cannabisnews.com: Smaller Marijuana Plots Challenge Police! Smaller Marijuana Plots Challenge Police! Posted by FoM on July 27, 1999 at 06:36:32 PT By The Associated Press Source: The Journal Online Stephen Merrill, a Norfolk, Va., lawyer, hardly appeared to fit the profile of the typical marijuana grower. But Merrill, who was arrested July 7 on his Isle of Wight County farm for growing pot, is the type of figure becoming distressingly familiar to police. He was a small-scale grower - authorities say they found 180 pot plants on his property. Merrill was charged with growing marijuana not intended for personal use. He admits growing the plants but insists they were only for himself. More and more marijuana is grown in Virginia these days, police say, but much to their frustration producers are growing it in smaller and smaller plots. Pot farmers have wised up to police methods for finding large fields of cannabis - identifiable from the air by its unique blue-green tint - and are increasingly spreading their lucrative crop out over many small plots, reducing the chances that agents will find all their plants. ``You used to have large plots with 2,000, with 3,000, or with 6,000 plants, and commercial airliners could look down and see them from 20,000 feet,'' said state police 1st Sgt. J.C. Lewis, statewide coordinator for marijuana eradication. ``Now, instead of putting all their eggs in one basket, they may have five or six plots with 100 or 200 plants each.'' The new pot ``fields'' are in roadside ditches, greenhouses, back yards and national forests. Agents are turning up more small operations of no more than 20 plants, said state police Lt. Mark Petska, deputy assistant director of the Drug Enforcement Division. Consequently, while arrests are up, seizures are down. Last year, state police seized 15,051 plants and made 165 arrests on manufacturing marijuana charges. Reflecting growers' increasing use of smaller plots, the number of plants seized is down from earlier in the decade. In 1994, for instance, police destroyed 39,338 plants, and the year before that they destroyed 25,672. ``There used to be about 40 to 50 arrests per year,'' Petska said. ``We've more than tripled that. Arresting growers is more important than seizing plants. My theory is, if you grow 1,000 pot plants year after year after year, and I go out and arrest you, you're not going to grow 1,000 plants anymore.'' http://www.norml.org/The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a Washington-based group working for the legalization of marijuana, estimates that in 1997 Virginia harvested cannabis plants worth $197 million, making it the state's largest cash crop, surpassing even tobacco. NORML said those figures are conservative and are based on DEA eradication data. Lewis, the state police marijuana eradication coordinator, said he could not begin to estimate the value of Virginia's crop. ``It's grown throughout the whole state, in back yards, in gardens, on mountain tops,'' Lewis said. ``It's everywhere.''Pubdate: July 27, 1999 http://www.jrnl.com/news/99/Jul/jrn129270799.html Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #2 posted by FoM on July 27, 1999 at 06:48:19 PT: Going To Pot: Weed Making Comeback July 26, 1999Related Article: Going To Pot: Weed Making Comeback [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on July 27, 1999 at 06:45:15 PT: Lawyer Charged with Manufacturing Marijuana July 23, 1999Related Article: Lawyer Charged with Manufacturing Marijuana [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: