Mexico's Drought Hurting Marijuana Growers

Soldiers incinerate marijuana plants at an illegal plantation found during a military operation on Friday at the Culiacan mountains, northern Mexico, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) (AP2012)

The drought in northern Mexico is so bad that it has hurt even illicit drug growers and their normally well-tended crops of marijuana and opium poppies, Gen. Pedro Gurrola, commander of army forces in the state of Sinaloa, said Monday. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) (AP2012)

Soldiers continue to work on clearing the patch of plants discovered. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) (AP2012)

Gen. Pedro Gurrola, commander of army forces in the state of Sinaloa, said army surveillance flights have detected fewer plantations than in previous years. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) (AP2012)

Despite the reductions in crops, an army spokesman, Gen. Ricardo Trevilla, stressed that didn't mean a drop-off in the overall production of drug cartels. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) (AP2012)

A soldier stands guard among marijuana plants at an illegal plantation found during a military operation on Friday at the Culiacan mountains, northern Mexico, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. The drought in northern Mexico is so bad that it has hurt even illicit drug growers and their normally well-tended crops of marijuana and opium poppies, Gen. Pedro Gurrola, commander of army forces in the state of Sinaloa, said Monday. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) (AP2012)

A soldier carries marijuana plants to be incinerated at an illegal plantation found during a military operation on Friday at the Culiacan mountains, northern Mexico, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. The drought in northern Mexico is so bad that it has hurt even illicit drug growers and their normally well-tended crops of marijuana and opium poppies, Gen. Pedro Gurrola, commander of army forces in the state of Sinaloa, said Monday. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) (AP2012)

Cartels have been increasingly turning to the production of synthetic drugs like methamphetamine, because they are easier to produce and are more profitable.(AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) (AP2012)

Synthetic drugs can be made faster, need less storage space and are harder to detect than marijuana and opiu, which are grown in the open. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) (AP2012)

Gen. Pedro Gurrola, commander of army forces in the state of Sinaloa, said planters were still trying to eke out crops. "They try to adapt. Where there is a stream, a pit, they put pumps and hoses in there and try to produce as much as they can." (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte). (AP2012)