NCJ Number
173630
Date Published
1990
Length
36 pages
Annotation
After providing data pertinent to the operations of the National Forest System's drug control program, data are reported on regional drug control trends and the National Forest System's drug control trends.
Abstract
In 1990, more than 544,500 cultivated cannabis plants were eradicated in the National Forest System from 4,742 cultivation sites. This is a 27-percent increase in plants eradicated and a 15-percent increase in cultivation sites. These increases can be attributed to continued efforts by growers to disperse their plants over larger areas to avoid aerial and ground detection. Despite the national increase in plants eradicated, significant decreases in cultivation activity have occurred in California where intensive interagency eradication efforts have been occurring for a number of years. The strategy to place increased emphasis on the apprehension of persons involved in controlled substance production and distribution in the National Forest System resulted in a total of 1,037 suspects being arrested in 1990, a 49-percent increase over the number of persons arrested in 1989. The number of cannabis sites at which booby traps were found decreased 60 percent from 1989; additionally, the total number of booby traps found decreased by 63 percent. The number of firearms seized from suspects and from cultivation sites rose from 378 in 1989 to 436 in 1990. The amount of National Forest System land considered "significantly constrained" to public and Forest Service use, due to cultivation activity, decreased 56 percent. The number of clandestine laboratories reported in the National Forest System decreased from 66 in 1989 to 58 in 1990. Extensive data figures