ILLEGAL CROP CREEPS INTO THE SUBURBS

Tighter Border Security Leads to More Domestic Marijuana
Cultivation

BARRINGTON, Ill. -- This town of 10,000 in the northwest Chicago
suburbs is home to upscale subdivisions, one of the wealthiest ZIP
codes in the country, and borders a leafy forest preserve popular with
bird-watchers, hikers and runners. So to many people it was a shock
when federal and state agents raided the preserve two weeks ago and
eradicated 18 fields of about 60,000 marijuana plants, some of them 8
feet tall.

Marijuana crops on public land are old news in Appalachia and the
Pacific Northwest. Closer to home, South Carolina authorities seized
more than 30,000 marijuana plants in two July busts near Charlotte --
more than they found in the entire state in all of 2006.

Drug enforcement agents and drug policy analysts say tighter security
along the U.S.-Mexico border since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,
2001, has led to an increase in domestic marijuana cultivation closer
to urban areas. "Obviously, it saves the drug organizations money when
they can grow it here in the U.S., instead of smuggling it across the
border," said Joanna Zoltay, spokeswoman for the Chicago field
division of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

"Since 9-11, the border is definitely tighter. There have always been
crops grown on public land, but since 9-11, there's been a steady
increase." Lloyd Easterling, acting assistant chief of the U.S. Border
Patrol, said 145,438 pounds of marijuana were seized at the border
during the fiscal year that ended June 30, up from 138,822 pounds in
the previous year. The deployment of National Guard troops to the
border in Operation Jump Start has put pressure on drug smugglers, he
said.