Pot seizures rise in '97

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Oct. 14 (UPI) California's 15th annual Campaign
Against Marijuana Planting seized 132,485 plants this year 40 percent
more than last year and the biggest haul of the decade.

Attorney General Dan Lungren says 66 tons of plants were seized in 260
raids at 675 cultivation sites in 16 counties over a nineweek period.

Law enforcement officers arrested 54 suspects and confiscated 25 firearms,
including an M16 assault rifle. Lungren says the plants had a street value
of $529 million, which far exceeds the $571,000 that the raids cost.

They were more densely planted than in past years, and typically were on
outdoor plots on public land and boobytrapped or guarded by dogs.

Officials found no apparent connection between plantings and Proposition
215, which authorized the medical use of marijuana.

Lungren expressed concern, however, that marijuana use has doubled among
youth in California and nationwide in the past four to five years. At
today's news conference, he displayed 16 marijuana trading cards sold at
convenience stores and apparently aimed at youth. The cards printed by
InLine of San Francisco show pictures of the weed in its various forms and
uses. Lungren says he can't prosecute because they are protected by the
First Amendment.

Copyright 1997 by United Press International. All rights reserved.