High-tech ‘pot factories’ popping up in suburban homes in…
The News Review:
- High-tech ‘pot factories’ popping up in suburban homes in…
- Magazines Place UCSB High on Lists of Marijuana Friendly, Party…
- Hemp calm before relegation play-off.(Sport)
- Cash, cars, jewelry: Some corruption cases involving immigration…
- The silent enforcer
- Week in review: Sept. 17 – 23
High-tech ‘pot factories’ popping up in suburban homes in…
International Herald Tribune – Sep 24, 2006
The $500,000 (€390,000) home in the quiet subdivision was stuffed with high-grade marijuana, plants covering nearly every square foot. The bust is one example of a phenomenon that has come to light recently in subdivisions around Sacramento, the capital of California. Marijuana growers with suspected ties to Asian organized crime have been buying suburban homes — many in newer developments — because of the anonymity the drug dealers believe the neighborhoods afford. They close the blinds and get to work gutting the inside, converting otherwise nondescript tract homes into the latest battleground in the state’s campaign against marijuana cartels. I was shocked,” said Nunn, an associate minister at Elk Grove’s Progressive Church of God in Christ. “We never saw them or heard from them… “You pay this much money, you don’t expect those things to happen. ” Police are bashing in doors at more homes virtually every day as they develop new leads or are tipped by suddenly wary neighbors. More than three dozen homes have been found to be hiding marijuana groves in just the past seven weeks, most in Sacramento, Elk Grove and Stockton. Like the others, the home on Elk Grove’s Mainline Drive had been converted to what law enforcement officials call a hothouse, with 1,000-watt lights for growing and irrigation networks feeding high-tech hydroponic growing systems. Walls and ceilings were smashed to allow for complex ventilation and air filtration systems that vented the telltale odor through the attic. A web of extension cords and makeshift electric panels illegally 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.
Magazines Place UCSB High on Lists of Marijuana Friendly, Party…
Daily Nexus – Sep 24, 2006
UCSB NORML founder and graduate Lauren Vazquez said she believes UCSB’s number-two ranking in the High Times’ list is well deserved, even though the campus chapter of NORML was started just two years ago. “UCSB went from never placing to earning the second spot on High Times’ Top 10 Counterculture College ranking,” she said. “These rankings were based on campus activism on the issue of marijuana law reform, not how many stoners are on campus. For a club that has been active for only two years, this is quite an accomplishment. ” As for the U. News & World Report rankings, Betty Huff, the assistant vice chancellor for enrollment services and management, said UCSB is aware of the U.
Hemp calm before relegation play-off.(Sport)
highbeam.com – Sep 24, 2006
find Wales On Sunday (Cardiff, Wales) articles. Byline: By Richard Thomas Wales on Sunday David Hemp has controversially suggested it will not be a disaste.
Cash, cars, jewelry: Some corruption cases involving immigration…
USA Today – Sep 24, 2006
He instructed the accomplice to have an elderly couple drive across the border, saying he “controlled” the crossing and that “for $3,000 per kilogram, he would assure safe passage of the cocaine,” a criminal complaint states. • Lizandro Martinez, a Customs officer for 14 years, faces up to life in prison at his scheduled October sentencing for allowing drugs through his inspection lane at the Progreso International Bridge in Texas. Martinez pleaded guilty to drug trafficking conspiracy and money laundering, admitting that starting in 2002 he allowed vehicles loaded with marijuana into the United States. Temporarily disabling the license plate reader at his lane so there would be no record, Martinez allowed in more than 13,000 pounds of drugs, sometimes in pickups “filled to the top,” according to court documents and testimony. He got $10,000 per truck. The drug payments allowed him to make some $750,000 in cash purchases in 2003-2004, investigators said. Despite several suspensions — at least 15 misconduct complaints were filed against him dating back to 1992 — Martinez remained on the payroll until his arrest in 2004.
The silent enforcer
The Age – Sep 24, 2006
Many drug distributors prefer to deal in marijuana because itdoes not attract the same severe jail terms and community contemptas illegal pills and powders. But the profits are just asstaggering. One healthy female marijuana plant can grow to just under twometres and can yield nearly a kilogram of cannabis with a retailvalue of about $6000. And an indoor hydroponic set-up can cultivatea crop every 12 weeks, regardless of the weather or seasons. Butwherever there are big profits to be made from criminal activities,the sharks will always gather. For years there have been a series of unexplained firesconnected to the hydroponics industry in Melbourne. Each fire atfirst appeared to be an isolated crime but further investigationsshowed the victims had all been competitors of the bikie with thegreen thumb and the mean streak.
Week in review: Sept. 17 – 23
Stockton Record – Sep 24, 2006
13, when four San Francisco men were taken into custody. Police said they expect the raids to continue and are responding as quickly as possible to regular tips. The marijuana groves that occupy all the living space in upscale houses pose a safety hazard to neighbors, Stockton police Officer Pete Smith said. “It’s absolutely a dangerous proposition,” he said, pointing to steel conduits inside a garage at 10226 Noyo Lane, three houses from Carter’s home. The conduits containing electric wiring were cut by the growers to bypass the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. meter and route stolen energy into the house, he said. The setup poses a fire hazard… that can invite home invasion robberies,” Taylor said. Police have removed up to $3 million worth of marijuana plants per house – plants Taylor said could have been harvested up to four times a year. We rely on users to police themselves, and.