Posted on 11/05/2009 11:46:20 AM PST by AuntB
NEAR SEIAD VALLEY, Calif. - More than seven million marijuana plants have been seized from outdoor gardens in the state of California so far in 2009.
In Oregon, 195,000 plants have been seized, more than double the amount from 2008. The Drug Enforcement Agency says that is due to two factors. One is that law enforcement is doing a better job at finding marijuana. The other is that much more pot is being grown.
"It's a money crop. That's the whole reason they're out there doing this is because it's big money," said Sergeant Mike Gilley with the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department.
A multi-agency bust in August turned up more than 200,000 pot plants in Siskiyou County, accounting for about one-billion dollars in lost profit to marijuana growers. The two day operation near Highway 96 northwest of Yreka was the largest single seizure of marijuana plants in county history, and one of the largest ever in the state.
"It is easier to grow here, and without trying to get it across the border. They distribute all over the nation, distribute across Canada," said Captain Jim Betts with the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department.
Instead of smuggling in the cash crop, drug cartels are more often growing marijuana in national forests.
"It started in the 80s when people were growing what would be a large garden for us. What we'd find in the mountains out here like this would be 25 to 50 plants. At that time we weren't using helicopters. We bundled these things up and took them out on our backs," Betts said.
Now, it takes aerial help and SWAT teams to locate and remove the gardens.
"We started seeing this around 2000. 2002 was when we started finding out really how big the scope of this was. We started running into cartel gardens," Gilley said.
"Our national forests, those are our treasures. I mean the pristine forests, the national parks this is where people want to go to maybe bicycle, hike, fish, camp. And when they have marijuana traffickers that are heavily armed in there that are growing marijuana on our public lands, that presents a clear and present danger," DEA Assistant Special Agent Gordon Taylor said.
One marijuana operation found near Mt. Shasta was just three miles from some popular trails around Lake Siskiyou.
"Now, if an unsuspecting hiker happens to get off the beaten track and stumbles into one of these grows, they can be encountered at gun point and in some instances they've even been shot at or shot," Taylor said.
The gardens are usually run by Mexican nationals.
"A lot of times the families are held captive or kidnapped and under threat if they lose the garden or if something does happen to this cash crop, these families could be threatened," Gilley said.
They man their crop 24-hours-a-day from spring to fall.
"They'll have a manager, and the manager is the one who oversees the entire garden and the whole operation. And he'll make scheduled drops. And what he drops off with his food, equipment, and it's usually a weeks worth of food," said Deputy Robert Konieczny with the Josephine County Sheriff's Office.
The drip system is one of the ways eradication teams can tell the organized crime is based out of Mexico.
Agents also find dangerous weapons in the gardens.
"There has not been one garden we've gone into over the years where we haven't at least found rifles, handguns, or ammunition... We find anything from 22s to AK 47s to 300 Winchester Magnums," Betts said.
"Obviously, we're not going to solve this problem by just arresting people. We need to educate people on the harmful effects of marijuana and the dangers involved and let them actually view the big picture," Taylor said.
The marijuana operations fuel other drugs. Even though there's been a dramatic decrease in the number of meth labs in Oregon, Mexican drug trafficking organizations are increasing imports into the state and dominating the transportation and distribution of meth, heroin, and cocaine in Oregon.
So far this year, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office has made 18 federal indictments. The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office says it has two cases at the federal level.
Authorities say it takes a lot of leg work to arrest those running cartel gardens. Police say these workers spent a lot of time in the woods and can moved quickly through the brush.
Yes, and the GOP squatter support squad, along with Obama's minions will give them AMNESTY.
Photos of these foreign grown pot plantations and the destruction to the habitat of our national lands are here:
http://towncriernews.blogspot.com/search?q=invasion+800+miles
legalize it, and the gangs go out of business....
exactly! its a plant that God put on this planet. My dr said if they would just legalize it you could get rid of 60% of all pharmecutical drugs. he said this plant has more value than most people will ever realize..
See my tagline.
Your doctor sounds a little kooky.
Those aren’t drug cartels, they’re pharmaceutical reps!
Ditto.
Oh, wait, we did not “win” the war on crabgrass and dandelions, did we?
