said, noting
that thousands of marijuana plants had been seized from the Angeles
National Forest near Arcadia, just north of Los Angeles.

"These are very large operations, often planted in rows like commercial
crops. This trend represents a dangerous situation to hikers and other
outdoor enthusiasts who may stumble upon a grower prepared to defend a
multimillion dollar crop,'' Lockyer said.