POT POLICE SEE SHIFT TO LARGE PLANTATIONS

California authorities this year have seized record amounts of marijuana
crops growing on pot farms in all corners of the state, but Silicon Valley
apparently is no longer a haven for the secret harvests.

The state's annual Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, or CAMP, netted
marijuana plants worth an estimated $1.9 billion, a dramatic jump over past
years that reflects what law enforcement officials say are increasingly
aggressive Mexican drug cartels growing the crop in secluded public areas
such as the Sequoia National Forest.

``This shows the skyrocketing numbers of large plantations,'' Attorney
General Bill Lockyer said during a news conference in San Jose.

Santa Clara County, where authorities two years ago found more pot growing
than just about anywhere in California, was well down the list of trouble
spots during this pot season. Tulare County, the target earlier this month
of a major raid in the steep, remote hills of an Indian reservation, topped
the state's list this year, with more than 140,000 pot plants confiscated.

Overall, the CAMP program seized more than 466,000 plants, 100,000 more
than last year. Authorities seized more than 6,000 plants each in Santa
Cruz and Monterey counties, more than 5,000 in Santa Clara, and more than
1,500 in San Mateo.

California's traditional pot-growing region of Humboldt, Trinity and
Mendocino counties, known as the ``Emerald Triangle,'' is no longer the
only favored spot of pot growers, at least on an annual basis. While
Mendocino was third in pot seizures, large pot farms are now dotting other
counties such as Shasta, Kern and even Napa's wine country.

In a new trend, 75 percent of pot farms found by state authorities were on
public lands, as marijuana growers have turned to planting their weed in
forests meant for hikers and campers.

Officials say Mexican drug organizations, which in the past smuggled pot
into the United States from Mexico, are finding it easier to plant in the
rich soil of California's most remote regions. And they are increasingly
guarding the farms with armed lookouts.

``We're becoming a source country for high-grade marijuana,'' said Dave
Tresmontan, acting chief of California's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement.

Lockyer trumpeted the big haul in this year's CAMP program, even though he
also has been at the forefront in California of supporting the
medicinal-marijuana movement. He has criticized federal raids such as one
last year on a Santa Cruz medicinal pot cooperative.

Lockyer said he makes a distinction between cracking down on large
commercial pot growers and those who may be cultivating small amounts for
medicinal use.

``I distinguish between that which is legal and medically needed, and the
large narco-trafficking rings,'' he said.