Posted on 09/11/2009 9:56:37 AM PDT by JoeProBono
Some people cancel holidays abroad, others stage yard sales or start shopping at low-cost supermarkets. To that list must now be added a new way to get through economic hard times: grow cannabis. Law enforcers on the west coast of the US and in the middle states straddled by the foothills of the Appalachian mountains are reporting a common trend. It is boom time for marijuana cultivation, and much of the incentive they say is to beat the recession.
So far this year, police in parts of the country where cannabis is traditionally grown have chopped down plants with a street value of $12bn. The core growing area is in California, Washington and Oregon to the west, but the Appalachian states of Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia are also witnessing an explosion. More than 600,000 cannabis plants have been cut and burned in those states this summer, reversing a previous decline in production brought about by stringent law enforcement.
It is not only the quantity of crop that is on the rise, the nature of the growers is also changing.
Ed Shemelya, who leads the marijuana eradication programme in the Appalachia region, says a new type of grower is emerging wholly different to the family cartels that have cultivated the drug for generations. "We are seeing a lot more individuals who wouldn't normally be growing marijuana. They are not your professionals."
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Even though I disagree with the legalization of any recreational drug, you are correct. History has shown the results, time and time again.
I should ping dane...but from what I'm told, he's been banned.
5.56mm
What a moron.
Keeping in mind that we were founded on Christian principles and morals, and that we accept certain responsibilities that go along with those privileges.
And that we shall take into consideration all of those responsibilities before we partake in said privileges.
נַצְרוּת המתים הנהנים מאושר עילאי בגן העדן
Elohim YaHWeH gave us this world to use (not abuse) as we see fit. That includes all the plants as well. Everything in moderation.
cכל דבר במתינות
Eat too much broccoli and see what happens. You'll never get off the toilet bowl.
Seeing it years ago got me into studying the pot situation. I'd been into prohibition earlier and pot seemed to share a similar political/capitalistic torment
I talked with people who knew people who smoked pot in the 30s and no one really thought anything about it. “He was a nice man.”
I heard from farmers about “The Feds coming around,” searching their fields, and burning hemp they found whether it was pot or hemp. They said the stuff grew everywhere; all they had to do was start some growing and the cows would would spread the plants over the years. No one paid any attention but the cows gave more milk and were more even tempered but “The Feds” were rabid to eradicate it.
Birdseed included pot seeds to make them sing more. I heard birdseed had pot in it in the 70s and that mfrs tried to sterilize the seeds but pot vanished from the mix at some point. Where were they getting pot after they were banned in, what, 1937? Little variables like that make people disbelieve the whole thing.
Just like prohibition, I read pot had been made illegal under shady circumstances. Part of my objective was looking at laws that were enacted to benefit another and how they make skeptics into citizens. Doing that now would be impossible.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.