MARIJUANA GROVES SPREADING INTO VALLEY

More than a dozen Tulare County Sheriff's deputies spent Tuesday
tending to a garden - an illegal marijuana garden with more than 4,000
plants just north of Terra Bella.

The proliferation of illegal marijuana groves apparently run by the
Mexican cartels on the Valley floor has reached alarming proportions,
noted Lt. Tom Sigley who heads up the TSCD narcotics enforcement team.

"There are literally hundreds and hundreds of these on the Valley
floor (in Tulare County)," he noted as officers worked to cut down and
haul off the 6- to 12-foot tall plants.

On Road 248, just south of Avenue 100, officers raided the illegal
garden early Tuesday.

They found 21 separate grow sites enclosed in makeshift aluminum
fences and plastic covering spread around an olive grove. The plants
were growing higher than the fences, in some places actually were
pushing up the plastic covering. The smell of the growing marijuana
could be detected from the roadway more than 300 yards away.

Four people were detained at the site, including the son of the
property owner, said Sigley.

Assisting the sheriff's office were county code enforcement officers,
environmental health, county building inspectors, county animal
control and the Tulare County Agricultural Commissioner's office,
including Ag Commissioner Marilyn Kinoshita and several of her staff.
The ag people were a bit surprised by how few chemicals they found,
saying for an operation that size they would expect to find more.
Also, they found evidence insecticides and pesticides were being
sprayed on the plants -- plants that someday would have been smoked by
some unsuspecting marijuana user.

Several dogs were rounded up and one dog was found dead, still tied to
a post and badly malnourished.

Sigley said no weapons had been found at the site.

No value was given on the seizure, but it was estimated to be in
excess of $10 million.

Cartels involvement

Sigley said the growing operation was very similar to what officials
found in the foothills and Sequoia National Forest in past years and
to some lessor extent, this year. It now appears those cartels are
using the vast open spaces of the San Joaquin Valley.

"Based on the volume we're seeing, we know those growers have moved
their groves down here," he said.

In each of the 21 plots there was a medical marijuana recommend letter
to allow the growing of the drug for medical purposes as allowed by
law, but Sigley said the number of plants found more than quadrupled
what was allowed. Some of the medical marijuana recommends were
written by area doctors, some by doctors in Southern California.
Sigley said some of the recommend letters may have been forgeries.

At each plot there was a small campsite for the tender.

"This is just like a cartel grow in the forest," he
said.

For Sigley and the sheriff's department, the trend of Mexican drug
cartels now on the Valley floor is alarming.

"They can do it down here so we're not finding as much up there," he
said of fewer plots being found on the forest despite a wet winter and
spring. All total, 78 grows in the mountains were eradicated last year.

At the Terra Bella site, the effort to conceal the gardens was weak at
best. Sigley said the site was spotted from the air, but they busted
the same site last year. That time, they only took away any plants
above what their medical recommend allowed, but this time the number
of plants so far exceeded what the letters allowed they eradicated it
all. He said it was likely those detained would be charged with
cultivation of marijuana, but he was not certain they would be prosecuted.

Sigley said with the drug cartels now involved in large growing
operations in rural areas, including Terra Bella, Plainview and other
small unincorporated areas, it is only a matter of time that some of
the violence associated with those cartels spills onto the streets of
Tulare County.

Some at the scene said there are many marijuana gardens in Plainview
and other officials have said Alpaugh and Seville both are being
plagued by the gardens.

Medical Pot Problems

It appears that those who illegally grow and sell marijuana are trying
to take advantage of the medical marijuana law. In most instances, an
individual can get a letter that allows them to grow up to 99 plants,
but they are seeing some doctors in the Los Angeles area now writing
recommends allowing for as "much marijuana as they need."

"It's getting ridiculous," Sigley said of those obtaining medical
marijuana cards to grow marijuana for illegal uses. Also, rural
property owners are being offered cash - sometimes thousands of
dollars - to allow a person with a medical marijuana card to grow the
plants.

"I heard from one property who was offered $5,000 up front and $20,000
at end of harvest," the lieutenant said.

Tulare County does allow the growing of marijuana if a person has a
medical recommend letter. However, there has been disagreement over
whether a garden with more than the stated maximum is a criminal
issue, or a civil issue for code compliance to deal with.

"All we can do is come out and do a compliance check," he said of how
the sheriff's office is limited. He said if the garden is more than
allowed, then they can charge them with cultivation.

To be in compliance, the marijuana must be grown in an enclosed
structure with an alarm system. No odors are to be allowed outside.
The Terra Bella site busted Tuesday was not in compliance.

Sigley said he has yet to see a legal garden.

"I've yet to find one with five or 10 plants and their suffering from
glaucoma," he said.

He would like to see more regulation and a policy that would require
those who grow pot for medical reasons to register with the county.
Right now that is voluntary.

"There needs to be accountability," he stressed as huge piles of
marijuana plants were being loaded into a truck.