ILLEGAL POT A GROWING PROBLEM IN MICH.

Authorities: Vast Wooded Areas Draw Traffickers

Growing illegal marijuana in Michigan is big business, and despite the
best efforts of law enforcement, it may be getting bigger.

State law enforcement officials say they believe Mexican drug
traffickers are expanding from California into Michigan, noting the
discovery of two apparent Mexican marijuana growing operations on
state land in northern Michigan within the past year.

State Police Detective 1st Lt. David Peltomaa, coordinator for
Operation HEMP, the state's marijuana eradication program, said
Mexican traffickers may be attracted to states like Michigan and
Wisconsin to start operations because they have vast wooded areas
where growing can go undetected.

"It's a huge state," he said of Michigan.

"There is a lot of state and federal land. It's virtually impossible,
unless you walk into them or fly over them, to spot these (growing
operations)."

For years, officials say, Mexican traffickers have been growing
marijuana in Western states because of increasing difficulty in
getting drugs across the border.

Mike Yasenchak, resident agent in charge of central, western and upper
Michigan for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said the use of
state and federal wooded land to grow marijuana illegally has risen
sharply in the state and acknowledged there have been isolated cases
of grow sites in the state linked to Mexican traffickers. But he
stopped short of calling Mexican grow sites in Michigan a trend.

$40m in Plants

State officials say authorities last year seized more than 40,000
plants growing outdoors with a $40 million street value - a 73 percent
rise from 2007.

"We have a lot more seizures," Yasenchak said.

"It might be a direct correlation (to Mexican drug trafficking). It's
hard to tell who is growing it."

State Police have become so concerned about an expansion of growing
operations in state and national forests that they recently issued an
advisory to hunters and campers to look out for signs of illegal
marijuana harvesting.

Peltomaa urged anyone who finds signs of an illegal grow, which may
include irrigation hoses or plastic planters, to not engage anyone at
these sites. He noted that a bystander who stumbled across a grow site
in a wooded area out West was shot at by growers.

He added that campers, hunters and hikers should beware of possible
"booby traps" placed near grow sites. Growers in public forests in
Western states have concealed boards with spikes on the ground near
grow sites and suspended fishing hooks on lines from tree branches, he
said.

Gladwin Co. Arrests

Hunters alerted authorities last fall about an illegal marijuana
growing operation on state land in Gladwin County, leading to the
seizure of 4,000 plants near a campsite. Police said they arrested a
handful of Mexican suspects believed to be operating the site.

Just last month, authorities seized 3,000 marijuana plants from a
campsite on state land in Benzie County, but made no arrests. However,
police said they found Mexican-style food and packaging in Spanish,
leading them to believe traffickers from Mexico were involved in the
grow site.

Helicopters Help

Grow operations on public lands are expanding even as more established
Michigan growers are moving their crops indoors into basements and
pole barns to evade outdoor surveillance, said Lt. B.J. Roach, head of
the Tri-County Metro Narcotics Team, a regional multi-agency drug
enforcement squad in Eaton, Ingham and Clinton counties.

Roach said the use of helicopters - some borrowed from the Michigan
National Guard - have been effective at spotting large illegal
marijuana crops and making huge busts statewide. While wooded areas
can provide growers good cover, federal officials say, authorities can
spot grow sites from the air because marijuana is a unique shade of
green.

"We've been successful, and they are trying to disguise it from us,"
Roach said of growers.

Yasenchak said it's hard to quantify just how much marijuana is being
grown illegally in the state, even as authorities confiscate more of
it.

Complicating enforcement for authorities is the rise of legitimate
marijuana in Michigan under a new medical marijuana law. Caregivers
and patients are allowed to grow 12 plants per patient in a secure
area.

Medical Marijuana

Medical marijuana advocates and some police officials say there is a
need to clarify some "gray areas" in the law, such as when police can
search the home of a registered user.

With illicit marijuana production apparently on the rise statewide,
federal officials this year increased its funding for the state's
Operation Hemp program by 15 percent to $450,000.

"We have some very good investigators who are taking the time to
finding who is growing the marijuana in large grows," Peltomaa said.
"They are not just going in and cutting them down."

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ON THE LOOKOUT

Authorities say the use of state and federal forests for illicit
marijuana growing is on the rise, and they're urging hikers, campers
and hunters to be on the lookout for such sites. They are urging
individuals not to engage suspected violators, but to report the site
to authorities by calling (800) 235-HEMP (4367).

Signs of grow operations include use of large amounts of PVC piping,
irrigation hoses or plastic planters and use of fertilizer in remote
areas.