DESPITE CAMP NUMBERS, HUMBOLDT STILL THE GREENEST

EUREKA -- Humboldt County may still be the tops in marijuana growing, with
area growers simply moving their gardens indoors to avoid the watchful eyes
of helicopters.

An account in Wednesday's Times-Standard may have given the impression the
county was not among the leaders. It, in fact, still is.

A press release from the State Attorney General's Office said Campaign
Against Marijuana Planting teams seized just 12,224 plants in Humboldt
County during the 2001 growing season. That number represents a big decline
from previous years, and put the county in eighth place among 23 counties
for outdoor marijuana seizures.

Sgt. Wayne Hanson of the Sheriff's Drug Enforcement Unit said Campaign
Against Marijuana Planting teams may have pulled less out of the ground in
Humboldt County, but the plants are still here.

"Marijuana is an epidemic in Humboldt County," he said, adding that the
county leads the state in indoor marijuana busts.

Since the beginning of the year, authorities have seized 50,000 indoor
marijuana plants in Humboldt County, Hanson said. The second highest total
is in Mendocino County with 33,000. After that, the numbers fall off
dramatically. Los Angeles County, for example, seized only 143 indoor plants.

"These 50,000 are just the tip of an iceberg," Hanson said.

Authorities have also seized $350,000 in cash this year.

Those numbers mean the "Emerald Triangle" is still on or near the top of
the heap for marijuana production, Hanson said.

Hanson said fewer plants were found outdoors because CAMP took some of its
resources out of the county to fight a burgeoning cultivation problem in
the Central Valley. Normally, Humboldt County would have CAMP helicopters
in the skies for eight weeks, but this year CAMP was in the air for only 16
days.

Since the teams were here less, they found less.

Marijuana growers have also evolved, Hanson said, and brought their
operations indoors. They can reap several crops a year that way, as opposed
to one crop that can be grown outside, Hanson said.

Moving gardens inside presents a greater risk to the public, Hanson said.
Indoor operations are an environmental danger because growers are seldom
careful with how they dispose of generator fuel and other hazardous materials.

In addition, the heavy use of generators can result in fires that threaten
the homes of growers, as well as neighboring structures.