cannabisnews.com: Pot Growers More Brazen, Officials Say Pot Growers More Brazen, Officials Say Posted by CN Staff on November 10, 2004 at 12:17:00 PT By Bill Bishop, The Register-Guard Source: Register-Guard Marijuana growers seem to be getting more brazen in Lane County, sometimes growing plants right out in the open in their backyards or in vacant lots near busy public places. The Lane County Sheriff's Marijuana Eradication Program seized 1,550 marijuana plants and arrested 217 suspects during the outdoor growing cycle that is just ending. The number of plants is down from 2,500 last year, according to sheriff's Sgt. Mark Reese, who works on the annual hunt for illegal gardens. But statistics don't tell the whole story, Reese said. For example, the program's helicopter was out of commission for repairs during several weeks of the current harvest period. No one knows how much marijuana is grown in Lane County or what the trend is. But on one helicopter flight between the Eugene Airport and Noti, the team observed 30 separate gardens in plain sight, Reese said. On another day, the team investigated six gardens within a two-block area and found four of them were legal grows under Oregon's Medical Marijuana Program, he said. Many of the cannabis gardens that are investigated turn out to be legal, operated for the 1,252 Lane County residents with medical marijuana cards. However, some of the "legal" gardens contain too many plants and are therefore illegal, Reese added. Some legal growers are illegally selling marijuana on the side, he said. The mixture of small legal and illegal operations is a new and growing twist for law enforcement, Reese said. "Some days you feel like you're chasing your tail with all the medical grows out there," said Reese, who works in the sheriff's special operations division. "We've had a decrease in outdoor gardens on public lands and an increase in medical marijuana grows in backyards. We're seeing a huge increase in medical - people who have cards or who have applied, but are not in compliance." While state data are not readily available, there is no evidence of an upsurge in Lane County residents who hold medical marijuana cards. It's more likely that Lane County, like the rest of the state, is experiencing "steady growth" in the number of residents who are legally allowed to grow and use marijuana, said Mary Leverette, interim manager of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program. The eradication program is funded by U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Forest Service and the BLM. Under new priorities established recently by Lane County District Attorney Alex Gardner, those arrested in the eradication program this year face only slightly different prospects for prosecution than they would have last year. Gardner's new priorities generally de-emphasize low-level drug possession in order to reinstate property crime prosecution that had been reduced by earlier budget cutting. The new priorities allow small, non-commercial marijuana growers to be diverted through Lane County Drug Court, Gardner said. In the past, they would have faced more costly felony prosecution. "If it's clearly a commercial enterprise, we're still treating it like a commercial enterprise," he said. Gardner said local residents in a recent survey generally indicated they want his office to concentrate on methamphetamine prosecutions and back away from low-level marijuana possession crimes. "My sense is that people are warming up increasingly to legalizing marijuana. That's essentially what the recent ballot measure was intended to do," Gardner said. The eradication program tends to discourage large-scale marijuana operations on public lands, where some gardens are booby-trapped or guarded by armed operators, he said. "We want our woods to be safe," he said. Oregon Medical Marijuana Program: http://www.dhs.state.or.us/publichealth/mm/index.cfmSource: Register-Guard, The (OR) Author: Bill Bishop, The Register-GuardPublished: November 10, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Register-GuardContact: rgletters guardnet.comWebsite: http://www.registerguard.com/Related Articles:Ease Up on Marijuana, Tighten Up on Meth http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19625.shtmlNo Lie: Oregon Law Halts Undercover Operations http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread10461.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #15 posted by breeze on November 11, 2004 at 00:58:18 PT FOM- I dont think it may be a bad idea- to begin with. Maybe their gonna bring back child slavery once the little kids grow up and see how much money we need them to pay back for sending them to a place where they can't learn to think?I am scared of elder abuse now- just imagine what its gonna be like thirty years from now. Old people will be hiring body guards, not 'cause they important- but just because their old? Talk about a angry generation- kids are getting beat up at school all the time, by other kids. Imagine it later on! [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by goneposthole on November 10, 2004 at 21:23:31 PT Can it get anymore confounding? Can there be any more confusion than there already is?More cannabis than ever; gardens and farms all over the hinterlands from Patagonia to Alaska to Australia, from the Himalayas to the Alps, up and down the Eastern seaboard, and back across the ocean to Britain and Denmark. Can it get any more abundant? Patches of it of one kind or another everywhere you go.It is demand that drives the market for cannabis, nothing else. No demand... no supply.If people didn't like it, they wouldn't use it. Cannabis is an herb that people smoke to help them feel better. They're not just getting 'high'. How many times must it be said? People like to smoke pot. Back to the confusing obfuscation. [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by John Tyler on November 10, 2004 at 18:39:12 PT New AG nominee Alberto Gonzales, the new Bush AG nominee, orginated the "OK to torture memo", unwarranted roundup and detention of suspects decision, and most of what he told Bush was OK has been overturned by various courts. His other duty was to take complex issues of the day and reduce them to "bumper sticker" size slogans so Bush could understand them. How can so many of these people with so much education (they went to good schools too) act so DUMB. [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by John Tyler on November 10, 2004 at 18:27:37 PT Clear the legal confusion If this is so confusing to the cops there is a simple way to clear it all up. Just end the cannabis prohibition once and for all. The cops could go off and do other things that need their attention. It would make people feel better about cops too. