'POT' BOILS OVER

Niagara Falls Has Experienced New Highs In Marijuana Trafficking Over The
Past Five Years

NIAGARA FALLS - Marijuana is making a comeback in Niagara Falls.

The drug of choice for the 1960s counterculture appears to be reaching new
highs in popularity and potency here over the past few years, according to
law enforcement officials.

"Based on what we are seeing from investigations, talking to people on the
streets and what we are hearing from informants, I believe more (marijuana)
is being sold and more is being brought into the city" than there has been
in the past, said Capt. Morris Shamrock, Narcotics Intelligence Division
commander.

Felony marijuana arrests are up in the past year. City narcotics detectives
had 15 such arrests last year and have already had five such arrests in
2002. Police confiscated 126 pounds of marijuana last year, more than local
police have seen in the past several years.

"In my opinion, it's mushroomed," Niagara County Drug Task Force chief
Craig Harmon said of the apparent influx and street availability of the
drug in the past five years.

Theories abound about the apparent growth in pot's popularity. Area police
officials blame the alleged increase in marijuana trafficking on the
promise of high profits for drug dealers and the low risk of jail time for
those who get caught selling it.

"There seems to be more houses in neighborhoods that are selling it,"
Shamrock said. "Before they were always talking strictly crack cocaine. But
now we are hearing that this individual and that individual are doing
marijuana, too. It's a profitable business."

Marijuana is also keeping U.S. customs agents busy.

Michael N. Comerford, chief inspector for the Customs Bureau's
Anti-Smuggling Unit in this area, said federal agents have seized 572
pounds of marijuana at the four international bridges here and in Buffalo
from October 2001 through January compared with 67 pounds during the same
period a year ago. But Comerford said he doesn't believe smugglers are
actually moving more of their product.

"I think the number of seizures have increased since (Sept. 11) because
we've been at Alert Level 1. We've been given more resources and are doing
significantly more intensive inspections (of vehicles entering the
country)," Comerford said.

And while they can't specifically address the Niagara Falls area, officials
for the National Drug Intelligence Center, a branch of the U.S. Justice
Department, said marijuana use has been up nationally over the past five to
10 years. And it's possible the supply of marijuana in the Buffalo-Niagara
area has increased because those cities are on the border with Canada,
where a lot of new, high-tech marijuana is being grown and smuggled into
the United States.

While there is no scientific way to quantify how much marijuana is being
shipped into the area and how much is being sold on the streets - "Drug
dealers don't supply us with annual reports," one center official quipped -
there are many explanations for the perceived rise in the trade in this area.

Detective Lt. John Chella said the marijuana represents a literal "pot of
gold" for drug distributors and dealers compared with the low risk of
punishment they may face from the courts.

"It's a cash crop. The profits are high, and the risks of a criminal
penalty are low if you get caught," Chella said.

Under state law, a person arrested for having more than 4 ounces of cocaine
would be charged with an A felony, the most severe charge possible, and
could receive a prison sentence ranging from 15 to 25 years on a conviction.

The state's top charge for marijuana possession is a C felony, which is
lodged against people possessing more than 10 pounds of the drug. A
conviction on that felony could merit anywhere, depending on the case, from
one to three years in jail or five to 15 years, Niagara County District
Attorney Matthew J. Murphy III said.

"The problem is that marijuana cases are very expensive because you need to
buy a significant amount" before you stand a chance of sending someone to
jail for a long period of time, Harmon said.

Harmon said police agencies can't afford to spend a lot of money on a
marijuana case "unless there's a good chance of success at the end."

Shamrock recounted two events his detectives were involved in over the past
several months to demonstrate what a good business opportunity marijuana
represents for drug dealers and how much more potent the drug is now.

When police arrested one dealer in August, they found 56 pounds of
marijuana in the house, $15,000 cash in his pocket and another $5,000 lying
around in the house.

"It is our opinion he was (selling) a minimum of 50 pounds of that a week,"
Shamrock said. "Now you tell me if that's a profitable business or not."

As for the potency of today's cannabis crop: "We had one case where
Detective (John) Galie made a marijuana arrest at the Rainbow Bridge and
the guy started crying. When John assured him everything would be OK and
he'd be able to get out of jail on bail, the guy told him, "I'm not crying
for that.' He said he was crying because "It's the finest marijuana I've
ever had in my life.' He was sad because he was losing it."

Shamrock said he has had several successful investigations into marijuana
dealing over the past six months, which could have an impact on the drug
trade, depending on how prosecutors and the courts dispose of the cases. He
said those decisions should send a message one way or the other.

"It's my feeling that it's a perception of the drug players on the street
that marijuana is a low priority, not just with the police but with the
district attorney's office and the courts and even the average citizen," he
said.

"And when it becomes a low priority with us, they feel we are not going to
invest the man-hours and the time to do the investigations. To them, this
situation becomes a business opportunity. For their money, it's a low risk
for big profits. Now, if the police are willing to dedicate the time to do
it and (dealers) are caught, they still will consider what the district
attorney's position is on plea bargaining on the charges. And if they go to
trial and are convicted or plead guilty, they consider what is the court's
opinion on sentencing. If they feel they're just going to get a slap on the
wrist, it's worth doing business. They know the law, they know the
penalties and they are aware of what type of plea bargains are going down
and what kind of sentences are being handed out."

Shamrock also said that drug dealers are encouraged if public opinion holds
that a crime is not bad because, "it's just marijuana. Does the average
citizen feel marijuana is a big no-no crime against society? Probably not,"
Shamrock said, noting that that attitude must have some impact on how
justice is meted out.

"We are trying to address this by focusing on the guy handling large
quantities - 50, 60, 70 pounds - because we feel he is responsible for
operating three or four different houses within the city," Shamrock said.

By focusing on such local dealers, Shamrock said narcotics detectives not
only hope to arrest them but also eliminate all the people working for them
in different places by cutting off their marijuana supply and, as a
consequence, close down the drug houses they've been running.