DROUGHT HAS LITTLE EFFECT ON POT CROPS

Plants Prove Hearty, Surpassing Yields of State's Other Crops

Colorado's marijuana crop isn't suffering in the drought as much as corn,
wheat and other legal crops, law enforcement officials say.

"Marijuana is a very drought-tolerant plant. It's a weed, and they grow
anywhere," said Bill Weinman, supervisory special agent with the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Agency in Denver.

Last year, agents found about 40,000 cultivated plants during an annual
federal and county search. Halfway through this year's search, the haul is
about average, including a 10,300-plant bust near Gateway, southwest of
Grand Junction.

Weinman said the marijuana harvest runs through October and could top last
year's yield - unlike drought-stricken legal crops.

Wheat and corn were off by at least a third this year, said Bob McLavey of
the Colorado Department of Agriculture.

"I've been with the department for 15 years, and it's the worst year we've
experienced," McLavey said. "We lost $120 million in wheat alone because of
the drought."

Finding the marijuana crop is the hardest part, but lawmen have been lucky
this year.

Some fishermen stumbled on plants - and three men, including one with a gun
- - near Gateway in July, Weinman said. The fishermen fled, shots were fired
in their direction and authorities were notified. The crop was valued at
more than $20 million.

"They had an irrigation system that worked well," said David Moore of the
Bureau of Land Management. There have been no arrests because the elaborate
campsite was abandoned.

Besides the Gateway bust, county and federal officials have found more than
300 plants across western Colorado, all served by handmade irrigation
systems that pull water from springs and streams.

"We'll find some more in hunting season. Hunters stumble on it when they're
out there," said Glen Pickett of the U.S. Forest Service.

"Anytime we find someone has planted more than a couple of plants, it's
more than personal use," Pickett said. "And anytime we find who planted it,
we prosecute."

Nearly every year, the majority of the marijuana crop turns up in eastern
Colorado, planted among the carefully watered corn, sunflowers and other
irrigated crops. The growing season is longer, and cornfields host few
visitors.

And there's always lots of ditch weed - uncultivated marijuana. In 2001,
the DEA reported finding 134,000 ditch-weed plants, mostly with a low drug
content. The figure is 23,000 so far this year.