MARIJUANA SEASON ENDS ON A HIGH NOTE

Autumn not only brings an end to most food harvests, it also heralds
the end of the state's illegal cash crop n marijuana.

County deputies tore up more than 13,000 pot plants between January
and October, said Deputy Louis Larson with Calaveras County's
Narcotics Enforcement Unit.

Larson did not have exact figures, but believed it was up over last year.

Most of it came from a single grow that netted local authorities
11,114 plants. Larson did not wish to disclose the location

The other busts were for smaller operations, ostensibly for medical
usage under Proposition 215 guidelines but which were still illegal.

"They were not in compliance with our county guidelines," Larson said.

The smaller farms were still over the local legal limit of six plants
or two pounds of processed marijuana.

County authorities usually work in tandem with the state Campaign
Against Marijuana Planting program, but CAMP had enough to do already.

"When we did have something and we requested, they were busy in other
areas," Larson said.

Like Calaveras County, the statewide average of harvested plants was
up.

CAMP operations netted 471,128 plants as of Sept. 9, up from last
year's record of 466,054 plants, said Department of Justice
spokeswoman Robin Schwanke.

Local officers were able to concentrate more on the marijuana farms
this year because methamphetamine manufacturers apparently took the
summer off.

While narcotics investigators normally find themselves splitting their
time between the two drugs, Larson said they only had one or two meth
lab busts during the summer.

For the year they've broken up a total of 12 labs, which is about
average, Larson said.