POT WEEDED OUT

$6m In Plants Seized In Apple, Yonkers Raids

Looks like they've been watching "Weeds."

Since March, the Drug Enforcement Administration has busted a slew of
hydroponic marijuana-growing houses in the Big Apple and Yonkers,
seizing 2,500 plants that could have yielded pot with a street value
of $6 million.

The DEA carried out seven takedowns. The NYPD did an eighth.

To anyone who has watched "Weeds," the hit Showtime series, growing
marijuana hydroponically - in houses with water and high-intensity
lights - is an old story.

But the DEA says that until recently, the houses were found in rural areas.

"Now, they're being seen in more urban areas like New York City,"
said John Gilbride, head of the drug agency's New York office.

"Drug-trafficking organizations see the huge profits in marijuana so
that's why they've resorted to these grow houses," he said.

Gilbride said hydroponic growers usually rent a warehouse or
apartment and gut it.

Then, they fill it with buckets to hold the plants, high-intensity
lights to make them grow and a watering system.

The plants take three or four months to mature.

The DEA honcho said the grow houses represent a safety hazard because
the growers often tap into someone else's electricity and dump large
amounts of fertilizer in the sewer system.

Of the seven DEA takedowns, six took place in the Apple and one in Yonkers.

The first - and one of the biggest - took place March 27, when 700
plants representing a street value of $2 million were seized at a
first-floor apartment at 895 Amsterdam Ave. at West 79th Street.

The last bust, Sept. 17 at 4118 39th St. in Long Island City,
resulted in the seizure of 777 plants also with a street value of $2 million.

The NYPD's hydroponic bust occurred April 11 in the basement of a
building at 312 Manhattan Ave. at West 113th Street. Forty-three
plants were seized. Their value was not specified.

Gilbride said marijuana remains the No. 1 abused drug in the United
States and its potency has more than doubled in recent decades.

In the 1980s, the level of THC, marijuana's psychoactive chemical,
was 3 percent. Today, it's 8.5 percent.

"Marijuana is a lot more powerful today than it was 20 years ago,"
Gilbride said.

Bridget Brennan, the city's special narcotics prosecutor, said that
since the 1970s, penalties for pot have decreased while THC content
and profits have increased.

"That's a bad combination for law enforcement," she said.