Posted on 03/01/2010 8:20:22 AM PST by george76
Some Using Armed Guards, Trip Wires To Safeguard Plots.
Not far from Yosemite's waterfalls and in the middle of California's redwood forests, Mexican drug gangs are quietly commandeering U.S. public land to grow millions of marijuana plants and using smuggled immigrants to cultivate them.
Pot has been grown on public lands for decades, but Mexican traffickers have taken it to a whole new level: using armed guards and trip wires to safeguard sprawling plots that in some cases contain tens of thousands of plants offering a potential yield of more than 30 tons of pot a year.
"Just like the Mexicans took over the methamphetamine trade, they've gone to mega, monster gardens.
Local, state and federal agents found about a million more pot plants each year between 2004 and 2008, and authorities say an estimated 75 percent to 90 percent of the new marijuana farms can be linked to Mexican gangs.
In 2008 alone, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, police across the country confiscated or destroyed 7.6 million plants from about 20,000 outdoor plots.
Growing marijuana in the U.S. saves traffickers the risk and expense of smuggling their product across the border and allows gangs to produce their crops closer to local markets.
The Sequoia National Forest in central California is covered in a patchwork of pot fields, most of which are hidden along mountain creeks and streams, far from hiking trails. It's the same situation in the nearby Yosemite, Sequoia and Redwood national parks.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedenverchannel.com ...
This was reported years ago and still it’s a clear and present danger. I wish this administration would spend as much time and energy on cleaning out our National Parks as it does on health care deform.
Makes the new CCW law for National Parks seem all the more reasonable, doesn’t it?
Is this their idea of Reconquista? They don’t want the crumbling cities and states, only the public land for growing their pot?
Meanwhile, DEA helicopters scour *private* property in parts of Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia for pot gardens planted by white hillbillies.
Yet another reason to legalize it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2454899/posts
More than a dozen pristine landscapes, wildlife habitats and scenic rivers in 11 Western states, some larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined, are under consideration by the Obama administration to become America’s newest National Monuments — a decision the administration can make unilaterally without local input or congressional approval.
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NOW WE KNOW WHY!!!!!
so much for staying on the trails and keeping the wilderness pristine. Looks like the mexicans couldn’t care less about a pristine environment let alone our laws. Who would have guessed?
“Makes the new CCW law for National Parks seem all the more reasonable, doesn’t it?”
...damn straight!...I live close to the Appalachian Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway...last Spring our county sheriff issued a notice to all hikers,campers and trout fishermen...be alert when you’re in the outdoors...it’s easy to walk up on a meth lab or pot farm and get shot.
Laws, what laws, WE DON’T NEED........
Somebody is missing a lovely opportunity to sharpen our forces.. Since Mexico has no government because the Mexican government IS the drug cartels.. Foreign intel could gathered as well..
The only problem is.. how far the mexican drug cartels have penetrated the UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT..
This has not been determined.. YET..
I blame the open borders policy of GWBush, Clinton and 0bama. They think this stuff is a big joke in DC. Such as that moron McCain and Miss Lindsey Graham
Pure treason in my book
Did they do an environmental impact study? Are there any endangered frogs, salamanders, fish, turtles, insects, plants, etc., threatened?
Those in the MJ business are many many years ahead of those trying to stop it. I attended a ciy council meeting near Denver regarding the exploding Medical MJ business around here. From just a legal p.o.v., it is a very intesting problem with good points on both sides, but the gov’t is miles behind even in these cases.
No brownies were served.
If some hiker stumbles across one of these fields they won’t be allowed to leave. We all know what thaat means.
Govt needs to go in,find these fields and shoot first.
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