Posted on 07/15/2021 12:10:32 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Before his corpse was dumped in a shallow grave 50 miles north of Los Angeles, Mauricio Ismael Gonzalez-Ramirez was held prisoner at one of the hundreds of black-market pot farms that have exploded across California’s high desert in the last several years, authorities say.
He worked in what has become California’s newest illegal marijuana haven: the Mojave Desert. A world away from the lush forest groves of the “Emerald Triangle” of Northern California, this hot, dry, unforgiving climate has attracted more than a thousand marijuana plantations that fill the arid expanse between the Antelope Valley and the Colorado River.
It’s an unprecedented siege that has upended life in the remote desert communities and vast tract developments that overlook Joshua trees and scrub. Authorities say the boom has led to forced labor, violence, water theft and the destruction of fragile desert habitat and wildlife.
Longtime residents say they feel less safe, claiming black-market growers act with impunity by carrying weapons, trading gunfire with rivals and threatening those who wander too close to their farms.
“When our family moved to Twentynine Palms nine years ago, it was peaceful and calm,” said Amy Tessier, 38. “The invasion of pot farms changed all that. … We don’t go for walks under the stars anymore. It just doesn’t feel safe.”
Many of these illicit farms are run by criminal organizations, according to federal drug agents, and often rely on the labor of undocumented immigrants like Gonzalez-Ramirez.
Enlisted by growers from his hometown in Mexico, the 26-year-old tended marijuana plants for perhaps as long as a month and a half at a makeshift greenhouse on the outskirts of Lake Los Angeles, where he was held against his will, prosecutors say, by means of “violence, menace, fraud and deceit.”
(Excerpt) Read more at bakersfield.com ...
>>this hot, dry, unforgiving climate has attracted more than a thousand marijuana plantations that fill the arid expanse between the Antelope Valley and the Colorado River.
Would the product grown in Wine Country or possibly Cuba be better? Does soil and climate matter?
I think the kids say “whomp whomp” for this level of irony.
States thought they would eliminate crime and make a ton of $ by legalizing and taxing mj.
But then they taxed and tamed it so much a black (criminal) market immediately emerged with the good stuff at 1/2 retail or less.
As ANYONE with a modicum of common sense (no economic degree needed) could have told them would happen.
A: it’s legal, B. Unless there’s an International market, who would give up their skunk buds for shake?
so they can prosecute tax crime now?
Legalize it... not quasi-legalize it with high fees and crony distributor arrangements... and a lot of these problems will go away.
The reason these illegal growers can undercut the quasi-legal market is that so many taxes and regulations are layered on the “legal” market that the product is too expensive relative to the costs of production.
Predictable consequences. The pro-pot advocates and industry didn’t care. It’s all about the money and there is more than enough of that to go around.
PING
Lots of things can be grown in the desert. Just set up shade houses and add water.
Did you even read the FIRST line of the excerpt??? "...hundreds of black-market pot farms that have exploded across California’s high desert in the last several years"
More than a thousand marijuana plantations in the Mojave? Drug agents know about this but do nothing? What are they using to water these “plantations”? The article is total bullcrap.
The best stuff is grown indoors in 100% environmentally controlled conditions, so the local climate is pretty immaterial.
In general, seems states are trying to create a state-run monopoly, but then find the black market still exists.
>>so they can prosecute tax crime now?<<
According to the article they have not thought of that yet. The example was a guy who had a pretty good sized illegal mj crop who got a $500 citation and even that was lost in the system.
No downside and huge upside. Why be legit?
>>More than a thousand marijuana plantations in the Mojave? Drug agents know about this but do nothing?<<
It is a misdemeanor. No reason to waste resources on petty crime. And it appears to be the same if you grow 5 plants in your backyard/greenhouse or in a 1 acre field in the desert.
CA wanted this and now they got it.
I had a “discussion” with a pro-MJ freeper a couple of years ago. I forecasted this eventuality citing human behaviors etc... and received some flamers in the process.
How could anyone not see this coming?
And coming to your town, next !
This is only the early stage of the invasion...
Now, can you imagine the US without the right to provide for your own self-defense ?
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