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US FL: Proposal to Toughen Marijuana Growing Penalties
by Heather Allen, (23 Oct 2007) Sarasota Herald-Tribune Florida
Authorities Say Drug Cultivators Are Keeping Their Crops Small to Avoid Felony Charges
Marijuana cultivators in Southwest Florida know that numbers are a very important component to their business plan.
But instead of focusing on the bottom line, they are planting smaller crops to skirt drug trafficking laws -- and bypass potential prison time.
Law enforcement officials say drug traffickers' savvy has made it harder to prosecute them, contributing to the proliferation of marijuana "grow houses" in the area.
But help in the fight against the facilities may be on the way. The Florida attorney general and two state lawmakers have created legislation to stiffen the penalty for marijuana cultivation, lowering the number of plants needed to charge someone with drug trafficking, a first-degree felony.
The bill also contains penalties for owners of "grow houses" as well as paid caretakers. And it would let detectives videotape and photograph equipment and marijuana plants seized from grow operations and destroy the evidence, rather than storing it until trial.
Lawmakers will not consider the legislation until next spring, but law enforcement officers are already talking about its potential to help their efforts to combat the large-scale drug operations.
"Someone is finally listening to what detectives are saying and what problems they're having," said Kathy Ayers, a detective with the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.
Currently, cultivators often have just under the number of plants needed to charge them with trafficking, reflecting their awareness of state and federal statutes against their trade. As a result, they face lesser charges and, often, a probation sentence.
In Florida, growers can only be hit with a state trafficking charge if they grow 300 or more plants. Federal trafficking laws require 100 or more plants for the same offense.
If the "Marijuana Grow House Eradication Act" passes, the state threshold will be lowered to 25 plants.
Instead of a third-degree felony, growers will face a first-degree felony, which carries at least a three-year sentence.
"The laws right now are inadequate," said Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, who is working with Sen. Steve Oelrich, R-Gainesville, and Rep. Nick Thompson, R-Fort Myers, on the bill.
Ayers said that many of the grow houses busted in Charlotte County had 99 or fewer plants, just under the federal trafficking threshold.
Prosecutors often have no choice but to charge growers with intent to distribute, which often carries a probation sentence with no jail time.
State and federal officials have busted 30 grow houses this year in Lee County alone. There have been another 12 in Sarasota County -- mostly in the city of North Port -- and 11 in Charlotte County. Manatee County Sheriff's Office spokesman Dave Bristow said he could not recall any recent grow house busts there.
Last year, only three were busted in Charlotte County.
The increase has been attributed to a migration of cultivators from Florida's east coast to take advantage of the glut of cheaper housing in a slack real estate market.
"What they're looking for is ... an isolated location in a low-cost market," said Sarasota County Sheriff's Capt. Jeff Bell, head of the special investigations unit. "Those are definitely things that they can find in North Port."
Once inside, cultivators convert the home into a sophisticated growing operation. Some use only the garage, while others even knock down bedroom walls to help grow plants up to 6 feet tall.
Electricity is diverted to bypass the meter, allowing growers to steal thousands of dollars of power monthly for high-watt lights and irrigation systems, both set to timers.
Large fans and several air-conditioning units also counter the heat from the lights.
As law enforcement agencies make more arrests, their evidence rooms have become crammed. In Sarasota County, the Sheriff's Office rents storage units to hold the equipment seized from these operations, said Sarasota County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Jim Minchin, part of an eight-member narcotics task force.
Charlotte County is similarly running out of space, Ayers said.
The proposed law would let detectives use video and photographic evidence of a grow house's contents, along with a sample from each plant.
Marijuana cultivators can fetch between $3,000 to $4,000 a pound on the local wholesale market and upwards of $7,000 in northern markets, such as New York and New Jersey.
"These are very elaborate money-making ventures," said Bell, adding that the operations are "deteriorating our community."
