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Feature: Life imitates TV as US pot businesses move indoors

One of the surprise hits of US television over the past two seasons is the dark suburban comedy Weeds, which focuses on a struggling middle class widow who starts selling marijuana to her affluent neighbors in southern California.

Last year actress Mary Louise Parker won a Golden Globe best actress award for her portrayal of the lead character, whose business starts booming when she rents a house and transforms it into a state-of-the-art indoor marijuana production facility.

Parker's character is far from alone. A spate of drug busts in affluent bedroom communities in the Los Angeles region in recent weeks has netted law enforcement officials thousands of plants worth more than US$100 million.

It has also prompted officers to warn of a boom in indoor marijuana cultivation, much of it organized by gangs attracted to the relatively low risk and high profits.

Officials with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) say the number of indoor marijuana plants seized by federal, state and local authorities in California has quadrupled in just the last three years, from at least 54,000 plants to nearly 200,000 last year.

Nationally, the DEA says that more than 400,000 plants with a potential annual value of US$6.4 billion were seized from grow houses in the US last year, up from about 270,000 in 2005. In total, DEA officials estimate there are 21,000 residential marijuana operations, primarily on the west coasts of Canada and the US. Authorities have also reported cases in Florida, Georgia and along the East Coast.

The flight indoors appears to be the result of several factors, primarily the increased success of aircraft surveillance in discovering marijuana farms located in remote wilderness areas. Improved technology for indoor growing which is now easily available over the internet has also fueled the boom.

Another factor is the availability of easy credit which allows growers to buy houses with almost no cash investment, reducing their potential exposure if the property is confiscated.

Growers use advanced equipment that can cost as much as US$75,000, with high powered lights, automatic irrigation systems and sophisticated ventilation systems that scrub the pungent smell of marijuana from the air.

Many illegally jack their light systems in to the electrical grid to avoid paying bills and employ gardeners to tend the grounds and keep appearances normal.

Indoor marijuana farming can yield three or four crops a year.

The phenomenon is especially prevalent in southern California, where authorities have discovered at least six indoor suburban pot farms in just the last month. Most of the homes have been clustered throughout upscale suburbs with large Asian populations. In addition, authorities in Northern California have arrested 16 people and seized 50 suburban homes linked to an Asian organized crime syndicate, the Los Angeles Times said.

"More and more, law enforcement is out there in the wilderness, and that pushes these growers to stay one step ahead of us," Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino said.
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