Man sentenced to 5 years for growing pot in national forest

news/record ^ | 10/4/06 | ap

[Rb ver. 2.0]

ASHEVILLE (AP) — A South Carolina man has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for cultivating a marijuana garden in the Nantahala National Forest in Macon County.

Timothy Olin Bennett, 47, of Walterboro, S.C., was sentenced Tuesday at a hearing in U.S. District Court before Judge Lacy Thornburg.

He had pleaded guilty earlier to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana.

The office of U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert said Bennett, James Patrick Davis and Josh Lee Flynn maintained a marijuana garden inside the national forest between October 2001 and November 2002. The men were also suspected of planning to cultivate it for a third growing season in 2003.

Bennett was indicted in February.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

Looks like they got caught for being just plain dumb for growing it in the same spot two seasons in a row.

Vile weed! Evil weed!

[TXBubba]

Just curious..is marijuana a native plant?

[Global2010]

Dopes.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

It's native to North America.

[L98Fiero]

Tsk Tsk. Another one who uses too much of his product.

Curious, does the government indict itself where MJ grows naturally or are they going to indict God?

[microgood]

Wow. I feel so much safer now. And it will only cost about 200K to put this guy away for 5 years. What a bargain.

[P-40]

does the government indict itself where MJ grows naturally

They just left it alone years ago...and so did we. It was just a weed that would make you loco.

[TXBubba]

That's what I thought. Thanks.

[BallyBill]

Some of these people have big operations out there. Hunters and outdoors man stumble onto this stuff and are lucky to get out alive.

I just received a story from an outdoors site this week and a hunter was shot at by 4 or 5 growers on a state land in CA, I think. Some sites are even booby trapped. You usually find the PVC pipe used for irrigation when the weather uncovers it. Get Out and notify authorities if you come across it.

[thoughtomator]

Native to most of the planet, yes... as one of the hardiest plants known to man, it can be grown on most of the earth's land surface.

[samtheman]

If the govt ignored this, and more people started doing it, soon there would be mini-pot-plantations staked out all over the parks, protected by dogs, booby traps and people carrying guns. Want to start your own private pot plantation? Go do it somewhere else. Not in national parks.

And anybody with any brains knows that if you want long jail sentences you break federal laws. Like a previous poster said, these guys were smoking too much of their own product.

[samtheman]

Or national forests.

Or state parks.

[KarlInOhio]

Why does the government hate people growing pot on federal land? Because it can't profit from civil forfeiture laws.

[eleni121]

He's not the only one by a long shot. Another idiot got five years for growing it in Michigan.

Deserved it and learned lots in prison.

Doing much better now...and not ruining kids' lives.

[dubie]

[sandbar]

Yeah, I'll enjoy paying this guy's room and board for growing a PLANT.

[sandbar]

>>>Curious, does the government indict itself where MJ grows naturally or are they going to indict God?>>>

Are you kidding??? Any marijuana plant that finds itself growing somewhere was planted by SOMEONE ELSE and for it's own immoral, illegal and terrible consumption.

Marijuana was created by Libertarians to give them a platform. They are on a massive propaganda campaign to make you THINK God had something to do with it.

[L98Fiero]

"Marijuana was created by Libertarians..."

Are you saying libertarians are God? ;-)

Marijuana is a plant. It was been here long before libertarians. God put it here. He is the only one who can create life, plant or animal. It has been growing naturally in this country for thousands, if not millions of years.

Poision ivy does more harm to people than marijuana. That is just a fact.

[rahbert]

India, Asia Minor. It was known to the ancient Sumerians.

Maybe other ancients also got down with it.

[microgood]

If the govt ignored this, and more people started doing it, soon there would be mini-pot-plantations staked out all over the parks, protected by dogs, booby traps and people carrying guns. Want to start your own private pot plantation? Go do it somewhere else. Not in national parks.

This has already been happening in California and the Northwest for years. It is a new trend caused by peoples property being seized for growing it on private land. After all, the government cannot seize its own land, can it? They are smarter there, however, as they hire illegals from Mexico to do the cultivating so that we taxpayers can pay to put illegals into our jail system rather than those who profit from it.

It reminds me of the unintended consequences of mandatory minimum sentences for drug dealers: now most of the street dealers are under 16.

This drug war is like trying to stop a hurricane by urinating in its general direction.