INSIDE DOPE ON CANNABIS

Indoor Marijuana Farming Becoming More Widespread

From California to Connecticut, marijuana plants are budding behind
a veil of suburban normalcy.

Protected from neighbors, insects and weather, the indoor pot is
flourishing among humidifiers, high-watt lamps and ventilation
systems that filter and disperse the telling aroma.

In the last several months in the Los Angeles area, authorities
raided several upscale homes and found marijuana "grows" valued at a
total of about $50 million. Similar operations also were uncovered
recently in Georgia and New Hampshire. In Connecticut in 2004, police
seized 1,200 plants valued at $500,000 from swanky homes in
Southington and Burlington.

Legalization advocates say there's a lot more indoor weed the cops
don't know about, both in large grows and clusters of plants tucked
into back rooms. And all signs, they say, show an upward trend in
housing the nation's most popular illegal drug.

"It's a straight-up curve," said Allen St. Pierre, spokesman for the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.

Reasons for the move indoors, according to a variety of sources and
published reports, include the lesser chance of getting caught or
having plants stolen; tighter borders since Sept. 11, 2001, that are
squeezing imports from Mexico and Canada; the ability to grow
high-quality marijuana in a controlled environment; the reluctance of
some smokers to buy pot from dealers; the wide array of seeds
available, particularly from the Netherlands and Canada; and the ease
and low cost of setting up an indoor greenhouse for personal use or sales.

Since 2001, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration,
annual seizures of indoor marijuana plants nationally increased from
236,000 to 401,000 last year. In Connecticut, state police spokesman
Lt. J. Paul Vance said police have seen more indoor pot operations,
and the DEA's 2007 fact sheet for Connecticut says, "An increase in
sophisticated indoor hydroponic marijuana growth sites have been
revealed around the state in recent years."

Hydroponics involves growing plants without soil, either in
nutrient-enriched water or inert material such as sand. It is the
preferred method of many marijuana growers, and the materials are
readily available at garden centers and online. Plug "hydroponics" or
"indoor marijuana" into a computer search engine, and a dazzling
array of products and how-to sites appears.

Canada-based BC Northern Lights, for example, sells hydroponically
equipped "grow boxes" - self-contained appliances that include
lights, ventilation systems and filters to control odor. In 2003, the
company sold 108 units to New England residents, owner Tarren Wolfe
wrote in an e-mail. Last year, it sold 202 units to people in this
region. (Wolfe says her company does not sell its products as
marijuana growers. But its name, Northern Lights, also is the name of
a strain of marijuana.)

BC Northern Lights' "Bloom Box" was selling recently online for about
$3,200, but an initial outlay of only $200 for essential lights and
other equipment will produce a few high-quality plants, said Jorge
Cervantes, who writes about marijuana cultivation for High Times
magazine. Seeds are available through websites such as
www.dutch-seeds.com. A packet of 15 Northern Lights No. 5 X Haze
seeds sells for $182.98, while 10 Skunk Red Hair seeds go for $33.39,
according to the website.

Indoor plants can be harvested every three months or so, and while
average, seed-containing marijuana from Mexico sells for $150 to $200
an ounce in this area, seedless varieties that a knowledgeable person
can grow indoors will fetch up to $500 an ounce. An indoor grower
with little more than a back bedroom dedicated to marijuana can make
$50,000 to $70,000 a year.

But anyone tempted to start their own plants should realize that
possessing marijuana and its seeds is illegal in Connecticut, a first
offense punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $2,000 fine for
more than 4 ounces. Smaller amounts can get you one year in prison
and a $1,000 fine.

Large "grows" also can attract unwanted attention from serious
criminals. Huge busts of indoor grows in the last year in California,
New Hampshire and Florida were all linked to Vietnamese organized
crime, according to the DEA.

"It's like a pot of gold sitting in those houses, and people are
going to do whatever it takes to get their hands on it," a California
state drug enforcement officer told the Los Angeles Times recently.
"There's already been some takeover robberies of indoor grows, some
that gets reported, some that does not."

Also, some people running large indoor marijuana operations have
bypassed home electrical meters, attempting to hide the extra juice
required for 1,000-watt metal halide lamps and other equipment. In
some cases, those farms were exposed after electrical fires, said
Agent Anthony Pettigrew, the DEA's New England spokesman.

That's how police say they uncovered suburban pot operations in
Southington and Burlington in 2004. Police were summoned to the
$440,000 Southington home after neighbors smelled smoke from an
electrical fire. Inside, the scene was typical of the modern
commercial suburban grow. The only furniture consisted of two
mattresses on the floor. A forest of potted marijuana plants under
grow lights, drip irrigation tubes and ventilation ducts occupied the
rest of the space.

Smaller grows are much harder to find. They don't use a noticeably
large amount of electricity and can be housed in spaces as small as a
coat closet. Also, modern home growers - far better informed and
equipped than most of their counterparts in the 1960s and '70s - can
produce plants with high concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol
(THC), the primary intoxicant in marijuana and hashish, so they don't
need a lot of room.

Also, although possessing marijuana seeds is illegal throughout the
U.S., they're small and are shipped in nondescript packages, so most
orders get through, according to legalization advocates.

But even small growers can get caught. It's not uncommon for police
called to domestic fights or other crimes to find marijuana plants.

"Usually we get sent to a place on some other call," West Hartford
Police Chief James Strillacci said.

He acknowledged that's probably only a small portion of what's
growing behind shaded windows and locked doors.

"Whatever we know about," he said, "odds are there's a lot more we
don't know about."