RAIDS FOUND 132,485 POT PLANTS, LUNGREN SAYS

By: Jon Matthews
Bee Capitol Bureau

Authorities seized 132,485 marijuana plants during this year's series of
raids on California growers, and the state's youths need to hear a much
stronger message that they shouldn't use the drug, state Attorney General
Dan Lungren declared Tuesday.

Lungren said the plants found by state, local and federal agents in the
15th annual Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) could have been
processed at maturity into about 66 tons of the drug with a street value
exceeding $500 million. He said the number of plants seized was 40 percent
larger than in 1996 and the most of any year thus far in the 1990s.

The Republican attorney general also said the seized marijuana would not
have been used for medical purposes under Proposition 215, the initiative
permitting medicinal use of marijuana that was approved by California
voters last year. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

''Someone suffering from AIDS with a doctor's note did not have his two
plants ripped out of his home during this operation. Rather, these (seized)
plants were part of a criminal enterprise destined for gang members and
street dealers to sell to anyone, including children,'' Lungren told
reporters at his state Department of Justice offices.

''The value of the plants confiscated this year underscores that the
passage of Proposition 215 should in no way curtail law enforcement's
efforts to interdict marijuana,'' he added.

But Robert Harris, a spokesman for Americans for Medical Rights, which
backed Proposition 215, said it was impossible for Lungren or anyone else
to be sure that none of the seized marijuana was headed for medical use.
Harris said the initiative didn't set up an officially sanctioned
distribution system for medical users and that the entire distribution
issue needs to be addressed by the federal government.

According to Lungren's office, the nineweek series of CAMP raids cost
$571,000 and seized plants in 16 mostly rural counties. Officers seized the
most plants in Mendocino County, followed by Humboldt, Lake, Sonoma,
Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.

Estimating that the seized plants could have been made into 120 million
marijuana joints, Lungren said he didn't know if passage of Proposition 215
had encouraged illegal growers to plant more marijuana. But he railed at
what he said was a lack of antimarijuana messages going out to
California's young people.

''Tobacco companies and those in Hollywood who glamorize tobacco use have
effectively been demonized. What is lacking is an equal demonization and
outrage about marijuana use by our teens,'' Lungren said.

The attorney general singled out makers of collector cards that feature
pictures of marijuana plants and which he said are available at some
convenience stores, music stores and elsewhere. Lungren said the cards are
clearly targeted at young persons.

But Kingsley Barham, who identified himself as president of a San
Franciscobased company that produces those types of cards, denied the
cards were aimed at promoting marijuana use by youths and contended that
Lungren was engaged in political grandstanding.