The recent busts of the state’s two largest marijuana growing operations haven’t shocked some area police officials, to whom marijuana and other drugs present constant battles.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” said Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland. “Obviously it was good work by those agencies, but we all know the (drugs) are out there.”

Mulholland and police officials from Hooksett, Pembroke and Candia each said drugs, and the often violent peripheral effects of drug trading, have been, and remain, a primary concern.

But each said a lack of time and manpower limits what local police agencies can do to get drugs off the street.

Record busts In October, Hooksett police, with assistance from numerous agencies, uncovered a marijuana growing operation inside a home on Evelyn Street, in a quiet residential neighborhood.

Police found 780 marijuana plants there, and said it was likely the largest growing operation ever in New Hampshire. The operation didn’t hold its title long.

Just weeks later, on Nov. 2, state police, with assistance from the Epsom police and fire departments, found nearly 1,400 young marijuana plants, along with some $200,000 worth of growing equipment, inside a large Epsom home on Woodcote Drive. State police estimated the street value of the drugs seized in the operation to be between $4.2 and $7 million.

Despite such large-scale local growing operations, many police said there’s been no noticeable increase in the frequency of local drug trading.

The reason, they say, is because local drug trading has never slowed down.

“I’ve talked to some high school kids, and they say, ‘Everyone does (marijuana) around here,’” said Candia Police Chief Mike McGillen. “It’s around us. We just don’t always know about it.”

Mulholland said marijuana has been consistently seated behind alcohol as the most popular drug throughout his 12 years on Allenstown’s police force.

“I don’t think much has changed in the marijuana trade,” he said.

Persistent problem Hooksett police Detective Lt. Paul Cecilio said Hooksett’s department has arrested nine people on illegal drug charges – including seven for possession and two for distribution – since September. Hooksett police have arrested 26 people for drug possession since July. Those numbers, Cecilio said, are fairly typical for the time span.

Farther up Route 3 in Pembroke, Police Chief Scott Lane said, “It seems in an awful lot of cars our officers are stopping, they find drugs in them.”

Lane said Pembroke police busted up three indoor marijuana- growing operations in the summer of 2005. He said the indoor operations yield a more potent product.

“If they were raising prize tomatoes,” he said, “they’d be getting the blue ribbon at the fair.”

Although marijuana has gotten much stronger, its addictive qualities and effects it wreaks on the human body pale in comparison to other drugs that are seeing a surge in popularity, several police officials said.

“You have much more potent drugs out there on the street now than you did in the 1970s,” said Cecilio.

More than marijuana Mulholland said common drugs found by his officers include heroin, cocaine and Ecstasy.

Local police say another drug, methamphetamine, commonly amateurishly manufactured as “crystal meth,” is a looming threat as it moves eastward to New England.

“It’s nasty stuff,” said McGillen.

“I think we’ll run into it soon. I just have a funny feeling.”

Mulholland described an influx of methamphetamines as “just a matter of time.”

“It’s more addictive than heroin and it’s more dangerous,” he said.

Another popular, and extremely corrosive, means of copping a buzz used by many young people these days is “huffing,” said Cecilio, which involves sniffing things like glue or fumes from paint thinner.

Lane said he’s noticed an increase in the number of people abusing prescription pharmaceutical drugs, like the painkiller Oxycodone.

“Some people develop drug habits and they go ‘doctor shopping,’ going doctor to doctor (for prescriptions),” said Lane.

City spillover Cecilio and Mulholland, representing departments headquartered just miles from Manchester along a contiguous stretch of state highway, said some local drug trafficking seems to spill over from the city whenever Manchester police crack down on suspected drug dealers.

“All that does is push those people out here,” said Cecilio. Mulholland said affordable housing in Allenstown, along with a lack of an undercover narcotics unit, may attract some suspected dealers to town when the heat’s on them in the Queen City.

Allenstown police have dedicated more time to investigating alleged drug trading since 2002.

In April, after a two-year investigation, the department arrested a man found with 68 marijuana plants, cash and numerous firearms.

But such success is limited by the amount of time officers can spend investigating drug cases, Mulholland said.

“I don’t have detectives, I have a patrol force,” he said.

Lane said police departments in small towns face an inherent difficulty in doing any type of undercover drug work.

“When you’ve got an agency of 11 people, you don’t have to live in town too long to know who the cops are,” he said.

Even Hooksett, which has had a steadily growing department, lacks the manpower to hone in specifically on drugs, Cecilio said.

“If we could take two guys and say, ‘You guys go work on drugs,’ we could get a lot more arrests,” said Cecilio.

Police from each of the agencies interviewed urged residents to report suspected drug-related activity.