MARIJUANA IN MERCED: A SPECIAL REPORT

Stoked by Criminal Gangs, the County's Marijuana Crop Has Grown Like
a Weed. Law Enforcement Hunts Down Harvesters When They Find Them,
but Some Say a Kinder, Gentler Approach Will Fight Crime Better.

High Times Ahead? Marijuana Number One Illegal Crop in Merced County

Quick -- what Merced County crop is worth more than alfalfa hay, corn
silage, chicken eggs or even cotton?

The answer is marijuana -- otherwise known as pot, Mary Jane, grass,
ganja, hemp or weed.

Whatever you call it, those buds mean big bucks.

In 2006, Merced County law enforcement disposed of up to $87 million
worth of Cannabis sativa -- about 29,000 plants. This year, law
enforcement officials say they have already surpassed that number,
destroying 36,420 plants with a combined street value of up to $109
million. And with the prime harvesting months of September and
October ahead, they expect to beat the county's record of 40,000
plants found by the end of the year, a combined value up to $120 million.

Those illicit millions pose a host of problems for the county.
Sheriff's deputies, local police and other law enforcers must divert
their attention from other urgent crimes to play a sometimes deadly
game of cops-and-growers. And these aren't flower-power farmers
growing a few stalks hydroponically for personal toking. They're
organized criminal gangs -- some with deep roots in Mexico -- and pot
helps fund their violence. Their clandestine plantations -- with
individual plants that would tower over Shaquille O'Neal -- grow in
valleys and ravines across the county. They are guarded by booby
traps the Viet Cong would be proud to deploy. And watched over by
"mopes" -- low-level field hands hired by crime lords to monitor
their money crop.

To be sure, not everyone in the county views marijuana farming as a
problem. A tiny but growing minority believes that law enforcement
funds could be much better spent on what they regard as serious
crimes -- not on a victimless personal choice. They point to such
states as Oregon and Alaska, where pot possession and use are rarely
enforced misdemeanors, as examples of how a more tolerant approach
can work. Decriminalization advocates also point to Prop 215, the
"medical marijuana" law, as a rational alternative to busts and bans.

Pot Replaces Meth

It was only a few years ago that meth dominated the county's drug
culture. Officials believe production of that drug in the county is
dropping, thanks in part to federal controls on Ephedrine and other
substances used in the drug's production. However, pot growers are
now producing more potent forms of marijuana containing increased
levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the plant's primary active ingredient.

Marijuana growers are trying to harvest larger crops, using more
elaborate techniques than ever before. In July, the Merced
Multi-Agency Narcotics Task Force discovered more than 19,000 plants
in a 100-acre cornfield near Planada. Officers said the operation,
valued at $76 million, was one of the most sophisticated they had
ever seen. The marijuana plants were strategically positioned beside
each cornstalk with irrigation drip-lines feeding the individual
plants. One member of the task force noted that the plants were so
well hidden, even an airplane would have had a tough time spotting
them. "There are a lot more plants being grown out there," said Neil
Compston, task force commander of the Merced Multi-Agency Narcotics Task Force.

Compston said more growers are cloning female plants, which produce
the valuable buds with higher THC levels, in order to yield a product
that will be more profitable on the street. "They are basically
making hybrid plants," Compston said.

Most marijuana plants are valued at $1,000 to $3,000 per plant, based
on the measurement that an average plant will yield one pound of
finished product per season, according to Merced County Sheriff's
Detective Scott Dover. With the newer varieties' higher THC content,
however, Dover said it's not uncommon to find a single plant priced
up to $5,000.

A New Business Model for Growers

Merced County is not the only area that is seeing an increase in
marijuana output -- and like any business, drug cartels are changing
their business model to boost their bottom line. Marijuana
cultivation nationwide has increased sharply since 2000, as more drug
trafficking organizations relocated their operations from Mexico to
the United States and Canada, according to the 2007 Domestic Cannabis
Cultivation Assessment produced by the Department of Justice's
National Drug Intelligence Center.

The report states those organizations are shifting their operations
to reduce the risk of getting busted at the border and to gain direct
access to local drug markets -- all while achieving higher profit
margins for domestically produced, higher-grade marijuana. Indoor
hydroponic marijuana operations are spreading in the U.S. as criminal
groups try to reduce their risk of detection, according to the
federal report. Marijuana grown indoors is also said to be of a
higher potency and is more expensive on the streets.

Over the years, Compston, a former assistant regional operations
commander with the state's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting
(CAMP), has seen grass grow high on the list of law enforcement
priorities. And the growers have responded just as aggressively.
Compston recalls that one of his fellow officers was wounded after
being shot by a gunman guarding a marijuana plantation during a raid
in Santa Clara County. Officers killed that gunman, but a second was
able to escape.

Just last Tuesday, shots rang out in Sequoia National Park when park
rangers in a helicopter were fired on by possible pot growers during
a raid on a marijuana garden in the mountains of Tulare County. That
raid yielded about 5,000 plants.

