GANJA GROWERS BEWARE

Grant Money To Help Pay For Crackdown On Cultivators

In less than two years, the amount of marijuana seized in Santa
Barbara County during raids of both indoor and outdoor illegal grow
operations has increased nearly 350 percent, according to Sheriff's
Department data. With the majority of those busts coming during the
summer months, when funding for such sweeps and arrests comes from the
multi-agency CAMP (Campaign Against Marijuana Planting) program, the
Sheriff's Department recently applied for and, as of this week,
received a state grant earmarked specifically to help find, raid,
arrest, and prosecute illegal marijuana growers for the rest of the
year.

The grant, which was formally accepted by county supervisors on
Tuesday morning, brings some $275,000 of California Emergency
Management Agency funds into the county for the 2010-11 fiscal year to
be divvied up between the Sheriff's Department and the District
Attorney's Office. According to Chief Assistant District Attorney Ann
Bramson, roughly $80,000 to $85,000 of the money will underwrite
"half" a prosecutor, so to speak, with the remainder of the money
going to the Sheriff's Department where, according to spokesperson
Drew Sugars, the grant will allow for the reassignment of one
special-duty deputy.

Rumored in medical marijuana circles since it was first applied for
several months ago as a possible motivation behind the recent uptick
in raids of allegedly "illegal" dispensaries, the grant, Bramson
explained last week, has no relevance to those ongoing cases.
"Certainly it targets sales and distribution throughout the county,"
said Bramson, "but it is not some sort of dispensary grant and it
definitely would not have been in effect [when those raids began late
last winter]."