Posted on 07/13/2007 6:25:51 PM PDT by SubGeniusX
The nation's top anti-drug official said people need to overcome their "reefer blindness" and see that illicit marijuana gardens are a terrorist threat to the public's health and safety, as well as to the environment.
John P. Walters, President Bush's drug czar, said the people who plant and tend the gardens are terrorists who wouldn't hesitate to help other terrorists get into the country with the aim of causing mass casualties. Walters made the comments at a Thursday press conference that provided an update on the "Operation Alesia" marijuana-eradication effort.
"Don't buy drugs. They fund violence and terror," he said.
After touring gardens raided this week in Shasta County, Walters said the officers who are destroying the gardens are performing hard, dangerous work in rough terrain. He said growers have been known to have weapons, including assault rifles.
"These people are armed; they're dangerous," he said. He called them "violent criminal terrorists."
Walters, whose official title is director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said too many people write off marijuana as harmless. "We have kind of a reefer blindness,' " he said.
No arrests have been made so far in the four days of raids, the opening leg of what Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko has promised will be at least two straight weeks of daily raids.
He said suspects have been hard to find because their familiarity with their terrain makes it easy for them to flee quickly.
Although crews doing the raids are using Black Hawk and other helicopters to drop in on some of the gardens, Bosenko said they don't want to give the growers any warning of a raid.
"We try to move in under stealth," he said.
As of Thursday morning, Operation Alesia raids had resulted in the yanking of 68,237 young marijuana plants from public lands in Shasta County. Raids already have been conducted in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, as well as on land managed by the U.S. Forest Service north of Lake Shasta and other public land near Manton.
The operation is being led by the sheriff's office and has involved 17 agencies, including the California National Guard and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. It's believed to be the largest campaign of its kind in the state, Bosenko said.
The operation is named after the last major battle between the Roman Empire and the Gauls in 52 B.C. That battle was won by the Romans.
With the blitz of marijuana gardens around Shasta County, Bosenko said officials hope to not only get rid of the pot, but also win back the land for the public that owns it.
"These organizations are destroying our lands and wildlife," he said.
Bernie Weingardt, regional forester for the Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Region, said the 28,000 acres believed to house illegal marijuana grows on national forest land throughout the state would cost more than $300 million to
revive.
"These lands must be cleaned and restored," he said.
His estimate is based on a National Park Service study that found it costs $11,000 per acre to pull the plants, clear irrigation systems, reshape any terracing and replant native vegetation, said Mike Odle, Forest Service spokesman.
While Walters didn't give specific goals for Operation Alesia, he said anti-drug agencies aim to cripple the organized crime groups that he said are behind the marijuana cultivation.
"This business we intend to put into recession, depression and put its leaders into jail," Walters said.
Yo, dude, lets go get stoned and then blow ourselves up.
John
well of course, he's surrounding himself with people more capable than himself.....
IQ Range Classification
70-80 Borderline deficiency
50-69 Moron
20-49 Imbecile
below 20 Idiot
These raids will have a positive effect on the local economy here in western Colorado. Supply and demand, that sort of thing, you know...
This might apply to opium grown in Afghanistan, but real terrorists finance their operations with Daddy's oil billions. They wouldn't rely on the flakeys and shakeys who grow weed in California closets.
70-80 Airline customer service rep
50-69 Head of FEMA
20-49 Economist
below 20: John P Walters
I hope he didn't say this.
In the Texas panhandle, along the Canadian River, is a huge swath of feral hemp left from the days when it was planted by the gov’t as a potential stategic material for rope. Really don’t know if any ever got used for that, but as the Zap Comiks Freak Brothers once said, “the better the rope, the worse the dope”.
In short, marijuana bred for hemp fiber is useless for getting high. You will get emphysema before you get a buzz. Still, nearly every year, a couple groups of dumb kids get busted harvesting this worthless, but still illegal plant. Every cop involved poses for pictures, “value” which would be absurd for really good pot gets quoted unquestioningly in the press, and cells which would be better used for holding illegal aliens are occupied for lengthy terms by numbskulls whose only real crime was felonious stupidity.
As for the “They got guns and will use them”, even for those who do plant good weed on public lands, they usually do this so that even if the crop is discovered, they just walk away, losing nothing more than effort and seed. It happens, but only rarely do the drug warriors catch the farmer on site. The farmers know them hills like your tongue knows your teeth. They start seeing strange vehicles carrying surveillance teams back and forth changing shifts, heck, they write that one off and sit home drinking beer and laughing at the feds crouching in the thunderstorms.
Dear God.....
This stupid fool is just hitting on all of the hot button buzz words. lol
When the opium harvest is done, many of the locals have no gainful income. That is when the Taliban and al Qaeda hire them to plant IEDs and ambush convoys. You can buy an assasin in Afghanistan for 50 bucks, and the bad guys do.
Maybe we can convert them all into growing fries for McDonald's, but somehow I doubt the profit margin is the same.
My point is that even the IED planters in Afghanistan may not be ideological terrorists, they are merely doing odd jobs for cash. They don't necessarily harbor hostility for us nor want to kill us or make us leave. They only want 50 bucks. We could probably hire them for $75 and the Taliban would have no traction. Plus, they would like to have their movies and music back. God Bless the USA.
placemarker
I wish he would also add his solution -- the legalization of all drugs -- so we can see him for the whack-job he is. But no. All we'll get from him is criticism.
Sure. Then all the drug traffickers will move here, grow/manufacture their drugs legally, and make a tremendous profit exporting them to countries where use remains illegal. Buy American! will have a whole new meaning, thanks to you.
So will The Ugly American. This would really increase our popularity in the world -- especially among Muslims. "Houston Heroin", "Memphis Meth", and "Kansas Coke" addicting millions of children worldwide.
But wait, robertpaulsen, the rest of the world will follow our lead and legalize all drugs, thereby taking away the profit.
You are one funny dude. Hey, if you're going to dream your Libertarian dream, dream big.
Did 9/11 "decimate" the drug market?
I often wondered who were the ones who passed the 21st amendment. Thanks for the info!
And every time your child throws a temper tantrum, give him a sucker to keep still. See how that works first, then let me know if you really want to pay Afghani farmers to grow illegal drugs.
I think the reference was to fighting drugs within the US, not without. Besides, if drugs were legal than the terrorists would have to compete with philip morriss.. now they don't compete with anybody.
I stated that I am willing to concede that a role for some type of regulation of some drugs.
But the absolute criminalization of marijuana, heroin and cocaine is much more devastating to society, and to individuals, than allowing people access to them.
You cannot seriously tell me that the War on Drugs has proven to be good social policy. You need to take your blinders off.
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