FruityBud
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The Northwest's vast acreage of public land is proving attractive to marijuana growers. And it's big business. Thousands and thousands of plants are being tended by armed drug gangs. Federal and local drug agents are busting many of these outdoor pot operations. But KPLU's Tom Banse reports it's unclear whether this vigorous eradication campaign is having an effect on the weed's price or availability on the street.
Dale Rogers: "This is what the terrain looks like..."
Boise County Sheriff's Department chief deputy Dale Rogers sorts through hundreds of pictures on his laptop. They're from the hidden marijuana gardens he's uncovered this summer.
Tom: "Looks like it's pretty well screened, eh."
Dale Rogers: "Yeah, there's plants right there and right there and there..."
A helicopter on loan from the National Guard helped spot this four thousand plant grow site on federal rangeland... "ten miles from nowhere," as Rogers puts it.
Dale Rogers: "What they like is remote areas that are not frequented by people very much, have water sources, and areas that they can go in and stay two or three months at a time and not really be seen."
Idaho has that in spades, but so do Washington, Oregon, and northern California. Pot growers have snuck onto Indian reservation land too. Plants have also been found this summer between the corn stalks at a Hutterite farm colony and in an irrigated poplar tree farm near Walla Walla.
Dale Rogers: "As you can see on some of these pictures, the amount of stuff we're packing out is huge. I mean, we'll sling 800 pound loads out underneath a Blackhawk helicopter."
Bureau of Land Management special agent Kyle Gandiaga has been all over western Idaho and eastern Oregon cleaning up after marijuana growers. For him, it's more than drug enforcement. He tells of spilled pesticides, poached animals, and creeks diverted into miles of plastic irrigation tubing.
Kyle Gandiaga: "Sure it's my job, but I'm also a public land user. I hunt, fish, hike; love it. It tears me apart to see our lands treated like this."
The Idaho Sheriff's Association says "this is certainly going to be a record year" for outdoor marijuana grows in Idaho. Washington State is on track to match its record set last year. In Oregon, it's shaping up to be its second highest total on record.
It's hard to say if police are finding more marijuana gardens because they're looking harder or because drug gangs are planting more... or both. Mark Thomas is the acting special agent in charge of the Northwest division of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Seattle.
Mark Thomas: "We are seeing a slight trend increase, but some of our trend increase is due to greater efficiencies on the part of law enforcement. If you invest more resources or activities toward a given thing -- crime problem -- you're likely to see certain spikes.
As far as catching the armed pot growers, the cops have had mixed success. When they make arrests, Thomas says the suspects have a consistent profile.
Mark Thomas: "In say Oregon, Washington and Idaho it's principally Mexican-based nationals that are involved in the outdoor grow operations."
Thomas says a high percentage of those arrested are illegal immigrants. Charging papers sometimes mention the lucrative pay garden tenders are promised. That's 200 to 500 dollars per day.
An organization in favor of marijuana legalization contends the threat posed by outdoor grow operations is "overblown." NORML's Washington State chapter director Lee Newbury calls cannabis eradication a futile pursuit.
Lee Newbury: "The more they eradicate the more plants that are going to be planted next year. This is a very viable crop in this state. By police going in and using helicopters at the rate of thousands of dollars per day in fuel costs, plus overtime for these officers that are flying, and everything else, they're basically not gaining any ground and just wasting taxpayer resources."
Newbury is unsure if the high number of raided gardens is having any effect on the price or availability of marijuana on the street. Police sources we asked have not heard of widespread market disruption. This despite the fact that deputies have destroyed more than 800-thousand marijuana plants from outdoor grow sites this year in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
hxxp://tinyurl.com/yje55p3
Dale Rogers: "This is what the terrain looks like..."
Boise County Sheriff's Department chief deputy Dale Rogers sorts through hundreds of pictures on his laptop. They're from the hidden marijuana gardens he's uncovered this summer.
Tom: "Looks like it's pretty well screened, eh."
Dale Rogers: "Yeah, there's plants right there and right there and there..."
A helicopter on loan from the National Guard helped spot this four thousand plant grow site on federal rangeland... "ten miles from nowhere," as Rogers puts it.
Dale Rogers: "What they like is remote areas that are not frequented by people very much, have water sources, and areas that they can go in and stay two or three months at a time and not really be seen."
Idaho has that in spades, but so do Washington, Oregon, and northern California. Pot growers have snuck onto Indian reservation land too. Plants have also been found this summer between the corn stalks at a Hutterite farm colony and in an irrigated poplar tree farm near Walla Walla.
Dale Rogers: "As you can see on some of these pictures, the amount of stuff we're packing out is huge. I mean, we'll sling 800 pound loads out underneath a Blackhawk helicopter."
Bureau of Land Management special agent Kyle Gandiaga has been all over western Idaho and eastern Oregon cleaning up after marijuana growers. For him, it's more than drug enforcement. He tells of spilled pesticides, poached animals, and creeks diverted into miles of plastic irrigation tubing.
Kyle Gandiaga: "Sure it's my job, but I'm also a public land user. I hunt, fish, hike; love it. It tears me apart to see our lands treated like this."
The Idaho Sheriff's Association says "this is certainly going to be a record year" for outdoor marijuana grows in Idaho. Washington State is on track to match its record set last year. In Oregon, it's shaping up to be its second highest total on record.
It's hard to say if police are finding more marijuana gardens because they're looking harder or because drug gangs are planting more... or both. Mark Thomas is the acting special agent in charge of the Northwest division of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Seattle.
Mark Thomas: "We are seeing a slight trend increase, but some of our trend increase is due to greater efficiencies on the part of law enforcement. If you invest more resources or activities toward a given thing -- crime problem -- you're likely to see certain spikes.
As far as catching the armed pot growers, the cops have had mixed success. When they make arrests, Thomas says the suspects have a consistent profile.
Mark Thomas: "In say Oregon, Washington and Idaho it's principally Mexican-based nationals that are involved in the outdoor grow operations."
Thomas says a high percentage of those arrested are illegal immigrants. Charging papers sometimes mention the lucrative pay garden tenders are promised. That's 200 to 500 dollars per day.
An organization in favor of marijuana legalization contends the threat posed by outdoor grow operations is "overblown." NORML's Washington State chapter director Lee Newbury calls cannabis eradication a futile pursuit.
Lee Newbury: "The more they eradicate the more plants that are going to be planted next year. This is a very viable crop in this state. By police going in and using helicopters at the rate of thousands of dollars per day in fuel costs, plus overtime for these officers that are flying, and everything else, they're basically not gaining any ground and just wasting taxpayer resources."
Newbury is unsure if the high number of raided gardens is having any effect on the price or availability of marijuana on the street. Police sources we asked have not heard of widespread market disruption. This despite the fact that deputies have destroyed more than 800-thousand marijuana plants from outdoor grow sites this year in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
hxxp://tinyurl.com/yje55p3
