(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Irrigation lines are piled together amid heaps of trash, clothing and food items, the only remnants of a marijuana grove that once held more than 4,200 plants in Iron County, Thursday, November 1, 2012. Cooperation among federal agents, prosecutors and county sheriffs coupled with a drought have helped reduce the amount of marijuana grown in Utah primarily by the La Familia cartel from Michoacan, Mexico, the primary grower in Utah.
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Hatch has plan to attack public-lands pot farms
Politics » Amendment will be proposed for comprehensive immigration reform bill.

By Matt Canham
| The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published May 19 2013

Washington » Somewhere in the remote wilderness of southern Utah on land controlled by the federal government, members of a Mexican cartel are putting new marijuana plants in the earth in hopes of reaping a multimillion dollar harvest this fall.

And it eats at the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Sue Thomas.

"They have taken over our public lands. They have no stake in Utah," she said. "They are here to use and abuse our public lands for their own profit," she said.

These illegal flash farms are a pervasive problem in the western United States, leading federal agents such as Thomas to work with Sen. Orrin Hatch on a plan to boost criminal penalties for those caught tending or harvesting the illegal plants.

Their discussions began two years ago, but Hatch, R-Utah, now thinks he has found a way to turn their proposal into law — attach it to the comprehensive immigration-reform bill making its way through the Senate.

Hatch plans to offer his amendment this week as the Senate Judiciary Committee continues to debate the legislation, which involves everything from border-security enhancements to a path to citizenship for those here illegally.

"Over the last few years we’ve seen a significant increase in the violence associated with this illegal activity, including armed watchmen and booby-traps," Hatch said. "This is threatening the safety of communities across our state, and increasing the penalties of anyone caught doing these activities will go a long way towards stopping them."
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Enhanced penalties »

His amendment, drafted in consultation with the DEA office in Utah, would create an aggravated penalty for growing marijuana on federal lands and require that any sentence be served on top of time for manufacturing or distributing the drug. The length of that sentence depends on the nature of the case, the amount of marijuana confiscated and the person’s prior criminal history.

Hatch’s proposal would also add new criminal penalties if the person was caught using poisons or unauthorized fertilizers, diverting water, setting booby-traps or possessing a gun at the farm.

Thomas, a supervisory special agent with the Utah DEA, thanked Hatch for his efforts and said the proposal would help combat the pot farms, which overwhelmingly are controlled by Mexican cartels and harvested using workers who are not authorized to be in the country.

"It is so important to us and it is a public safety issue. It is an officer-safety issue," she said.

But at least one law enforcement official doesn’t believe Hatch’s amendment will slow down the marijuana farms on Forest Service and BLM lands.

"It is not going to hurt us, but I don’t think it is going to do a whole lot to change the individuals coming in. They are coming in and growing marijuana because it is profitable,"

Marijuana DEA stats. for the Mountain West by The Salt Lake Tribune