Marijuana "Eradication" Campaigns Drive Growers to Suburbs, Federal Report Says
Justice Dept. Report Confirms CAMP Critics’ Charges
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – A U.S. Department of Justice assessment released last week reports that marijuana “eradication” campaigns such as California’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) are driving producers to move to indoor sites, including suburban homes, confirming longstanding criticisms of the effort.
Although CAMP has seen a 1,200 percent increase in plant seizures in the past decade and is poised to set a record again this year, the National Drug Threat Assessment 2008, released Nov. 8 (PDF available here) states that marijuana production operations in the Pacific region (including northern California, the Central Valley, and the Sierra Nevada mountains) “are extensive, widespread, becoming more sophisticated, and increasing in size,” while “marijuana availability is widespread.”
Further, the report adds, “Federal, state, and local law enforcement reporting indicates that vigorous outdoor cannabis eradication efforts have caused major marijuana producers, particularly Caucasian groups, to relocate indoors, even in leading outdoor grow states such as California and Tennessee.” The report specifically cites suburban homes as one type of site used for such operations, and predicts that the trend will continue: “DTOs [drug trafficking organizations] and criminal groups … will adapt to the increasing law enforcement pressure and improved detection capabilities associated with outdoor grow sites and will most likely shift operations indoors … [T]he groups will produce higher-potency marijuana year-round, allowing for an exponential increase in profits derived.”
“The Department of Justice has confirmed everything we’ve been saying about CAMP all year,” said Bruce Mirken, San Francisco-based director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project. “If you want criminal gangs moving in next door to grow marijuana, if you want to make those criminals unbelievably rich, and if you want to guarantee that marijuana becomes more potent, current policies are working perfectly. If you think that’s crazy, then it’s time for California to regulate marijuana production just like we regulate wine.”
With more than 23,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol.
For more information, visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.
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