California is in the midst of a major boom in large-scale marijuana cultivation operations run from inside homes, with authorities confiscating more than $100 million worth of pot in the last year alone, including in a series of recent raids in the suburbs of Los Angeles.
Officials with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration 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 in 2006.
Many of those seizures have occurred in middle-class and upscale suburbs, where the pot growers took advantage of cheap home financing -- and minimal credit checks -- to purchase homes and remodel them into sophisticated farms, authorities said.
Using equipment that can cost as much as $75,000, the homes were transformed into illicit greenhouses complete with blacked-out windows, sophisticated irrigation, high-powered and timed lighting and ventilation devices to hide the smell of the plants.
"They have cropped up in neighborhoods like never before," said Gordon Taylor, who heads the DEA office in Sacramento. "I am not talking about the Cheech and Chong marijuana cultivation of two plants in someone's closet. I am talking about organized crime groups who are purchasing homes in our communities and creating marijuana factories."
Local authorities have discovered at least six indoor suburban pot farms in just the last month -- including two this week in Rowland Heights.
The homes have been clustered throughout upscale suburbs with large Asian populations, including Diamond Bar and Chino Hills.
The Los Angeles and San Bernardino County sheriff's departments have arrested half a dozen people and expect more arrests as the investigations continue.
Since last August, officials in Northern California have arrested 16 people and seized 50 suburban pot homes and 24,000 pounds of marijuana linked to an Asian organized crime syndicate operating in Canada and the U.S.
DEA officials estimate there are 21,000 residential marijuana operations, primarily on the west coasts of Canada and the U.S., and authorities have reported cases in Florida, Georgia and parts of the East Coast.
The boom has occurred as law enforcement has cracked down on marijuana cultivation in forests and canyon parklands.
