County to hike aerial hunts for pot plants

By Andrea Lampros
Sacramento Bee Staff Writer

Drug officials will be cruising the county's skies more often to search for
marijuana plants that may be obscured in the sparsely populated islands of
the Delta.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department got the go ahead from the
Board of Supervisors Tuesday to use a $15,000 federal grant for marijuana
eradication in areas that can be tough for ground crews to search. Drug
agents from the county's narcotics and gang division say they will
immediately spend the money on aerial searches, using a helicopter or a
plane, to look for pot plants on the Delta islands.

"We've been doing this from day one," said Sgt. Jim Cooper, Sheriff's
Department spokesman. "But these funds are going to supplement us in the
investigations." Officials said aerial searches have been used by the
department for at least five years. The grant will pay for about 96 hours of
flight time over the next year.

While officials admit that marijuana cultivation has not been a huge problem
in the Delta, county drug agents say they want to take a closer look.

Sacramento County was one of several counties around the state that
received the grant from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration as
part of a national effort to purge pot growers from local communities.

The Sheriff's Department seized about 396 pounds of marijuana from
county growers and street dealers in the first half of 1997. Last year, the
department seized 505 pounds, including some pot plants from the Delta. In
1995, agents found 670 pounds.

Narcotics gang unit Sgt. Bob Risedorph expects that growers may have
increased marijuana cultivation after the passage of Proposition 215 in
November, but he doesn't have hard data to back up his hunch. The state
initiative allows the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

"Proposition 215 has put marijuana in the spotlight," said Risedorph. "There
are people in our community who want to legalize it for everyone, but until
that day, we have an obligation to evaluate and fairly enforce the health and
safety code."

Some Sacramento residents question whether programs to quash marijuana
cultivation should be a high priority for the county given public sentiment in
favor of medicinal marijuana use.

Imogene Cole, a 73yearold marijuana user, says the program is a waste of
money. She has smoked marijuana for decades to treat her glaucoma.

"I used to sit here and see those helicopters pulling that marijuana up and
burning it up while I was hurting for that medicine," said Cole. "I think it's
terrible."

As specified in the proposal, the grant money will pay for fuel, equipment
and personnel costs associated with the aerial searches.

Supervisor Illa Collin said she can think of more pressing drug enforcement
concerns in the state. While she supports the federally funded marijuana
effort, she said shutting down methamphetamine labs in the county should
be a much bigger priority.

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