75A - PH - MEDICAL MARIJUANA - PROHIBIT

Home Browse Search

A web of extension cords and makeshift electric panels illegal y tapped into the outside grid to avoid detection and save thousands of dollars in power bills. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent to convert each of the homes to grow millions of dollars worth of marijuana. Most of the targeted homes were purchased for between $400,000 and $600,000.... "They're going into these cookie-cutter communities and making cookie-cutter marijuana factories," said Gordon Taylor, who heads the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration region that runs from Bakersfield to the Oregon border. "All of a sudden, (the neighbors) have an organized crime marijuana factory right next to them. It's alarming." Some neighbors said they were too frightened. to be quoted..... For a1I the sophistication of the operations, many neighbors said they were suspicious because the owners neglected to mow or water their lawns. "We suspected it, when you spend $500,000 on a home and let it go to pot, so to speak," said Marilyn. Smith, wh.o lives across from another Elk Grove home that was converted to a marijuana factory.....Thephenornenon began in British Columbia, Canada, where Vietnamese organized crime outfits gutted houses to grow potent "B.C. Bud" that can sell for $5,000 or more a pound {450 grams} in the United States, said Corporal. Pierre Lemaitre of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Growers headed south to avoid increased border protections after the 2001 terrorist attacks. "It's definitely a concerted c1fvrt by Asian vr~anized crime eroarps in Canada to move earl of their operation down tv the United States, "said Rodney Benson the DEA's special went in charge of Washington 4r~on Alaska and Idaho. The Central Uallev home s are linked tv San Franci s•co's Chinatown and have "all the markings ofAsian organized crime "said the DEA's Taylor Five San Francisco residents were charyed with federal marijuana crimes last month in connection with some of the busts in Elk Grove. Police in Elk Grove and Stockton have arrested several other people in recent daLs. The Internal Revenue Service also is tracing the homes' owners. Until now, West Coast law enforcement agencies have been. more concerned about large-scale outdoor marijuana gardens, which often are planted on public forests or park land by violent Mexican drug cartels.....The Drug Enforcement Agency reported a 50 percent increase in indoor farms last year, Taylor said. Those operations have several advantages: They can't be spotted by an airplane or hunter, and the plants also can be grown year-round. Source: http://www.poIiceone.com/drug-interdiction-narcotics/articles/1.1.79674/ Los Angeles :Home Turns into Burning Joint Updated: January 2nd, 2007 01:05 PM PDT RON MYERS Los Angeles Fire Department On Monday, January 1, 2007 at 2:42 AM, sixteen Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, four LAFD Rescue Ambulances, two Arson Units, one Urban Search and Rescue Unit, one Rehab Unit, one Hazardous Materials Team, two EMS Battalion Captains, three Battalion Chief Officer Command Teams, one Division Chief Officer Command Team, alt under the direction of Battalion Chief Robert Rose responded to a Greater Alarm Structure Fire.....It took 1 0 Firefighters one-half hour to gain control of the fire and ensure that no residents were trapped within the house.. ,.During firefighting operations it was noted that the only furniture contained within the home was a table, couch, and two beds. 75A-79