PotShot

Why is PSL a hot spot for pot?
WILL GREENLEE | TCPalm Local News | June 25, 2006

PORT ST. LUCIE — Even veteran law enforcement officers are shaking their heads: At least 40 marijuana grow houses raided in less than two months in one city.

"I've never seen this type of clustering in a single area with so many in such close proximity in distance and time," says Bob Waters, chief assistant U.S. attorney at the Fort Pierce office, who has years of experience as a South Florida prosecutor.

"Something's happening in Port St. Lucie," Waters said. "I'm not sure what it is to cause this kind of clustering."

Using paperwork, computer searches and citizen tips, Port St. Lucie police have hit dozens of grow houses since early May, arresting more than 40 people and confiscating thousands of marijuana plants with a street value in the tens of millions of dollars.

The pot house probe appears to be the largest in city history, far surpassing a 1994 case in which police seized more than 800 pounds of marijuana being grown at three warehouses and two homes.

South Florida law enforcers began noticing an increase in indoor pot farming in the early 1990s as state and federal agents steadily busted outdoor grows and development cut the supply of available land. Advanced growing techniques also increased the quality of indoor marijuana — and the profits.

In recent years, South Florida authorities have busted many organized grow house operations.

A 2002 case, for example, involved 18 members of a "Caucasian criminal group" who were convicted for setting up grow operations in 13 homes in Palm Beach County and other southern counties.

In the Miami area, at least a dozen homes were investigated and searched about six years ago as part of a grow house "network," records show.

And in southwest Florida, the Drug Enforcement Administration has reported an "ongoing trend" of Cuban nationals from Miami purchasing or leasing properties for use as grow operations. In 2005, federal and local authorities raided a number of pot houses in rural subdivisions in Collier, Hendry and Lee counties.

But those cases didn't involve the concentrated activity uncovered in Port St. Lucie.

Indeed, even in parts of California — considered a leading pot-producing state — such activity is rare.

"If we found 40 indoor grows in one city, that would be uncommonly high," said DEA Special Agent Casey McEnry, based in San Francisco.

So law enforcement officials are asking: Why Port St. Lucie?

The answer seems to be: Like other newcomers, pot farmers seek quality of life.

Most of those arrested in the grow house raids have been Cuban nationals, so they fit in with many other new residents, said Police Sgt. Todd Schrader, who's leading the investigation.

"There's been an influx of people from the north and the south — there's a lot of Hispanics — it's a melting pot of all the different places in the country," Schrader said. "We're culturally diverse and they feel comfortable here."

With the building boom in recent years, the city also has had a lot of available housing, new homes in areas not yet fully developed.

Schrader said many of the alleged pot farmers moved here from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

"It's a lot more expensive to live down there than it is in Port St. Lucie," he said. "It's still affordable housing as compared to Broward and Miami-Dade."

In addition, Port St. Lucie's growth means new faces in a given area don't necessarily attract attention.

The pot houses have been spread throughout the city in typical residential neighborhoods, sometimes clustered in small groups.

Take the single-story home in the 600 block of Northwest North Macedo Boulevard. From the outside, it looks similar to hundreds of others in Port St. Lucie, with a neatly kept lawn and wooden fence.

A children's bicycle with training wheels sits near the front door and a sport utility vehicle is parked in the driveway.

Inside, however, police on a recent Friday afternoon found about 100 pot plants — some as tall as Christmas trees. Three rooms were set up as growing areas, two of which had metallic foil covering the walls and heat lights hanging from the ceilings. Police arrested a 24-year-old Cuban national who was renting the house.

"We are such a rapidly expanding city, so most of the neighbors on the other streets don't even know who the other neighbors are," Schrader said.

By the numbers

(May 8 through Thursday)

42: Houses raided

48: Total arrested

2,961: Marijuana plants seized

1: Yield in pounds per plant per harvest

2,983: Total potential yield in pounds

$10,000: Street value per pound

$29.83 MILLION: Total street value

$172,290: Total cash seized

Source: Port St. Lucie Police Dept.

Plant price

One fully grown marijuana plant — usually about 5 feet tall — grown with hydroponics such as in a room or house can be sold for about $2,000. Almost a decade ago, the same plant was sold for about $1,000.

The grow

Marijuana can be grown from a seedling to a full-sized plant in about 90 days using hydroponics.

Street sales

• A "dime bag," or $10 worth of marijuana contains about 1.5 grams. This type of marijuana typically is grown in dirt, is a lower grade and contains seeds. Plants grown with hydroponics typically are not sold in "dime bags."

• About one pound of marijuana grown in dirt is sold for between $700 and $800. The same amount of marijuana grown by hydroponics would cost between $1,700 and $3,000.

New age of growing

• Instead of having marijuana grown outdoors in other countries imported by boat or plane, growers in the United States are now using hydroponics — cultivation of plants in nutrient solution rather than in soil.

• Hydroponics along with a controlled environment using high-powered florescent lights, industrial fans and temperature gauges allows growers to hone the plants to an exact size, shape and even sex.

Busted

• Drug investigators rely on various agencies and personnel to assist in identifying a possible marijuana grow house.

• Electric companies may see a large, unexplained spike in usage in a home that may be from the lights and fans to grow marijuana.

• Federal and state investigators monitor Webs site dedicated to growing and producing marijuana.

• Tips from neighbors often help investigators develop enough information to get a search warrant on a suspected drug house.

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