cannabisnews.com: Drug Ring Allegedly Cloned Potent Pot Drug Ring Allegedly Cloned Potent Pot Posted by FoM on July 15, 2000 at 08:40:34 PT By Guillermo Contreras, Journal Staff Writer Source: ABQjournal Federal authorities are investigating a drug-trafficking organization that allegedly was cloning marijuana to get highly potent yields. Court records alleged one member of the business would clone marijuana plants and sell them to growers. The marijuana then would be distributed in New Mexico and California. Cloning is a seedless growing technique where the grower selects a "mother" plant with exceptional characteristics and clips off a piece of genetic plant material, DEA agent Timothy R. Davis said in court records. The grower places the material in a solution under high-intensity lights until roots are developed. Once the cloned plant matures, it is an exact copy of the "mother" plant, Davis said. "I think it's relatively new," said Bill Hansen, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Albuquerque. "If you clone the marijuana plants, that means you don't have to buy seeds, and that's one less way of being detected." Gregory Phillips, a professor of plant genetics in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture at New Mexico State University, said growing by conventional methods — using seeds — results in a mix of characteristics from the two parent plants. Often, one of those plants isn't as good as the other. "The advantage of cloning is if you have one individual plant with high-grade characteristics, then you can mass-produce a number of plants with these same qualities," Phillips said. A drug agent familiar with the case said the growing operation is one of the most sophisticated in recent years. "We always find one or two (marijuana growing operations), but it may have been (the early 1990s) since we found a conspiracy of this nature, something this organized," the agent said. "Every year, we're going to find someone growing it for themselves. But it's probably been that long since we've done a conspiracy of this magnitude, where there's been a lot of interstate trafficking." Hansen said marijuana plants grown in greenhouses generally are more potent than those grown outdoors. "They have a higher yield of THC," he said, referring to the active ingredient in marijuana. The investigation began New Year's Eve when the Bernalillo County sheriff's deputies raided a Sandia Park home and found 117 high-grade cloned marijuana plants, 22 guns, 30,000 rounds of ammunition and $26,000 in cash. Agents with the FBI, the DEA, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the U.S. Customs Service also participated. Marcus Hahn, 29, and Steven Snelling, 50, were arrested and subsequently indicted on federal drug and gun charges. Hahn also faces state charges of sexual assault on children. "I have no information that Mark is part of any huge (marijuana) conspiracy such as that apparently described in the affidavits," Hahn's attorney, Kari Converse, said Thursday. Snelling's attorney, Howard L. Anderson, said Friday that he had no comment, but "we'll deal with it at trial." The search-warrant affidavits said the raid on Hahn's home netted information linking Hahn to other people suspected of peddling marijuana. That led them to raid the home of one of Hahn's alleged associates in Sandia Park on Feb. 8. In that search, agents found 43 high-grade cloned cannabis plants, two large bags containing smaller bags of marijuana and a 12-gauge shotgun, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in February. Affidavits filed July 6 said a confidential informant told the DEA that Hahn provided three cycles of cloned marijuana plants to associates in Cliff and Glenwood to pay a debt on a load of marijuana that was stolen from Hahn in Long Beach, Calif. The DEA's Davis alleged in the July 6 affidavits that Hahn derived his income almost solely from drug trafficking. Converse disputed the allegations. "I can confirm that they did find marijuana at (Hahn's) place," she said. "I can also say that he's had a legitimate business, so the allegations that he has no legitimate income is not true. They have the (IRS) documents to prove it." Converse said Hahn was a guide for "skiing, hunting and other sorts of mountaineering types of activities." Authorities late last month searched two areas in southwestern New Mexico for other greenhouses, including one that reportedly was underground. The documents said agents raided two homes in Glenwood and Cliff, and seized some marijuana plant roots, nearly 500 grams of marijuana, several documents, a Rolodex, marijuana cigarettes and a book on how to construct underground buildings. No charges have been filed against the owners of the homes. However, the documents allege they joined their marijuana yields with Hahn and delivered the drugs to distributors in Los Angeles. In other federal court records, one confidential source said Hahn produced 5 to 7 pounds of marijuana every 45 days. Those court records said Hahn allegedly derived hashish from the marijuana and made hashish oil, which is sprinkled on cigarettes or cigars. The records alleged Hahn sold the oil for $300 an ounce, and that the informant told agents that Hahn earned at least $250,000 a year from drug trafficking. Published: Saturday, July 15, 2000 Copyright © 1997 - 2000 Albuquerque JournalCannabisNews Cannabis Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtmlPot-TV International Presents Marijuana Man - Topic Cloning Technics:http://www.cannabisculture.com/pottv//ram/-.ram Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by Dan B on July 19, 2000 at 06:09:55 PT: Of course, you're right . . .How silly of me! Dan Hillman, thanks for the correction. You are (quite obviously) correct--this type of "cloning" has been in existence for many centuries, not just decades. And because cannabis is one of the world's oldest agricultural commodities, one would also have to say that the cannabis plant in particular was probably one of the first plants to be "cloned" in this way. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Dan Hillman on July 17, 2000 at 10:38:39 PT "Cloning" invented in Euphrates valley. Dan B., I appreciate your note exposing the stupidity of the DEA, but one small correction: plants have been "cloned" (grown from cuttings) since the dawn of agriculture. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by J.C.s buddy on July 16, 2000 at 17:59:10 PT let them bury themselves. Simply put, the cops want to put an evil sounding story together to make it sound that much more evil.Give me a break! But what they are doing is insulting peoples intelligence. And that will open peoples eyes to this whole over blown issue. I say let them bury themselves. How many people garden and clone plants etc. These folks will have there eyes opened to see just how screwed up this whole mess is and how they waste tax payers money, kinda like shooting there own foot off.WHAT A BUNCH OF DUMMYS! [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Rainbow on July 15, 2000 at 13:56:27 PT Ban the magazines Well you are right. We need to keep the biology away from the federales. This stupidity is why they would dare (no pun) harm the envirnments with a GM bateria.Wait though this means that ALL textbooks dealing with plants and planting and ways of propagation will have to be banned according to the Anti-Meth bill.It isn't just the DEA we have idiota all over the congress too.PeaceRainbow [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Dan B on July 15, 2000 at 10:59:49 PT: New? More Proof DEA Officials Are Idiots. Plants have been cloned for several decades now. Pick up any gardening manual and it will tell you how to grow plants from clippings--roses, orchids, etc. These plants grown from clippings are clones, and the process is even easier for marijuana than it is for roses. It is a common practice all over the world, where marijuana is grown, to grow additional plants from clippings once a plant is identified as producing particularly nice buds. What next? Will the DEA suddenly "discover" that marijuana can be bred for higher potency? And I wonder how long it will take them to figure out that it is possible to create anti-fungal strains of the coca plant? Sheesh! How did we ever let these idiots take over in the first place? [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: