CALIFORNIA MARIJUANA GROWERS FLOURISH

EUREKA, California -- (AFP) -- Marijuana growers -- some armed and tied to
a Mexican cartel -- are flourishing here in Northern California, where pot
is the top cash crop and the lifeblood of some towns.

Marijuana plants are not only being cultivated in remote, camouflaged plots
in the lush mountains of federal forest lands, but are brazenly popping up
in cornfields, next to farms and along roads and highways.

Pot cultivation has become so rampant in some counties of Northern
California that federal agents often ignore groves with less than a
thousand plants unless they are booby-trapped or protected by armed guards.

``It's like trying to hold back the Pacific with a tablespoon,'' said
Humboldt County marijuana eradication supervisor Steven Knight, whose three
agents patrol thousands of square miles of prime marijuana territory.

``One thousand plants, that seems to be the magic number,'' said Knight of
the point at which federal prosecutors become interested enough to devote
time and resources to prosecuting a marijuana case.

This is the situation after federal drug enforcement officials vowed to
redouble their efforts following California's referendum last year that
legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The number of agents patrolling the vast, fecund area known as the
``Emerald Triangle'' ---- made up of Humboldt, Trinity and Lake counties
- were slashed as federal drug efforts were diverted to methamphetamines.

Marijuana growers, particularly Mexicans, have been quick to capitalize on
the risk versus profit equation. Each plant is worth between 5,000 and
6,000 dollars and the risk of arrest is relatively slim.

The hardy weed is ---- at an estimated 60 billion dollars ---- the nation's
biggest cash crop with corn a distant second at 15 billion dollars,
according to Ralph Weisheit, author of ``Domestic Marijuana: A Neglected
Industry.''

``One ounce of premium marijuana is worth more than an ounce of gold,''
said Weisheit, who teaches criminal justice at Illinois State University.
``And it is being grown in every state of the nation.''

Agents in California this year seized 543 million dollars worth of
marijuana, though they quickly conceded that that amount is only a fraction
of what has been harvested and distributed.

Growers have proven to be an adaptable lot. When the federal government
began seizing the property wherever marijuana was found growing, marijuana
farmers sidestepped that problem by growing crops on federal lands.

As growers learned there was less risk with fewer than 1,000 plants, they
grew smaller, more numerous plots. Those with tens of thousands of plants
have moved operations indoors.

With picky prosecutors and first-time offenders getting probation or light
jail sentences, the obvious question arises: Why doesn't everybody here
have a profitable little plot of marijuana?

``Damned if I know,'' said John Allendorf, a Vietnam War veteran and US
Forest Service agent in Humboldt County, who busts the growers he said have
become increasingly nonchalant about their business.

He banged on the door of a luxury home recently to arrest one grower he
could see through the window. Oblivious, the grower was sitting on a couch
listening to music through headphones and smoking a joint.

When agents finally got in the house, the owner shrugged, ``I'll be on a
beach in Thailand drinking a beer before you poor schmucks are even done
with the paperwork.'' (They arrested him for declaring his intent to flee.)

``People get busted and it is not considered a big deal here. There's no
stigma,'' Allendorf said. ``And look what it does for the local economy. It
has kept some towns alive.''

In the small town of Garberville, for example, signs in the windows of gas
stations and restaurants warn that anyone associated with the marijuana
eradication program is not welcome in the establishment.

``When they see us in our trucks, they make it known that we are not
welcome,'' said Gil Van Attenhoven, operations commander for the California
Department of Justice.

But growers do not want the drug to become legal, Allendorf said. The
perception of risk keeps out competitors and helps keep the price of
premium marijuana high.

In fact, when Californians voted on a referendum last year to legalize
growing marijuana for medicinal purposes, 73 percent of Humboldt County
voters opposed it, among the highest percentage anywhere in the state.

Colorado, Nevada and Washington state adopted similar measures on Tuesday,
while voters in Arizona rejected an initiative that would have
re-criminalized its use for medical reasons.

The US Forest Service wants growers off federal lands because they threaten
hikers and hunters and use herbicides and poisons that not only kill other
plants and rodents but poison the streams.

Agents say domestic growers may threaten the environment but Mexican
growers, who make up about a third of the growers in Northern California
and about 70 percent in Southern California, pose a lethal threat.

``This is the part that worries me,'' Knight said. ``They tend to be armed
with high-powered weapons and are more prone to shoot.''

Checked-by: Pat Dolan