Posted on 08/08/2008 7:57:03 AM PDT by MoreGovLess
SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST, California (CNN) -- Beyond the towering trees that have stood here for thousands of years, an intense drug war is being waged. Illegal immigrants connected to Mexico's drug cartels are growing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of marijuana in the heart of one of America's national treasures, authorities say. It's a booming business that, federal officials say, feeds Mexico's most violent drug traffickers.
"These aren't Cheech and Chong plants," said John Walters, director of the National Drug Control Policy. "People who farm now are not doing this for laughs, despite the fact Hollywood still thinks that. They're doing it to make a lot of money."
Walters spoke from a "marijuana garden" tucked deep into the Sequoia National Forest, about a two- to four-hour hike from the nearest road, far removed from the giant sequoias the region is best known for.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Legalize it. Now. The ban on pot needs to go the way of prohibition for the same reasons.
I was looking for the obligatory statement about how much more powerful pot is today than before. The Feds always have to parrot that talking point.
I guess they’re just doing the jobs Americans’ won’t do.
It sure has cost us billions in terms of enforcement and locking people up and we have very little progress to show for it. It also has devastated countries such as Mexico and Columbia. The War on Drugs has largely failed and has failed for the same reason that prohibition did.
Yup... I wonder how much weed would be grown in National parks and forests if every stoner in America could just grow his own in his own backyard. The answer, obviously, is zero.
But of course, I'm forgetting about the children when I say things like that </sarcasm>
Round up and deport the illegals, then legalize the weed. Two problems solved for the price of one.
I heard about this in the 80s. Some of these farms are booby-trapped with things like shotguns on tripwires at ankle level.
Does this mean the Feds will seize their own parks and sell them at auction?
Sounds like an opportunity.
We probably have lots of old napalm lying around and past its expiration date.
Time for a controlled burn.
send hunter-killer teams into our forests to eliminate the threat.
The gift that keeps on giving!
By the way, hasn't it been over two weeks now since we've seen a story about the SNOT team breaking into the wrong house and shooting some old lady?
“It sure has cost us billions in terms of enforcement and locking people up and we have very little progress to show for it.”
That’s because we’re not serious about it. If we are at war with drugs, then foreign nationals growing pot on our soil is an act of war.
The proper respose is to turn Delta Force loose on them, and have them follow the trail right back to the top, be it in Mexico or elsewhere. Prisoners should be executed following trial by military tribunal. This is permissible under international law, because they are armed with military weapons on our soil.
If word gets out what they’re doing, and the world court starts whining about executing the cartel higher-ups on their home ground, the President should publicly tell them where to stick it.
I am an avid hunter. While hunting during the 80s, on National Forest land, the Eldorado National Forest in CA, I was shot at. I shot back and got out of there and then notified the authorities. They found a huge pot farm that I had accidently stumbled across in an area most people don't go into.
There is no reason to think that people are not still growing pot in areas like that.
And where are the envirofreaks when you need them? Take a look at the destruction to our environment from these Mexican Drug cartels....all on ‘protected’ public lands. And they are well armed.
http://towncriernews.blogspot.com/search?q=invasion+800+miles
“The War on Drugs has largely failed and has failed for the same reason that prohibition did.”
I don’t think so. I think it has failed because we’re not serious about it, and have squandered time and resources on moronic plans conceived by bureaucratic morons, instead of taking effective measures.
They have told us numerous times about the Mexicans and their marijuana growing in the park. The park raids them, but the Mexicans get away before they can be caught and then start another little farm somewhere else.
Her husband also said that he has to warn visitors and campers not to swim in the streams there because the Mexicans and other non-caring visitors will change their babies' diapers and toss them in the streams.
That’s because THIS week, they raided the house of the mayor of a small town outside DC. and killed their Black Labs. The cops were OBVIOUSLY in mortal fear of being licked to death. . .
Legalize it and make it worth fitty cents a pound.
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