GREEN PLAGUE: POT BUSTS ON RISE

Upswing in Pot Production Frustrates North Coast Officials

Marijuana cultivation is exploding on the North Coast, fueling an
illicit multi-billion-dollar statewide business and frustrating local
lawmakers in a corner of California where about a third of the
state's pot is grown.

In Mendocino County, a state leader in pot production, the number of
plants seized during year-round eradication efforts has nearly
doubled in the past five years, from 120,930 to 227,019. Law
enforcement officials said the amount being grown could be 10 times greater.

"It's like watching a green plague spread over the county," said Bob
Nishiyama, head of the Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force.

The steady growth of pot gardens and the failure to stop it prompted
Mendocino County supervisors last week to send a letter demanding
action from Washington. Four of five supervisors agreed the war on
marijuana has been lost and said it's time to legalize it. They urged
the government to regulate marijuana as it does alcohol and reap the
benefits of a cash crop that is now untaxed.

Lawmakers in neighboring Sonoma and Lake counties said they share the
concern but differ on what should be done.

"We have enough trouble dealing with the cost of legal drugs, such as
alcohol," said Sonoma County Supervisor Mike Kerns. "And yet people
say legalize it and tax it. The taxes we get from alcohol don't even
begin to pay for the cost of the problems that are caused by
alcohol," said the former Petaluma police sergeant.

Lake County supervisors said they have no plans to write a letter,
but several believe marijuana eradication efforts have been less than
successful.

Supervisor Ed Robey said he'd entertain the idea of legalization if
there were adequate regulation.

"If a person wants to get marijuana, they can get it. The problem is
this lucrative black market is causing all this crime," he said.

Sonoma, Lake and Humboldt counties all have seen sharp increases in
marijuana production over the past five years.

It is a trend reflected across California, where heavy concentrations
of illegal pot also show up in the Central Valley counties of Tulare
and Fresno. In the past five years, the number of plants seized
during the outdoor marijuana harvest season statewide more than
quadrupled, from 354,202 to 1,675,681.

The potential value of the pot ultimately sold on the street is huge.
Each mature plant is capable of producing a pound or more of
marijuana, currently worth $2,000 to $4,000, according to law enforcement.

The number of plants confiscated year-round in Sonoma County almost
quadrupled, increasing from 34,716 in 2002 to 132,967 in 2006. That
partly reflects an increase in eradication efforts but still
represents an estimated third of what's actually being grown, said
Sgt. Chris Bertoli of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department
Narcotics Task Force.

Lake County in 2006 yielded more marijuana - 314,603 plants - than
any other county during the state's Campaign Against Marijuana
Planting, CAMP, and 17 times more than the same period in 2002. Lake
County's year-round totals were unavailable. CAMP figures include
only plants seized when the state is assisting local agencies in the
late summer and early fall.

Most of the Lake County seizures were on national forest land, where
armed laborers hired by Mexican cartels guard the plants, according
to law enforcement.

Humboldt County's marijuana production also is on the rise.

The number of plants eradicated in Humboldt County has increased from
60,847 in 2002 to 104,606 in 2006. This year, authorities already
have seized 89,645 plants.

But marijuana proponents say marijuana is a natural, harmless,
non-addictive drug and legalizing it would decrease the huge street
value, making its use safer.

Mendocino County supervisors said legalizing and regulating pot could
solve many of its accompanying problems.

It would give officials more control over where it's grown, its
distribution and its use. They said legalizing marijuana should at
least reduce the crime associated with the drug by lessening the
financial incentive.

They also said it would remove the confusion caused by conflicts
between federal law, which prohibits all marijuana use and
possession, and state law, which allows marijuana to be used for
medicinal purposes.

The conflict makes it difficult for police and district attorneys to
enforce the law, which they say is widely abused by people growing
pot for profit.

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office is in the process of creating a
tagging system for medical pot plants to try to bring some control.

Changing limits on the amount of medical marijuana patients are
allowed to possess has also created confusion, said Mendocino County
Sheriff's Lt. Rusty Noe, who until recently headed the county's
three-man Marijuana Eradication Team.

Noe said the best solution to the medical marijuana confusion would
be for the federal government to reclassify marijuana and give it
legal prescription drug status. It then could be grown by federally
authorized farmers and dispensed in pharmacies.

Law enforcement officials acknowledge enforcement efforts have not
stopped the illegal marijuana industry from growing. But they
disagree with Mendocino County supervisors who say the fight is lost.

"It's a silly idea. Have we lost the war on drunk driving, rapes and
homicides?" asked Sgt. Wayne Hanson, who oversees Humboldt's
marijuana eradication program. "We can't throw in the flag."

In Sonoma County, Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Valerie Brown said
she doesn't see the issue of legalization coming before the board,
which has grappled with regulating medical marijuana dispensaries,
but has not dealt with legalization.

Brown said Mendocino County is much different because marijuana is a
big part of its economy and difficult to control.

"I'm looking at a system of priorities we have to deal with.
Legalization of marijuana is way down at the bottom of my list," she said.

Sonoma County Supervisor Paul Kelley doesn't support legalizing
marijuana, saying, pot "negatively affects people's lives in some cases."

Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said he could support
legalization, but only "if every federal and state dollar we
currently spend on eradicating marijuana could be spent on fighting
methamphetamine."

Mendocino County District Attorney Meredith Lintott said she does not
support legalization.

"It is the position of the district attorney to enforce, not make
laws," she said.

The difficulties of prosecution could be solved by state officials
setting statewide regulations for medical marijuana use, she said.

Almost everyone involved in dealing with marijuana, its sale, its
enforcement and even its legalization agrees that the size of the
crop and the social demand is huge and apparently growing.

In Humboldt County, for example, the confiscated plants account for
only about 5 percent of what's being grown, said Hanson, whose job it
to try to wipe out illegal production.

"It's like trying to control Baghdad," he said.