To curtail the spread of marijuana cultivation, the DEA initiated the Domestic Cannabis Eradication and Suppression Program in 1979, which is the only nationwide program that exclusively addresses marijuana. The program began operations in Hawaii and California and rapidly expanded to include all 50 states by 1985. In Hawaii, cannabis eradication efforts have reduced marijuana availability in the islands and forced traffickers to smuggle marijuana from the mainland. A trend toward indoor marijuana production in the United States is largely due to successful drug law enforcement efforts to curtail outdoor cultivation. Moreover, indoor growing provides a controlled environment conducive to the production of highpotency sinsemilla.
Indoor cultivation permits yearround production and can be accomplished in a variety of settings.
Indoor grows range from several plants grown in a closet, to thousands of plants grown in elaborate, specially constructed greenhouses. Rates of vegetation, growth, and maturation are enhanced by special fertilizers, plant hormones, steroids, insecticides, and genetic engineering. In 1998, the five leading states for indoor growing activity were California, Florida, Oregon, Alaska, and Kentucky. Indoor growers cultivated 89 plants on average. Nationwide in the same year, drug law enforcement authorities seized 2,616 indoor grow operations.