HIGH-POTENCY MARIJUANA HAS POLICE WORRIED

Drug Bust Nets More-Costly Version

The 50 pounds of marijuana nabbed by police during a Red Hook traffic
stop this summer is stronger and more expensive than the kind of weed
typically found in the Hudson Valley.

And that's what makes it more dangerous, police say.

The high-grade marijuana seized Aug. 12 during a Dutchess County
Sheriff's Office traffic stop is believed to be worth about $3,000 a
pound or $150,000 in all, said Sgt. Russ Bailey of the Dutchess
County Drug Task Force.

A pound of marijuana typically found on the street in the valley
could range in price from $900 to $1,400, police said.

Lt. Arthur Boyko, head of the state police's Community Narcotics
Enforcement Team, said, "Any time you increase the price tag, you
increase the risk of somebody getting hurt."

Higher prices usually mean more violence, agreed Bailey, who said
"more money, more risk."

High-grade marijuana has been flowing into the United States from
Canada and is more potent than so-called "commercial grade" forms of
the drug. It is sometimes called "B.C. bud," after British Columbia,
the Canadian province in which much of it is grown.

High-grade marijuana is often grown hydroponically, with the aid of
intense lights and nutrient-rich solutions. But all forms of the drug
are more intense than they were decades ago.

Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the substance that makes marijuana addictive.

"It's markedly higher than it was when I started in the 80s," said
forensic scientist David Wurtz, of the New York State Crime Lab in
Newburgh, about THC levels in commercial-grade marijuana. "It's just
a world of difference."

Wurtz believes commercial production of the drug over time has
increased the potency of the seeds used to grow marijuana plants.

The average potency of marijuana, or the level of THC, rose from 3
percent in 1991 to more than 5 percent in 2001, according to the
Marijuana Potency Monitoring Project cited on the Web site of the
U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, commercial-grade marijuana THC
levels were under 2 percent, the Web site said.

Local infiltration low

While cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin are the most prevalent
dangerous drugs in the valley, Boyko said, high-grade forms of
marijuana have yet to significantly infiltrate the area.

"We haven't seen it that much," Boyko said, adding the more potent
form of the drug is "strong and it's popular for a reason."

The price could be what's keeping high-grade marijuana, also known as
"hydro," from getting a foothold in the Hudson Valley, said Detective
Sgt. Ed Brewster of the Narcotics Enforcement Unit of the Ulster
County Sheriff's Office.

"People just can't afford it," he said, noting the potency and the
growing conditions used to produce high-grade marijuana contribute to its cost.

Things could change "if the price starts coming down," he said.