STATE'S APPARENT BIGGEST CROP IS NO JOKE

Some say jokingly that marijuana is California's largest agricultural
crop, and they might be right. Right or wrong, to law enforcement
people, it is no joke.

While the vigorous growth of marijuana in California's foothills and
on land owned or controlled by the federal government testifies to
the state's optimum natural growing conditions, the activity creates
none of the pride that officials and citizens feel about the state's
350 legitimate agricultural crops.

Crackdowns on pot-growing operations have been numerous, but
California is the country's third largest state, and those spurred by
the enormous profit potential always seem to find space off the
beaten paths to produce, harvest and ship the weed to an eager
nationwide, perhaps international, clientele.

In Fresno County, one of the state's largest, with a high percentage
of mountainous acreage, recent emphasis has been placed on efforts to
control the production and sale of marijuana plants for personal and
prescribed medical use.

However, that measure of control of storefront sales and backyard
cultivation has little effect on the vast acreages of illegal
production and distribution.

Law enforcement officials have the keenest focus on the outlaw aspect
of the crop, and the best concept of its volume, its enormous profit
potential, and the vigorous steps taken by its producers to hide and
protect their production areas and their clandestine transportation
and distribution networks.

Not every county in the state has helicopter surveillance at its
fingertips, and illegal marijuana production is judged by law
enforcement personnel to be taking place in every one of the state's
58 counties. The Sheriff's Office in Fresno County depends heavily on
its helicopter detail to locate and monitor production sites.

Monitoring marijuana "groves" from the sky is not only the most
efficient way to keep track of them, but the safest. Stumbling onto a
protected production site can result in armed resistance, and
postings have been made in several remote areas to warn hikers and
other innocents of the danger.

Fresno County sheriff's Lt. Rick Ko says each marijuana plant
produces about a pound of saleable material worth $2,500 to $4,000.
Sizeable plantings can produce as many as 1,000 plants per acre. That
adds up to a lot of cash.

The blossoms of the plant are believed to contain the highest
concentration of THC, the ingredient credited with causing the
maximum reaction when smoked. Peak of harvest occurs as the buds
droop toward the ground, ready to be plucked, dried and marketed.

Transportation of the finished product is a risky and a
tension-filled operation. Those dealing in the stuff get credit for
some of the most imaginative and sometimes unlikely hiding places in
cars, trucks, trailers and motor homes. Fender wells, fake fuel
tanks, phony spare tires, seats padded with pot are just a few of the
more common modes for clandestine transport.

Imagination and technology are also applied by the growers in
providing water for healthy plant production. Several groves that
have been raided have yielded the latest in sophisticated irrigation
technology, bringing water long distances from wells, springs, creeks
and ponds to individual plants. One raid in Fresno County yielded 52
miles of irrigation hose.

Natural terrain and native growth are utilized more than technology
to camouflage growing sites, especially in foothill and mountainous
terrain. Native growth provides a cover that makes detection, even
from helicopters difficult. Alarm systems display state-of-the-art
development, able to relay messages to guards bearing
state-of-the-art firearms.

Besides enormous profits, the one thing that hidden growing sites are
guaranteed to create is mess, with devastation of natural growth and
even wildlife. Crews' campsites are littered, often with pesticides
and other chemicals in unmarked containers.

Illegal marijuana production may be big in dollar volume, but it
takes an enormous toll on the environment and monopolizes law
enforcement resources that society needs to apply elsewhere. And its
burden on society through its users and abusers is yet to be measured.