POT A STEADY CROP IN COUNTY

Despite YONET's Efforts, Marijuana Seizures This Year Are Expected to
Be Consistent With Years Past.

The Yolo Narcotics Enforcement Team anticipates seizures of about
30,000 illegally grown marijuana plants in the county this
cultivation season - consistent with previous years' numbers.

The countywide multi-agency task force will be conducting
investigations and raids of outdoor harvests through October, the
peak cultivation period for Yolo County's most seized drug over the
past five years. From 2003 to 2007, YONET seized more marijuana than
cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine.

Last month, YONET officials uncovered about 2,000 mature plants at a
site in Capay Valley and 7,500 plants near Cache Creek.

While marijuana can be grown year-round in a controlled indoor
setting, outdoor growers begin planting in April to get the most out
of the spring and summer sun, said YONET Task Force Commander Bill Olson.

Growers like to plant their crops in rural, mountain fields that are
hidden from law enforcement as well as those who would steal the
valuable commodity, Olson said. In Yolo County, almost all outdoor
marijuana growing occurs in the Cache Creek area, he said.

"It's rural, it's remote, it's out of the way. You don't get much
traffic," Olson said.

Grow operations can be dangerous, however, for the unsuspecting
person who stumbles upon a crop while hunting or hiking - grow
operation guards are usually heavily armed in order to protect
themselves and their crops from thieves, Olson said.

Just a couple weeks ago, YONET received a call from hikers who
claimed they were confronted by two individuals carrying rifles,
asking them what they were doing, he said.

"Our training experience told us that if you're carrying rifles and
you're not a hunter, there's something going on there," Olson said.
The report is being investigated.

Catching the culprits, however, is extraordinarily difficult, Olson
said. He estimates that only about 20 percent of those involved in
growing are actually caught, since the plants don't need daily
maintenance and, in rural areas, law enforcement can be spotted from
miles away.

Even cooperation with the county's SWAT team, trained to perform
surveillance in such conditions, usually ends in zero arrests, he said.

"They have plenty of time to escape," Olson said. "It would take a
tremendous amount of resources just to catch one person."

Last year, about 40 individuals were arrested in connection to
illegal marijuana in Yolo County, according to data from YONET's 2007
annual report. In comparison, there were just under 25 arrests in
2003 - this gradual increase over the years is likely indicative of
more participants in the marijuana trade than improved law
enforcement strategies, Olson said.

However, the odds of capture might soon be changing with the
formation in March of three specialized regional marijuana
investigation teams, formed under the Department of Justice, Bureau
of Narcotic Enforcement, throughout California. The Mountain and
Valley Marijuana Investigation Team, or MAVMIT, is headed by former
YONET commander Roy Giorgi and includes Yolo County.

Through the concentrated efforts of MAVMIT, 70 arrests were made so
far this year within the organization's jurisdiction, which also
covers Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer, Stanislaus, Kern and San
Joaquin counties, Giorgi said. In July, the agency busted 20 people
on every level of the "drug trafficking organization," or DTO, at the
end of a four-month long investigation where an undercover agent
infiltrated a grow operation, Giorgi said.

Marijuana trafficking persists because the profits are worth the risk
of capture, Olson said. They will often even continue to grow in
previously raided areas, he said.

The street value of a mature plant is $1,000, while a pound of
quality bulk marijuana, processed for use, can run $4,000. Olson said
the economy's slump does not seem to be affecting the supply and
demand of the popular drug.

According to a survey of Yolo County's continuation high school
students, conducted by the Yolo County Maternal, Child & Adolescent
Health Program, those "at-risk" teens are more likely to try
marijuana as they get older.

The 2005 survey found that while 10 percent of seventh graders
admitted to having tried marijuana, 27 percent of ninth graders and
37 of eleventh graders said they had tried the drug. Five percent of
seventh graders, 15 percent of ninth and 18 percent of eleventh
graders said they had used marijuana in the previous month.

The pattern is similar to statewide statistics reported in the
survey: 8.3 percent of seventh graders, 22.8 percent of ninth and
38.7 percent of eleventh graders said they had tried marijuana.

The drug's impact on communities is evident in increased gang
activity, Giorgi said. Statistics are showing that communities that
have a lot of marijuana activity also have higher crime rates, he said.

Marijuana traffickers are also often involved in the sale of other
illegal drugs, as was found to be the case in MAVMIT's July undercover sting.

"(The agent) started with marijuana and ended up buying cocaine and
crystal meth," Giorgi said. "We found that a lot of these
organizations are poly-DTOs."