POT: ANTI-CULTIVATION PROGRAM KICKS OFF

SACRAMENTO - Officials just kicked off the California Campaign Against
Marijuana Planting, but authorities in Tulare County beat the start of the
season by eradicating gardens at two locations in the county last week.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer recently announced Tulare County placed fifth
among California counties in plant seizures during the 2002 marijuana
planting season, with a total of 29,271.

Mendocino led with 103,104, followed by Sonoma, at 39,313, Santa Barbara,
32,698, and Tuolumne, 32,698.

"This year, the CAMP team continues its efforts to rid our state of
dangerous commercial grow operations," Lockyer said.

"These illegal gardens are run like multi-national, multi-million dollar
corporations. They are highly organized, efficient businesses that often use
the profits from marijuana cultivation to finance other illegal drug
trafficking operations like methamphetamine," he said.

Under the direction of the California Department of Justice, the program
brings together officers from nearly 70 local, state and federal law
enforcement agencies to locate and eradicate large outdoor marijuana
operations in remote forested areas during the height of harvesting season.

The marijuana growing season starts in mid-April with harvests ending in
late September of early October.

Lockyer said nearly 10,000 plants with a wholesale value reaching $40
million, were eradicated prior to the main harvesting season.

The U.S. Forest Service reported seizing 4,360 plants in an area near Badger
in northern Tulare County last Monday, with more collected the following
day, and Tulare County Sheriff's Department detectives reported seizing
1,065 plants at a location on Dry Creek Road near Lomitas Drive in the
northern portion of the county.

In the 20-year history of the CAMP program, agents have eradicated more than
3 million plants with an estimated wholesale value of $12 billion.

During the 2002 season, program agents seized a record 354,164 plants worth
more than $1.4 billion.

"With each season, we are perfecting techniques to locate and eradicate
large marijuana planting operations, CAMP director Val Jimenez said. "It
isn't that there are more plants out there. We're better at finding the
gardens."

During the past few years, CAMP agents report they are finding many more
illegal gardens on public lands. Last year more than half of the plants
seized were located on national forests and other public recreational areas.

Operations hidden on public lands put California's outdoor enthusiasts in
danger of stumbling upon gardens protected by armed sentries, officials
said.