Hardrock69
01-27-2006, 01:23 PM
Big busts could signal growing pot trend
More, bigger busts could signal trend
BY ALEX FRIEDRICH
Pioneer Press
When narcotics agents raided marijuana-growing operations in St. Paul Park and Forest Lake recently, what they found could be signs of a growing cottage industry.
Investigators say the operations broken up Dec. 21 and Jan. 7 involved sophisticated equipment, hydroponic growing systems and hundredsof plants not exactly the casual sprout or two hidden among the tomato plants.
Busts like those are causing investigators in Washington and Dakota counties to wonder about an upswing. Superior plant stock and more sophisticated growing methods are enabling growers to produce increasingly potent marijuana more efficiently and make more money than ever before as a result.
That means chances are the joint in a teen's pocket blows away anything ever smoked at Woodstock.
"It's far more potent than it was in the 1960s," Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said. "And it's more dangerous."
Statewide production of marijuana appears fairly stable, state and federal drug enforcement officers say. But investigators in Washington and Dakota counties report a boom.
During the late 1990s, Dakota County Sgt. John Grant saw operations that fit into closets producing anywhere from 10 to 50 plants. Now, he said, he sees "warehouses" with hundreds, even thousands, of plants.
Five years ago, deputies would make half-a-dozen busts a year; now they take down one a month, said Grant, the agent in charge of Dakota County's drug task force.
Commander Scott Malinosky, head of investigations at the Washington County Sheriff's Office, said deputies last year seized almost five times the marijuana they did in 2001 172 pounds in 2005, compared with about 35 pounds five years ago. In intervening years, they confiscated at least three times that amount.
"I think we're early on in a trend here," he said.
Why the localized increase? Perhaps it's because suburban Dakota and Washington counties still have fairly rural sections where producers can hide out while staying close to the metropolitan market, some officers said.
Technology helps local producers. Unable to cultivate cannabis plantations like the ones seen in California and Mexico, pot farmers are turning to year-round indoor hydroponic growing systems.
"With the increase in technology, fertilizer and equipment, certainly the ability to have greater yields in smaller areas is there," Malinosky said.
He used to deal with busts of a couple dozen plants years ago. But the Forest Lake operation that authorities busted on Jan. 7 shows what he increasingly encounters.
In a well-kept, one-story ranch house on 202nd Street North, investigators found a half-million dollars in pot about 650 plants. They also found a cultivation system the likes of which Forest Lake Police Chief Clark Quiring had never seen before.
"It was like a little Epcot Center," he said.
More than half the basement was devoted to the plants and support systems. Trays of plants rotated slowly on four 6-foot-tall Ferris-wheel-like machines, all the while getting light from growth lamps as well as regular infusions of purified water and fertilizer.
The automated system had its own generator and carbon-dioxide producer and was fed by a series of pumps and pipes.
In a small room nearby, bunches of baby cannabis plants were in various stages of growth in preparation for the machines.
Usually, Quiring said, producers "just have a kiddie pool with (plants) in it and a light above."
Authorities described a similar large set up last month in St. Paul Park, where they raided three houses and seized a total of more than 2,100 plants.
They also found elaborate growing equipment, including grow lights, watering systems and environmental controls.
With such equipment, producers can produce huge amounts of pot. A hydroponic plant can produce up to a pound of marijuana, authorities say. Growers cultivate hundreds at a time, and with staggered crop cycles can produce six to eight harvests a year.
Such techniques also help produce marijuana with levels of THC the high-inducing chemical in the plant many times higher than normal.
Whereas most marijuana 15 years ago had THC concentrations of 2 percent, some of the new stuff can contain three or four times that. One agent for the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said he has seen some levels in the teens.
Such an intense high is pricey. Whereas marijuana commonly brought in from Mexico sells for less than $1,000 a pound, the same amount of homegrown hydroponic marijuana can bring in $2,000, said Thomas E. Kelly, special agent in charge of the Minneapolis/St. Paul office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
More and more of the strong stuff seems to be showing up in the busts, Malinosky said.
Multiply the price by the thousands of pounds one grower can produce each year, and agents calculate "they're making millions and millions of dollars a year doing this," said Detective Pat Nelson of the Anoka County Sheriff's Office.
But society pays a much greater price, authorities say. Despite the rather harmless image pot may have, they say, it's more carcinogenic than tobacco and psychologically addictive. Officers consider it a "gateway drug" or "stepping stone" to harder drugs.
"The problems in trying to re-create the euphoria (of higher THC levels) are going to be enhanced," said the DEA's Kelly. "The body is getting used to that chemical, and (at some point) you'll need a higher high."
Agents say they're too focused on fighting harder drugs such as methamphetamine and cocaine to concentrate much on pot. They consider pot growers "targets of opportunity" whom they'll go after if they receive tips and other intelligence.
But if the rise continues, Malinosky said, "we could probably use more manpower."
Alex Friedrich can be reached at afriedrich@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-2109
More, bigger busts could signal trend
BY ALEX FRIEDRICH
Pioneer Press
When narcotics agents raided marijuana-growing operations in St. Paul Park and Forest Lake recently, what they found could be signs of a growing cottage industry.
Investigators say the operations broken up Dec. 21 and Jan. 7 involved sophisticated equipment, hydroponic growing systems and hundredsof plants not exactly the casual sprout or two hidden among the tomato plants.
Busts like those are causing investigators in Washington and Dakota counties to wonder about an upswing. Superior plant stock and more sophisticated growing methods are enabling growers to produce increasingly potent marijuana more efficiently and make more money than ever before as a result.
That means chances are the joint in a teen's pocket blows away anything ever smoked at Woodstock.
"It's far more potent than it was in the 1960s," Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said. "And it's more dangerous."
Statewide production of marijuana appears fairly stable, state and federal drug enforcement officers say. But investigators in Washington and Dakota counties report a boom.
During the late 1990s, Dakota County Sgt. John Grant saw operations that fit into closets producing anywhere from 10 to 50 plants. Now, he said, he sees "warehouses" with hundreds, even thousands, of plants.
Five years ago, deputies would make half-a-dozen busts a year; now they take down one a month, said Grant, the agent in charge of Dakota County's drug task force.
Commander Scott Malinosky, head of investigations at the Washington County Sheriff's Office, said deputies last year seized almost five times the marijuana they did in 2001 172 pounds in 2005, compared with about 35 pounds five years ago. In intervening years, they confiscated at least three times that amount.
"I think we're early on in a trend here," he said.
Why the localized increase? Perhaps it's because suburban Dakota and Washington counties still have fairly rural sections where producers can hide out while staying close to the metropolitan market, some officers said.
Technology helps local producers. Unable to cultivate cannabis plantations like the ones seen in California and Mexico, pot farmers are turning to year-round indoor hydroponic growing systems.
"With the increase in technology, fertilizer and equipment, certainly the ability to have greater yields in smaller areas is there," Malinosky said.
He used to deal with busts of a couple dozen plants years ago. But the Forest Lake operation that authorities busted on Jan. 7 shows what he increasingly encounters.
In a well-kept, one-story ranch house on 202nd Street North, investigators found a half-million dollars in pot about 650 plants. They also found a cultivation system the likes of which Forest Lake Police Chief Clark Quiring had never seen before.
"It was like a little Epcot Center," he said.
More than half the basement was devoted to the plants and support systems. Trays of plants rotated slowly on four 6-foot-tall Ferris-wheel-like machines, all the while getting light from growth lamps as well as regular infusions of purified water and fertilizer.
The automated system had its own generator and carbon-dioxide producer and was fed by a series of pumps and pipes.
In a small room nearby, bunches of baby cannabis plants were in various stages of growth in preparation for the machines.
Usually, Quiring said, producers "just have a kiddie pool with (plants) in it and a light above."
Authorities described a similar large set up last month in St. Paul Park, where they raided three houses and seized a total of more than 2,100 plants.
They also found elaborate growing equipment, including grow lights, watering systems and environmental controls.
With such equipment, producers can produce huge amounts of pot. A hydroponic plant can produce up to a pound of marijuana, authorities say. Growers cultivate hundreds at a time, and with staggered crop cycles can produce six to eight harvests a year.
Such techniques also help produce marijuana with levels of THC the high-inducing chemical in the plant many times higher than normal.
Whereas most marijuana 15 years ago had THC concentrations of 2 percent, some of the new stuff can contain three or four times that. One agent for the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said he has seen some levels in the teens.
Such an intense high is pricey. Whereas marijuana commonly brought in from Mexico sells for less than $1,000 a pound, the same amount of homegrown hydroponic marijuana can bring in $2,000, said Thomas E. Kelly, special agent in charge of the Minneapolis/St. Paul office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
More and more of the strong stuff seems to be showing up in the busts, Malinosky said.
Multiply the price by the thousands of pounds one grower can produce each year, and agents calculate "they're making millions and millions of dollars a year doing this," said Detective Pat Nelson of the Anoka County Sheriff's Office.
But society pays a much greater price, authorities say. Despite the rather harmless image pot may have, they say, it's more carcinogenic than tobacco and psychologically addictive. Officers consider it a "gateway drug" or "stepping stone" to harder drugs.
"The problems in trying to re-create the euphoria (of higher THC levels) are going to be enhanced," said the DEA's Kelly. "The body is getting used to that chemical, and (at some point) you'll need a higher high."
Agents say they're too focused on fighting harder drugs such as methamphetamine and cocaine to concentrate much on pot. They consider pot growers "targets of opportunity" whom they'll go after if they receive tips and other intelligence.
But if the rise continues, Malinosky said, "we could probably use more manpower."
Alex Friedrich can be reached at afriedrich@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-2109