Michael A. Vivenzio, a Massachusetts man facing more than $100,000 in student loans, moved to Oregon six years ago to cash in on some of the state's wickedly potent cannabis and pay down his debts.

From 2005 to 2010, Vivenzio and his buddy, Jason J. Kalenkowitz, set up sophisticated growing operations inside several Portland houses, according to government court papers. They cultivated many pounds of marijuana over multiple growing cycles.

The pot, with its made-n-Oregon pedigree, sold for $2,500 a pound. That's a premium price, even for the state's so-called "one-toke wonder weed."

When the Portland Police Bureau's Drugs and Vice Division busted Vivenzio in his Northwest Portland home on May 4, 2010, it seized 69 mature plants and a loaded 9mm pistol in his sofa, records show.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas H. Edmonds said Vivenzio, 32, was cooperative from the get-go. Pot grown in Oregon carries a certain cachet for buyers, Edmonds said, and it's not unusual to see out-of-staters come here to grow. What surprised Edmonds was Vivenzio's profit motive: paying off student loans.

"Haven't run into that," he said.

Court papers show that investigators hauled 831 plants out of Vivenzio's house and two others. They seized $72,000 in cash from Kalenkowitz and $27,000 from Vivenzio. Internal Revenue Service agents uncovered another $32,000 in Kalenkowitz's bank accounts.

U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman sentenced Kalenkowitz last spring to a little more than four years in prison for money laundering and conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana. Vivenzio was sentenced last month to 2 1/2 years for the same crimes.

The IRS reported this week that Vivenzio used the pot proceeds to pay down $80,000 in student loans.

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