Still, it's extremely rare and difficult for law enforcement to bust
the drug lords responsible for funding the large growing operations.
Often, even the growers themselves do not know who is funding an
illegal cultivation. "(The mopes) do all the work and take all the
risk," said Merced Police Sgt. Rod Dash, a former task force member.

Members of the task force say the pot growers' handiwork includes
elaborate tunnel systems dug in the thick vegetation and bushes
surrounding the plantation, as well as booby traps that use razor
blades tied to branches, fish hooks and trip wires. The traps are
employed to ward off both law enforcement and "pot pirates" -- people
who sneak onto a plantation to steal marijuana.

Some growers are known to hike miles for days on foot, carrying heavy
equipment into remote locations often readily accessible to law
enforcement only by helicopter. Compston said the gunmen paid by the
drug lords are armed with assault rifles -- sometimes with more
firepower than the guns used by the task force. "You're going into
the unknown. A lot of these gardens are really huge," Compston said.
"You always have a potential for ambush."

While Mexican cartels are said to be behind many of the illegal
marijuana grows, Compston said a wide range of gangs and criminal
syndicates with members from nearly every nationality and ethnic
background are also involved. White criminal groups are the main
indoor producers of marijuana in the U.S., while domestic marijuana
cultivation by Asian growers at indoor locations is also increasing,
according to the NDIC's Domestic Cannabis Cultivation Assessment
2007. "I don't want to single out one group. They are all doing it in
different ways," Compston said.

Some Want a Kinder, Gentler Strategy

Some county residents suggest that law enforcement's concern about
the amount of marijuana being grown in Merced County is overblown.
They believe legalizing it would eventually remove the hegemony of
the criminal organizations over the industry.

James "Lex" Buford, former 19th Congressional District Democratic
candidate and owner of the Strawberry Alarm Clock smoke shops in
Merced and Madera, believes marijuana should be decriminalized, taxed
and licensed like tobacco and alcohol -- a move he believes would
free the marijuana industry, overnight, from the tentacles of
organized crime. "From the professional end, (the cartels) don't want
it legalized. It would make them have to compete against legitimate
businesses," Buford said.

In 1992, Buford, a 53-year-old Madera resident, was acquitted of a
marijuana possession-for-sale charge in Madera County after a judge
threw out the case for lack of evidence. Buford believes the millions
in federal and state dollars that go toward eradicating marijuana
plantations and arresting perpetrators could go toward more
productive uses. "Do you want to put a guy who uses marijuana in
prison for $40,000 a year and keep that man in prison? As taxpayers,
what are we getting out of that? Nothing," Buford said.

Last year, Lake County ranked first in California for plants seized
and destroyed by law enforcement, according to data from the Campaign
Against Marijuana Planting. Merced County was not included on CAMP's
2006 list of counties with marijuana plants, since the list only
included plants that were seized by CAMP. Fresno County ranked fourth
on that list, with 102,814 plants destroyed that year, while Mariposa
County was ranked 19th, with 25,663 plants destroyed.

State's Pot Crop Nearly $14 Billion

One-third of the entire nation's marijuana crop blossoms in
California, with an estimated value of $13.8 billion, surpassing the
combined worth of the state's grapes, vegetables and hay, according
to a 2006 report written by marijuana public policy analyst Jon
Gettman. Gettman, whose study suggests that marijuana is also the
country's No. 1 cash crop, supports removing marijuana from the
federal list of Schedule 1 drugs, which includes heroin and LSD
(Schedule 1 drugs are determined by the federal government to have a
high potential for abuse and no legitimate medicinal value).

Nationwide, some 180,000 people are serving prison sentences for
marijuana-related crimes, according to the Department of Justice.

An analysis of FBI data by the Sentencing Project estimates that the
U.S. spends around $35 billion a year on drug enforcement -- $4
billion of which is spent prosecuting marijuana crimes.

The annual budget of Merced's Multi-Agency Narcotics Task Force is
$85,000. The task force is composed of six officers and a sergeant
from the California Department of Justice, Merced Police Department,
Merced Sheriff's Department, Los Banos Police Department, Atwater
Police Department and the California Highway Patrol.

While pot growers may be getting better at hiding their crop, Sheriff
Mark Pazin said local law enforcement in recent years has become
better equipped to spot the illegal plantations. For example, in 2003
the department bought its first Cessna U206 Super Sky Wagon airplane
to help spot outdoor marijuana fields from the sky. Since then, the
department has built a fleet of three fixed-wing aircraft.

He said the county has also been successful in obtaining several
state and federal grants to help combat illegal marijuana
cultivators. Since 2003, the sheriff's department has received
$85,000 in state and federal grants to specifically target illegal
marijuana. The department is also on track this year to receive a
$30,000 federal grant to target marijuana, Dover said.

Although Pazin did not give a specific price tag for the county's
total efforts to fight marijuana and illegal drugs, he said it
encompasses "hundreds of thousands" in local, state and federal
dollars for investigations alone. "And then when you get into the
cost of prosecuting these folks, it's a large sum of money," Pazin said.