Look, pot is dangerous. Pot smoking by parents can and does damage children and families, just like irresponsible alcohol abuse.
However, government will never be able to eliminate pot, a natural weed. Reducing or eliminating the penalties on marijuana will probably have negligible effects on consumption.
Also, look up the prescription drug “Thalamid” or the old Thalidamide, which was once prescribed in Britain, for morning sickness in pregnant women, only later found to cause massive birth defects.
Thalamid is now available, in the United States, for cancer patients on Chemotherapy, in order to help control nausea and promote a healthy appetite. The stuff can cost upwards of $7,000.00 PER MONTH! Also, Thalmid is extremely dangerous to pregnant women, those taking the drug must promise that they understand that even TOUCHING the pill can cause enough of the drug to be absorbed, through the skin of a pregnant mother, to cause birth defects!
Compare this to Marijuana, which, NEWS FLASH: gives users the “munchies” and thereby promotes the appetite, can help control pain, and can also combat depression!
Also, Pot is not NEARLY as dangerous as Thalmid to pregnant women!
It's all but legal in California. Gangs are more powerful than ever.
Explain how legalization irradicates gangs. I'd like to understand how this works.
Do we still have a huge problem with bootleggers?
You answered a question with a question. There’s no answer in there. But I’ll answer it anyway: when the taxes on alcohol become too burdensome, bootlegging will become provitable to armed gangs once again. As it is, the long and invovled process of manufacturing alcohol and the effort and materials required to transport it make it unprofitable. Cigarettes, on the other hand, are alive and well on the black market. The more taxes go up, the more the black market grows. I really want to know.
Now, I’ll ask again. If I can walk into any dispensary with a “The Doctor Is In” sign in the window, complain of a headache and get overpriced state-sanctioned weed, why are the gangs in California getting richer and stronger? Honestly, think this through and explain how it works.
If it is legal, anyone can grow it. Why pay for it from a Dr or a drug dealer if you can grow it in your garden?
Out of business or they pay taxes and become legit. Continued illegality only serves the crimminals.
Tobacco's legal, too. And you can grow it in your garden. Why this?
14 People Charged With Illegally Purchasing 77M Cigarettes
BTW, I'm in favor of outright decriminalization. I just don't like disingenuous arguments ("it's medicine", "taxing it will save the economy", "it will end the drug trade", etc). The best argument for total decriminalization (not just partial legalization) is liberty. Everything else is smoke and mirrors.
OK, I completely agree that it is about liberty. However, each of my points are valid, even if I formed them as questions. :D
Tobacco is highly regulated, and no you can’t grow it in your garden. Well, not unless you are a registered tobacco farmer.
It sounds like you are aware. Have you ever read this.
“Drug Decriminalization in Portugal:
Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies”
by Glenn Greenwald
CATO
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10080
It is not even close to being all but legal in California. Both the state government and the federal government can and will arrest people for growing on a large scale.
Tobacco prices would skyrocket if tobacco growing was as “legal” as it is in California.
The gangs are partially the one’s supplying the dispensaries. Plus, the gangs can go and move their product to different states where there are no medical laws. And the gangs have no true legal competition to deal with.
If wine were illegal in Oklahoma or whatever but the wine business existed as it were in California there would be no gang’s setting up vineyards in the backwoods. Every vineyard in Napa would still be operating as usual. The difference is the gangs would just be in the smuggling business at that point, not the production business.
With pot there is no widespread production business, as the feds will bust anyone who has an open and large scale production like any Napa valley vinryard.
Only if you intend to sell it. For personal use, tobacco growing is 100% legal.
Of course it is. It's readily available in any number of dispensaries, there are countless home-growers with growing cards producing potent, high-quality dope and getting caught possessing personal use quantities won't even get you a ticket. I lived in Southern California most of my adult life, bought and smoked my share, and know more heads than I can count (including growers). Not of one of them has ever spent an hour in jail and nobody ever has even the slightest problem finding it anytime they want it.
It's as close to legal in Cali as it is anywhere in the country. When it's truly "legalized" for purposes of taxation, that's when the serious enforcement starts and CAMP helicopters start flying over residential neighborhoods and doors start getting kicked in.
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