PFlynn
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California - The frequency of marijuana grow operations broken up this year in East Contra Costa County reveals two long-building story lines, authorities say.
First, the profitability and feasibility of illegal pot cultivation has been generally immune to swings in the economy, with growers exhibiting enough ingenuity to exploit both good and bad housing markets.
The second is that as grow operations have made their way from rural areas to the suburbs, fed-up residents have become a key law enforcement resource in finding them.
The movement of grow operations to upscale housing developments had its genesis in part from the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996, which made limited marijuana cultivation permissible under a doctor's orders or in the capacity of a primary caregiver. To an extent, law enforcement officials argue, it normalized marijuana use in California.
"The old lady with glaucoma is not your average marijuana grower," said Antioch police Lt. Leonard Orman.
Some high-volume illegal marijuana grows seized this year include 160 plants in Discovery Bay in February; 250 plants in Antioch in March; and a $1.3 million 1,200-plant operation found during a May raid in Brentwood.
Many of these operations were indoors, thriving inside homes gutted to make room for plants and the array of heating equipment needed to grow them. That these grows were being housed in new housing developments is a byproduct of two divergent economic trends.
The housing boom of the first half of the decade was a boon for many. For home buyers, it meant purchasing a home with 100 percent financing, requiring no money down and low payments in the beginning. Once payments ballooned, they could capitalize on their increased home value to refinance the mortgage.
For large-scale marijuana growers, it meant getting a home for a grow operation with little initial investment, and skipping town before the mortgage defaulted. Even those who decided to stick around saw relatively manageable mortgage payments even after they ballooned, considering that one marijuana plant can be cultivated up to three times a year, yielding a maximum of $9,000 on the street.
"With a 100 plants, that's $900,000 a year, tax free," said Norm Wielsch, commander of the state-run Central Contra Costa County Narcotics Enforcement Team.
Then, when the housing market tanked and homeowners found themselves stuck in homes they could no longer afford, growers swooped in again, snatching up foreclosed homes on the cheap or taking up space in vacant homes that sat for months without a buyer. Homes for rent were also viable targets for these schemes.
These homes took on even more value when Proposition 215 opened the floodgates for profit-driven growers operating under the guise of medical marijuana cultivation, said Michael Chapman, assistant special agent for the Drug Enforcement Agency's San Francisco field division.
"The proliferation of indoor grows really exploded," Chapman said. "And they were often claiming medicinal use."
But in the 12 years since the legislation was passed and large grows started popping up in suburbia, residents began taking notice. A grow house, besides containing marijuana that has skyrocketed in street value, also holds cash and weapons, the latter to ward off robbers. It's an element that neighbors are trying to purge from their communities.
"It's starting to resonate with society," Chapman said.
Jose Marin, the county's supervising deputy district attorney for drug prosecution, said he's seen other deleterious effects of grow operations in the midst of a residential neighborhood. A grow operation inflicts considerable damage on a home, from torn-down walls to severe mold. Outside the home, growers who reroute electricity for power cause serious infrastructure damage and a significant fire hazard for everyone nearby.
After a drug seizure, it can take tens of thousands of dollars to repair a home and make it saleable again. Marin said it's all the more reason for residents who want to preserve the integrity of their neighborhoods to blow the whistle on such activity.
News Hawk: PFlynn - 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Contra Costa Times
Copyright: 2008 Knight Ridder
Contact: letters@cctimes.com
Website: Increase in pot grow busts a sign of the times, authorities say – East Bay Times
First, the profitability and feasibility of illegal pot cultivation has been generally immune to swings in the economy, with growers exhibiting enough ingenuity to exploit both good and bad housing markets.
The second is that as grow operations have made their way from rural areas to the suburbs, fed-up residents have become a key law enforcement resource in finding them.
The movement of grow operations to upscale housing developments had its genesis in part from the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996, which made limited marijuana cultivation permissible under a doctor's orders or in the capacity of a primary caregiver. To an extent, law enforcement officials argue, it normalized marijuana use in California.
"The old lady with glaucoma is not your average marijuana grower," said Antioch police Lt. Leonard Orman.
Some high-volume illegal marijuana grows seized this year include 160 plants in Discovery Bay in February; 250 plants in Antioch in March; and a $1.3 million 1,200-plant operation found during a May raid in Brentwood.
Many of these operations were indoors, thriving inside homes gutted to make room for plants and the array of heating equipment needed to grow them. That these grows were being housed in new housing developments is a byproduct of two divergent economic trends.
The housing boom of the first half of the decade was a boon for many. For home buyers, it meant purchasing a home with 100 percent financing, requiring no money down and low payments in the beginning. Once payments ballooned, they could capitalize on their increased home value to refinance the mortgage.
For large-scale marijuana growers, it meant getting a home for a grow operation with little initial investment, and skipping town before the mortgage defaulted. Even those who decided to stick around saw relatively manageable mortgage payments even after they ballooned, considering that one marijuana plant can be cultivated up to three times a year, yielding a maximum of $9,000 on the street.
"With a 100 plants, that's $900,000 a year, tax free," said Norm Wielsch, commander of the state-run Central Contra Costa County Narcotics Enforcement Team.
Then, when the housing market tanked and homeowners found themselves stuck in homes they could no longer afford, growers swooped in again, snatching up foreclosed homes on the cheap or taking up space in vacant homes that sat for months without a buyer. Homes for rent were also viable targets for these schemes.
These homes took on even more value when Proposition 215 opened the floodgates for profit-driven growers operating under the guise of medical marijuana cultivation, said Michael Chapman, assistant special agent for the Drug Enforcement Agency's San Francisco field division.
"The proliferation of indoor grows really exploded," Chapman said. "And they were often claiming medicinal use."
But in the 12 years since the legislation was passed and large grows started popping up in suburbia, residents began taking notice. A grow house, besides containing marijuana that has skyrocketed in street value, also holds cash and weapons, the latter to ward off robbers. It's an element that neighbors are trying to purge from their communities.
"It's starting to resonate with society," Chapman said.
Jose Marin, the county's supervising deputy district attorney for drug prosecution, said he's seen other deleterious effects of grow operations in the midst of a residential neighborhood. A grow operation inflicts considerable damage on a home, from torn-down walls to severe mold. Outside the home, growers who reroute electricity for power cause serious infrastructure damage and a significant fire hazard for everyone nearby.
After a drug seizure, it can take tens of thousands of dollars to repair a home and make it saleable again. Marin said it's all the more reason for residents who want to preserve the integrity of their neighborhoods to blow the whistle on such activity.
News Hawk: PFlynn - 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Contra Costa Times
Copyright: 2008 Knight Ridder
Contact: letters@cctimes.com
Website: Increase in pot grow busts a sign of the times, authorities say – East Bay Times
