cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Fields a Danger to Westside Hikers 





Marijuana Fields a Danger to Westside Hikers 
Posted by FoM on September 24, 1999 at 13:09:05 PT
By Leslie Parrilla
Source: LA Times
Verdant fields of marijuana plants -- called "grows" -- are thriving in the rural areas of the Westside, leading police to warn hikers of the danger zone they may stumble into as armed growers attempt to protect their cash crops. 
"The bigger grows have people living in them and they have guns," said Det. Wright of the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station Narcotics Crew. "They know what happens when people find these grows: a few days later, the helicopters and authorities come."   Last year in Malibu, near Kanan Road, a deputy was injured by an armed suspect in a grow.   The most common areas of marijuana harvesting, Wright said, are in Malibu, off Kanan Road, and in Topanga, off Topanga Canyon Boulevard.   West Los Angeles detectives said other Westside grows often include areas near Old Ranch Road, Mulholland Highway and Temescal Canyon Road.   Wright believes authorities learn of -- at most -- only 10% of grows.   "They're just hard to find unless someone stumbles into them. And some fields go unseized because we're so understaffed. We have neighborhood drug dealers to deal with," said Wright, whose office has two detectives and one supervisor. In addition to their Westside duties, they cover Agoura, Calabasas, Chatsworth, Westlake and other areas.   Contributing to the understaffing, he said, are a decrease in federal funding for narcotics programs and the passage of Proposition 215, which legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes.   Wright believes the use and sale of marijuana may become fully legal in a couple of years. Until then, the danger exists of mistakenly trespassing into a grow.   "Up in Northern California, you find booby traps and heavily armed people keeping guard over their crop. I haven't seen it here, but it probably does happen," said Supervising Det. George Lusby of the LAPD West Los Angeles Squad's Narcotics Division.   Larger operations with individuals living on the property may have camouflaged tents assembled under trees, surrounded by trash and the remains of deer killed for food.   When a grow is seized by authorities, crop samples are retained and the rest is burned, buried or removed by helicopter and destroyed elsewhere.   The growers are arrested, but they usually face minimal penalties.   "The sentence is not much," Wright said. "Oftentimes, if they have no prior offense, they get probation or a light jail sentence."   Hikers, hunters, horseback riders and pilots flying overhead are usually the ones who report finding grows, because hiking trails and fire roads are commonly the only access to the remote areas of heavy vegetation.   Size of grows vary, ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand plants in the Malibu and Topanga areas, detectives said. Smaller grows of a few hundred plants are found in other Westside fields.   About 350 plants were discovered last summer in Topanga Canyon, with detectives estimating growers could have profited about $2,000 for each pound of marijuana buds and around $500 for every pound of marijuana leaf.   Discoveries tend to increase in the summer, with more people venturing outdoors. But wet weather is better for growing, detectives said.   The number of reports fluctuate from as many as two per week in Malibu and Topanga to two a month in other Westside areas. But the grows reported pales in comparison to those unreported, authorities said.   "It's simply that the grows are off the beaten trail and [growers] do the best they can at hiding them from law enforcement," Lusby said.Friday, September 24, 1999 West Side Weekly - LA Times
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Comment #1 posted by grace on August 22, 2001 at 15:23:10 PT
marijuana
why do you poeple just let these plants grow why doesnt the police destroy these fields more should be done about this bulls hit
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