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by JustGetnBy on November 10, 2004 at 17:31:39 PT BRAZEN??? Since when has doing something which is within the law within the jurisdiction it occurs in BRAZEN? I understand that "THEY" ( that would be the entire judicial & law enforcement community } don't like what they see, but it is WITHIN THE LAW. Why would the media print a story about the discomfort the establishment feels about an act that is LAWFULL? With the fox guarding the chicken yard, the chickens are in a world of hurt..... [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by Shishaldin on November 10, 2004 at 16:23:05 PT Growers More Brazen, you say? Pot Growers More Brazen, Officials SayJust Say Know, then OVERGROW! You haven't SEEN brazen yet!Peace and Strength (and don't forget to Subvert the Dominant Paradigm, especially now!)Shishaldin [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by FoM on November 10, 2004 at 15:11:02 PT Breeze I didn't know that about christian schools or home schooling. I went to a Catholic School and we weren't connected to the government at all. The school was very proud of the fact that we were independent of the rules that public schools had. How would it hurt public schools though? My parents had to pay taxes to support public schools even though I went to a free school. The church paid the fees for each one of us in their parrish. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by breeze on November 10, 2004 at 14:56:13 PT Fom Yes it does seem that this nation is hellbent on self destruction. Today, a leader for the southern baptist convention is suggesting that all- that is ALL christian parents remove their children from public schools and either home school or send them to christian academy's. Officials cringe at the idea, knowing that if such a thing were to occur, public schools would have to close, leaving many families who cannot afford private schooling in the dark. This may be a good idea for some people- because class room size is the main reason our public schools are failing in the first place. BUT, christian schools get to perform operations tax free, though no support from the government. The christian baptist coalition supports the idea because they feel that the majority of public schools aren't getting help from a federal level anyway. Either/or, its a bad idea. They should be spending money on improving the schools instead of building prisons, but I am sure this never occured to any of those people in the southern baptist convention.Tasering people for traffic violations- that made me laugh out loud. Could that also apply for bad ideas, or rude behaviour? [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Sam Adams on November 10, 2004 at 13:55:17 PT EJ, I couldn't agree more Have you ever seen someone stopped and fined for tailgating, or failing to signal when changing lanes? These 2 offenses are responsible for many accidents and deaths. I think tailgating is the number one cause of car accidents. Don't even get me starting on blocking-the-intersection violations. These people should be dragged out of their cars & tasered. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on November 10, 2004 at 13:31:12 PT breeze Yes it does seem torturing people is ok. I am so upset about this that I can't even comment. How did Bush get re-elected? I wonder if we are hell bent on self destruction. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by breeze on November 10, 2004 at 13:27:16 PT FOM- Yes, it helps- we are in for a rough ride. I guess torturing people is okay. Suppose Canada will be exporting a lot of dry goods for the next four years? Thanks again... [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by E_Johnson on November 10, 2004 at 13:20:19 PT Go after some tailgaters I'm really tired of people on the freeway who try to intimidate me into going 80 instead of 70 by getting up on my bumper. And it's not even the fast lane.Why don't they use their fancy marijuana spotting helicopters to go after tailgaters on the freeways?They're pretty easy to spot from the air. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on November 10, 2004 at 13:08:32 PT breeze Does this help?Who Is Alberto Gonzales?: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=241596&page=1 [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by breeze on November 10, 2004 at 12:56:25 PT Mescal in the white house Does anyone know anything about this new feller that'll be taking asscrafts place,"Speedy" Gonzales? [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on November 10, 2004 at 12:30:54 PT my suggestion to Porky "Some days you feel like you're chasing your tail with all the medical grows out there," said Reese, who works in the sheriff's special operations division. "We've had a decrease in outdoor gardens on public lands and an increase in medical marijuana grows in backyards. We're seeing a huge increase in medical - people who have cards or who have applied, but are not in compliance."Hmmmm....here's an idea: Give up! Ignore the renegade gardeners and go work on some recent break-ins & robberies. Dig into the cold case file & go work on some unsolved rapes & murders? Corporate crime? Crackdown on moving violations? Speeding? Drunk driving? This work might actually help someone. We're still waiting to hear who is helped by busting the illegal gardeners. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment