Article Journey to Grow: Linking Process to Outcome in Target Site Selection for Cannabis Cultivation

Objectives: To test whether there is a relationship between characteristics of the journey to an outdoor cannabis cultivation site and the total number of plants grown. Methods: Spatial data on the location of a sample of 132 cultivation sites derived from aerial detection policing efforts is used. Two-Step cluster analysis is employed to derive profiles of cultivation sites based on three measures of distance (i.e., distance to road, to water, and eleva-tion) and regression analysis is used to examine their implications for the number of plants grown. Results: Four types of cultivation sites are found: prime, rugged, dry, and remote. Prime sites are fairly close to roads and water sources and are at relatively low elevation. They grow the greatest number of plants (mean 171). Low elevation is the single most important facto