Bad year for pot gardens, seizures break record

The state Department of Justice's 2006 campaign against marijuana planting set a new record with the seizure of 1,675,681 plants during the eradication season. The total surpasses last year's record-breaking season by 540,989 plants. The marijuana eradicated by the campaign this year had an estimated street value of more than $6.7 billion. This season, the campaign

conducted 477 raids in 34 counties during the traditional growing season, which runs from late July through early October. In addition to the plant eradication, officers made 27 arrests and seized 29 weapons. In 2006, 80 percent of the seized illegal marijuana was located on public land, including state and national parks and forests. The remainder of the eradicated plants were located on private land.

Plant seizures have increased over the past few years due to the deployment of more teams throughout the state, advancements in aerial surveillance and transportation of officers, and larger garden sizes.

During the past year's operations, there were no officerinvolved shootings and no fatalities.