Posted on 07/16/2007 7:12:55 AM PDT by AuntB
President Bush's so-called “drug czar,” John P. Walters, is scheduled to be in Shasta County Thursday to participate in the launch of Operation Alesia, a multi-agency marijuana eradication operation on public lands that began this Monday.
Seventeen local, state and federal agencies are participating in Operation Alesia, which has the stated goal of “education, eradication and reclamation of marijuana cultivation sites on public lands” in Shasta County, according to a press release from the Shasta-Trinity National Forest office in Redding.
In a press release from his Washington, DC, office, Director of National Drug Control Policy Walters states, “America's public lands are under attack. Instead of being appreciated as national treasures, they are being exploited and destroyed by foreign drug trafficking organizations and heavily armed Mexican marijuana cartels who have turned them into ground zero for drug cultivation. These violent drug traffickers are endangering America's outdoor enthusiasts and sportsmen, and the sensitive ecosystems of our wilderness.”
North state Congressional representative Wally Herger attended a press release at the Forest Service headquarters in Redding Monday to announce the start of Operation Alesia.
Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said, “The intent of Operation Alesia is to strike a significant blow against Mexican drug trafficking organizations and armed Mexican nationals operating in the vicinity of Shasta County. “Operation Alesia is the largest cooperative effort focused on marijuana eradication to occur in Shasta County and on National Forest System lands and one of the largest of its kind nationwide”
Walters will join agency heads from the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, U.S. Forest Service and California National Guard Thursday for a joint press conference on Operation Alesia. He is also scheduled to visit a marijuana eradication site.
Regional Forester Bernie Weingardt of the US Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Region said, “Forest Service and National Guard crews will work to complete the cleanup and removal of irrigation lines, contaminants and trash from the land, streams and rivers. Removal of infrastructure is imperative to prevent drug trafficking organizations from re-establishing their operations.”
Just growing the pot Americans won't grow..........
The last I heard, pot was the number one cash crop in several states, including Indiana.
Kill the cartels by doing the same thing we did to Al Capone’s gangs by legalizing alcohol, or the Vegas gangs when gambling was legalized.
I’m sorry, but this is a lost fight. Legalize it, regulate it, tax it, and use the dollars to pay for rehab and the war on the harder stuff.
A prediction. As the consumption of tabacco drops beyond a certain point, tax revenue also drops and MaryJane will come in to save the day.
At least that would screw up the Mexican Drug cartel operations. It's gone so far, that I believe you are correct, there is too much profit in it being illegal.
It would be easier to just legalize gambling and build casinos.
“It’s gone so far, that I believe you are correct, there is too much profit in it being illegal.”
I didn’t say that I like the idea, but at some point, a conservative must also be pragmatic. We lost that pot war when the Indians smoked the stuff before the white settlers came into the area. I’ve talked to elderly people who talk about smoking the stuff in the 1920’s — it made Prohibition a lot more bearable I hear.
Conservatives ultimately caved to reality on alcohol (actually, prohibitionists were called “liberals” back then), gambling, Blue laws (Sunday shopping, etc), and porn because the vast majority of the American population refused to follow those laws. It’s not that we like the idea, and not that we find those activities to be good for society, but ultimately we just had to go with the flow.
“It would be easier to just legalize gambling and build casinos.”
Built by Indians named Guido and Anthony, by the New Jersey Roulette tribe?
Yeah, something like that.
Seriously, when you talk about “sin taxes” (I like to call them “poor taxes”), gambling is easier for the public to swallow than legalizing pot.
I’ll be glad to help............one leaf at a time........
We already have booze and cigarettes and our public’s health and acceptance can barely tolerate that.
Want to get high? Spin in circles, stop, spin the other way, then lay down and watch the clouds. Kids do it. It’s usually harmless until you run or fall into something. It’s fun too. Doesn’t cost anything.
The number 1 anti- “legalize pot” fan is the foreign drug cartel. They stand to lose the most. It’s the same reason way Hawaii drug lords don’t want legalized pot—they’d lose all of their business.
How about the “legalize murder” fan. “Why not?” says the logic. “You legalize gluttony, why can’t you accept rage? You’ve legalized lust (pornography and homosexual unions), what stops you with murder beyond the unborn?”
Yes, there is right and wrong. Getting high on poisons and carcinogens is wrong. Smoking pure tobacco leaves may be slight in health hazards, but that’s not what you smoke in cigarettes. What the hell would drug pushers of pot use in their joints to accelerate the high and hook the user?
Marijuana is far, far less nefarious than alcohol -- I know because for many years I did both to excess. Weed smokers aren't nearly as violent as drinkers, and are much less impaired behind the wheel. Anyone who has partaken of both will tell you the same thing. Those are FACTS that I've learned from personal experience.
I encourage anyone who supports keeping marijuana illegal to tell me why it should be illegal, but alcohol should remain legal.
Here’s a follow up article with comments by the ‘drug czar’, who like the rest of this administration just doesn’t GET that the problem may be the OPEN BORDERS! Much more about these Mexican Drug cartel farms here with photos of the destruction to our parks and forests.
http://towncriernews.blogspot.com/2006/09/mexican-border-has-moved-800-miles.html
Drug czar gives warning Federal official calls marijuana growers dangerous terrorists
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.
http://redding.com/news/2007/jul/13/drug-czar-gives-warning/
Calling Mugs99...
You never answered my question: Do you think we alcohol should be illegal? It seems to fail all the tests you note for having marijuana remain illegal.
End the failed war on some drugs.
Because it irritates potheads to no end.
Where have I heard that before? Are you real or a slogan generating machine?
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