Sheriff Opposes 'Medical Marijuana'

Not surprisingly, Pazin is a staunch opponent of legalizing marijuana
- -- and believes criminals would still find alternate ways to exploit
the illegal drug industry if it were legalized. "The bottom line is
marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine ... it is still illegal," Pazin
said. "It's still a carcinogen introduced into the system and it is
going to attack the human body."

Law enforcement officials like Pazin also have been critical of
Proposition 215, a 1996 state voter-approved measure known as the
Compassionate Use Act. Prop. 215 made it legal for residents with a
state identification card (which is administered by counties) to
possess and cultivate medical marijuana under certain guidelines.

However, Prop. 215 still conflicts with federal law, which does not
allow for the use of medical marijuana. Merced County initially
challenged the law in court -- only to have its challenge rejected by
a state judge in December.

Under Prop. 215 there is currently no state regulation for the
cultivation of medical marijuana -- and how many plants a patient can
own is left up to local jurisdictions. In Merced County, a patient
with a medical marijuana card (which costs $225) is allowed to own
six mature plants and 12 immature plants, in addition to a half-pound
of finished product.

The amount of marijuana that a patient can own can varies per
jurisdiction. For example, Sonoma County allows possession of three
pounds of marijuana and allows cultivation of up to 99 plants,
according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Some Mercedians Favor Prop 215

Charles Igou, a 73-year-old Merced resident, Air Force veteran and
medical marijuana user, said law enforcement's hoopla over marijuana
has led to the ostracizing of legitimate users. Igou and his son
Jeremy were busted about two years ago for cultivating an indoor grow
encompassing 600 marijuana plants, "They treat us like we're these
big gangsters," Igou said.

As for his arrest, Igou said he was only producing the marijuana to
help medical marijuana users like himself. Igou, who holds a medical
marijuana card, said marijuana helps relieve his chronic pain -- some
of which is from injuries he accumulated while he was in the
military. He began smoking pot a few years ago. "For me to even smoke
it was a big deal," he said.

In addition to his physical pain, Igou said he is also suffering
emotionally because of his son's situation. While Igou spent two days
in jail and was given a four-month work furlough for his offense, his
son was given a stiffer sentence because police said he was also
found with methamphetamine. He is serving his time at a state prison
in Susanville. "People need medical help. They don't need
incarceration," Igou lamented. "This incarceration thing is ruining
the lives of young people."

Grant Wilson, 51, legally owns six medical marijuana plants to treat
cirrhosis of the liver and Hepatitis C. He claims he has also been
unfairly targeted by law enforcement, arrested twice by Merced Police
after marijuana plants were discovered growing in his home. He filed
a lawsuit against the department that is pending. "They are putting
us in the same category (as criminals)," Wilson said. "They could
take that money and create jobs."

Agent Paul Johnson, a member of the multi-agency task force, said the
task force generally will not bother medical marijuana users --
unless they are in possession of plants or finished product that
exceeds local law. "If they are in compliance, we leave," Johnson
said. "A guy that's growing 50 plants is not growing them for himself."

Pazin and Johnson take issue with what they consider to be an
excessive number of people who are allowed to use medical marijuana
under Prop. 215. While Pazin said he is not opposed to medical
marijuana for individuals with terminal diseases such as cancer, he
believes the law has allowed individuals who don't necessarily need
marijuana to grow and use it under the guise of medical necessity.
"If someone has a bad day, they want to self-medicate with
marijuana," Pazin said. "If an individual has a sore back or
something, they want marijuana."

Buford said he disagrees -- and that individuals with a medical
marijuana ID card should not be forced into explaining why or how
they got the card. "Whether I use it for cancer, intense pain or just
to wind down and relax, that's between patients and their doctor," he said

Pazin said he's also aghast over the fact that while state law makes
it a crime for anyone under the age of 18 to buy cigarettes, there
are no restrictions under Prop. 215 that prevent a minor from
obtaining a medical marijuana card -- a concern that has been echoed
by others in law enforcement like Anaheim Police Chief John Welter.
Johnson said he recently came across a 14-year-old boy who was able
to obtain a medical marijuana card from another county. "He can't buy
cigarettes and a lighter, but he can buy marijuana? What's up with
that?" Johnson asked. "To me, (Prop. 215) is a joke. They are abusing
that law so bad."

How Much Grass Is Growing?

With the ever-increasing challenges in eradicating illegal marijuana,
Pazin said he's optimistic that the efforts of law enforcement are
paying off in Merced County.

Still, he and others admit that they have no idea how much illegal
marijuana in the county has yet to be discovered. "If we find it, we
bust it -- but there is just no way of knowing how much we're
missing," Dover said. "We would have to make a lot of guesses."

Compston said he would not be surprised if three times the amount of
marijuana that is destroyed has yet to be discovered by law
enforcement. "But I really don't know," he said.

Like so much else about this five-leaf plant, the answer is up in smoke.