Where the Grass is Greener

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Equally adept at agronomy and foiling the police, Oregon's pot farmers turned home-grown weed into a profitable racket by developing their unique sinsemillas hybrid. The robust, waste-free strain attracts buyers willing to pay $1,600 a pound, the yield from just one well-cultivated plant. Studies show that sinsemillas weed contains five times more tetrahydrocannabinol (pot's narcotic ingredient) than the common Mexican variety. Even federal drug experts are impressed. "A good deal of expertise goes into producing that kind of plant," notes Dr. Carlton Turner, director of marijuana research for the National Institute of Drug Abuse at the University of Mississippi.

The sinsemillas craze has crossed the border into northern California, where Humboldt County police claim that pot cultivation jumped this year by 500%. In small towns like Garberville, marijuana has assumed an influential role in local business. Says Ted Kogon, owner of the Evergreen Natural Foods and Access Store: "Every shop along Main Street is underwritten with dope money." Hyperbole perhaps, but many local citizens are convinced that the weed has boosted prosperity. "If it's ever legalized, it will be a great industry for this county," asserts Rick Nelson, managing editor of the regional daily Times-Standard.

Mellowed by their hefty profits, pot farmers in the Northwest have evolved into a genuine subculture of the farming community. Many of them were urban hippies who migrated to the region seeking a pastoral lifestyle. These days, they look like the "straight" native farmers of the back country and follow similar seasonal rituals.

After the October harvest, reports TIME'S Doug Brew, elite growers are invited to the annual Doper's Fair in Oregon's Josephine County. They bring along prime crop samples and judge each other, by secret ballot, for taste, fragrance and strength.

"For the best-tasting grass," says one participant, "you might win a bottle of wine; for the best-smelling grass, a snort of cocaine. It's a lot of fun and everybody's relieved that they made it through the season."

Completing the harvest is no easy task. Windfall loot has spawned violent crime. Crop thefts and armed robberies now loom as more ominous threats than police busts. "The paranoia gets so thick around here in October that you could cut it with a knife," says an Oregon grower.

"Some guys sleep in their patches to make sure that nobody rips them off." Across the line in Humboldt County, killings and gunfights have occurred over pot. "We're not used to having any kind of crime," explains County Detective Chris Thiei. Adds Bill Brown, president of the local Chamber of Commerce: "A few of us even feel that it might be better to legalize pot so we can get the crime out of here."

That day may not be too far off. Both California and Oregon have considered legislation to allow cultivation of two or three marijuana plants for personal use, and some observers think the bills might be approved next year. If so, backyard gardeners might replace big-time growers in the booming pot trade. Until then, pot farmers in the Northwest stand to reap a bundle this fall from bumper crops—if they don't get bumped off first.