[SIZE=-1]MAP posted-by: Richard Lake[/SIZE]
Pubdate: Tue, 23 Oct 2007
Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2007 Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.heraldtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/398
Author: Heather Allen
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)
by Heather Allen, (23 Oct 2007) Sarasota Herald-Tribune Florida
Authorities Say Drug Cultivators Are Keeping Their Crops Small to Avoid Felony Charges
Marijuana cultivators in Southwest Florida know that numbers are a very important component to their business plan.
But instead of focusing on the bottom line, they are planting smaller crops to skirt drug trafficking laws -- and bypass potential prison time.
Law enforcement officials say drug traffickers' savvy has made it harder to prosecute them, contributing to the proliferation of marijuana "grow houses" in the area.
But help in the fight against the facilities may be on the way. The Florida attorney general and two state lawmakers have created legislation to stiffen the penalty for marijuana cultivation, lowering the number of plants needed to charge someone with drug trafficking, a first-degree felony.
The bill also contains penalties for owners of "grow houses" as well as paid caretakers. And it would let detectives videotape and photograph equipment and marijuana plants seized from grow operations and destroy the evidence, rather than storing it until trial.
Lawmakers will not consider the legislation until next spring, but law enforcement officers are already talking about its potential to help their efforts to combat the large-scale drug operations.
"Someone is finally listening to what detectives are saying and what problems they're having," said Kathy Ayers, a detective with the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.
Currently, cultivators often have just under the number of plants needed to charge them with trafficking, reflecting their awareness of state and federal statutes against their trade. As a result, they face lesser charges and, often, a probation sentence.
In Florida, growers can only be hit with a state trafficking charge if they grow 300 or more plants. Federal trafficking laws require 100 or more plants for the same offense.
If the "Marijuana Grow House Eradication Act" passes, the state threshold will be lowered to 25 plants.
Instead of a third-degree felony, growers will face a first-degree felony, which carries at least a three-year sentence.
"The laws right now are inadequate," said Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, who is working with Sen. Steve Oelrich, R-Gainesville, and Rep. Nick Thompson, R-Fort Myers, on the bill.
Ayers said that many of the grow houses busted in Charlotte County had 99 or fewer plants, just under the federal trafficking threshold.
Prosecutors often have no choice but to charge growers with intent to distribute, which often carries a probation sentence with no jail time.
State and federal officials have busted 30 grow houses this year in Lee County alone. There have been another 12 in Sarasota County -- mostly in the city of North Port -- and 11 in Charlotte County. Manatee County Sheriff's Office spokesman Dave Bristow said he could not recall any recent grow house busts there.
Last year, only three were busted in Charlotte County.
The increase has been attributed to a migration of cultivators from Florida's east coast to take advantage of the glut of cheaper housing in a slack real estate market.
"What they're looking for is ... an isolated location in a low-cost market," said Sarasota County Sheriff's Capt. Jeff Bell, head of the special investigations unit. "Those are definitely things that they can find in North Port."
Once inside, cultivators convert the home into a sophisticated growing operation. Some use only the garage, while others even knock down bedroom walls to help grow plants up to 6 feet tall.
Electricity is diverted to bypass the meter, allowing growers to steal thousands of dollars of power monthly for high-watt lights and irrigation systems, both set to timers.
Large fans and several air-conditioning units also counter the heat from the lights.
As law enforcement agencies make more arrests, their evidence rooms have become crammed. In Sarasota County, the Sheriff's Office rents storage units to hold the equipment seized from these operations, said Sarasota County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Jim Minchin, part of an eight-member narcotics task force.
Charlotte County is similarly running out of space, Ayers said.
The proposed law would let detectives use video and photographic evidence of a grow house's contents, along with a sample from each plant.
Marijuana cultivators can fetch between $3,000 to $4,000 a pound on the local wholesale market and upwards of $7,000 in northern markets, such as New York and New Jersey.
"These are very elaborate money-making ventures," said Bell, adding that the operations are "deteriorating our community."
[SIZE=-1]MAP posted-by: Richard Lake[/SIZE]Pubdate: Tue, 23 Oct 2007
Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2007 Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.heraldtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/398
Author: Heather Allen
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)
