Posted on 08/13/2005 8:30:23 AM PDT by LNewman
FAMED for the biggest trees in the world, Sequoia National Park is now No. 1 in another flora department: marijuana growing, with more land carved up by pot growers than any other park.
Parts of Sequoia, including the Kaweah River drainage and areas off Mineral King Road, are no-go zones for visitors and park rangers during the April-to-October growing season, when drug lords cultivate pot on an agribusiness-scale fit for the Central Valley.
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He and two seasonal employees face an army of growers who turn expanses of land set aside as untouched wilderness into contraband cropland.
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The growers poach wildlife, spill pesticides, divert water from streams and dump tons of trash.
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"I've had meetings with law enforcement throughout the state, and everybody just sits there with their mouths open. Nobody can believe this has happened on the scale that it has," says William Ruzzamenti, a 30-year Drug Enforcement Administration official who heads up the Central Valley High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a program that spearheads drug investigations and has provided support to Sequoia and Kings Canyon.
Pot plantations have surged as Mexican-affiliated drug cartels adapt to increased border security since 9/11 and cash in on the rising price of high-grade weed, now more profitable than methamphetamine, according to investigators.
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The pot growers are no longer the stereotype of hapless hippies. They are part of sophisticated criminal organizations schooled on the Colombian cartels' economy of scale, says Ruzzamenti ... SNIP ... Most of the ringleaders, say investigators, are U.S. nationals based in Southern California with connections to cartel families in Michoacán, Mexico; field workers are well-armed Mexican laborers.
"We've found AR-15s, shotguns, rifles, knives strapped to poles, crude crossbows," says J.D. Swed, chief ranger at Sequoia.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Sounds like the environmental wackos would want to wage war against these thugs.......
but then....how would they make it through the week without their weed?
3000 tourists could be murdered in the forest and no leftie would more than mumble!
The "make it legal" crowd should be here in 5...4...3...2...1
The dip$hit crowd made it here in 3.
This would seem to be a better use for a swat team than serving a search warrant circa Sunrise,FL.
If it was legal, you'd have no need for criminals growing it in secret. Look at what happened with prohibition and alcohol. (Thanks to that money we have the Kennedys!)
You're kiddin', right? They need an armed militia. Whooops, oh, they have it. WoDies called 'CAMP' Campaign Against Marijuana P-sumtin (processin'? I dunno). It is my understanding that come falltime they invade these central California areas like an occupying force, gleaning no harmony with the local population, only resentment.
The whole pot market has been artificially inflated by the WoD. It is a plant that grows near anywhere, it should have the same value as a dang tomato. It should be worthless. Only BS, propaganda and lies make it of any value.
We have a Border Patrol that cant stop the invaders and now we have Park Rangers that are afraid to enter the forest because these same invaders are growing pot there.
What is wrong with this picture?
Call the Minutemen Vigilantes if you like, But when the Police are too frightened or too tied up in PC Bullshit to get the job done , its time someone in the Government decided to make things right or get the hell out of the way so citizens can.
If I were governer, I'd get the National Guard mobilized, have them do a grid by grid search and destroy mission with orders to shoot to kill and the ability to call in airstrikes if they faced any resistance. Why should we roll over for criminals? Why should law-abiding citizens be afraid to hike in a national forest?
Drugs are an evil scourge on this society.
Hilarious!
I never smoked the stuff, never wanted to. After knowing some pot-heads, I have even less reason to do so.
What's wrong with a good cigar instead?
America seems to run on vice today: gambling is a normal habit; pornography is everywhere; prescribed and illegal drugs are growing in abuse.
.....taking over the national parks Americans don't want to take over
It's nice to see so many people gainfully employed. I understand that there's a nice profit margin, to boot.
Well said, Sarge.
Pot used to be grown by people on their own property that cared about the environment and didn't cause problems for their neighbors. Now, for about 20 years, criminals, gang members and illegal aliens are acting like pirates growing on other people's property and public park lands. These irresponsible growers and trespassers set up booby traps (such as fish hooks hanging down from trees at eye level), raze areas for orchards, litter profusely and even illegally dump dangerous chemicals with no oversight. They must be stopped. But they need to separated from responsible owners and citizens in these areas!
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