YEARS OF SEIZURES YIELD POT, BUT FEW CLUES

Master Sgt. Anna Segura-Abernathy recalls her days patrolling Interstate
80, speculating with other Illinois state troopers about the next big
marijuana bust.

Is it coming in a rental truck?

Does a 24-hour ride from Arizona mean it will hit the Quad-Cities by
mid-morning?

Will it be a young couple?

Sixteen years in uniform gave her the answer.

"Every time we think we've got the magic wand, we'd be proven wrong," said
the veteran trooper, now working at state police headquarters in Springfield.

The latest Interstate 80 seizure of 2,897 lbs. is nearly half what troopers
and deputies in two states have pulled off the interstate since 1996.

Before Monday, seizures totaled 6,202 lbs., according to Times articles
attributed to state police sources.

Other observations from the stories:

Most of the pot runners are from California and Michigan. Those two states
accounted for 27 of the 59 documented arrests.

About half of the seizures occur in January, February and March, purported
to be shipping season for fall harvests in Mexico. But the biggest Iowa
seizure, 990 lbs., occurred in October.

Day of the week? About a third occurred Tuesdays and Wednesdays. But Iowa
troopers found 160 lbs. in a 33-foot motor home at 6:15 on a Sunday morning.

Type of vehicle? The stats would have you focus on pickups, rental trucks
and vans. But 227 lbs. were found in suitcases in the trunk of a Dodge
Intrepid.

Exceptions become the rule in the drug seizure business. Except in one area.

Twenty-nine of the 57 suspect names in Times archives are Hispanic.
Monday's bust added two more.

There is nowhere near enough information to conclude state and county
police are profiling Hispanic drivers. Recall: 100 percent were in cars
with felony amounts of marijuana.

But it is naive to believe this nation's billion-dollar marijuana business
rides primarily on the backs of Hispanics.

Master Sgt. Segura-Abernathy also offers this view from state police
headquarters: I-80 carries no more or less marijuana than any other major
interstate.

I-80 isn't a pipeline. Everywhere is a pipeline.

(Sidebar to Editorial)

Hazy Math

Reviewing six years of marijuana seizure stories also showed a huge
difference in how police assess the value of the drug.

After a big bust, police typically disclose the total number of pounds
along with a big dollar figure.

Comparing the math shows significant discrepancies.

Monday's estimate of $9 million for 2,897 lbs. works out to $3,107 per lb.,
among the highest in six years of data.

Police seem to most frequently have used $2,500 per lb., but estimates have
ranged from $1,118 to $3,524 per lb.

If it is quality that accounts for the price differences, we should be
impressed this latest bust took the most and the best pot off the streets.