Having been a ginseng dealer/grower for many years, I am aware of the theft problem of these valuable crops. I doubt if any ginseng growers have resorted to using claymore mines and/or explosive devices to protect their roots.
Motion detectors, remote video cameras, alert and aggressive canines and trip wires are the most commonly used protection methods.
There was an incident in KY 2 years ago where a poacher was shot and killed. I suspect the owner/shooter is now pondering his thoughtless decision from a jail cell.
I fully agree with you that pot should be de-criminalized and the efforts of LEO's could be directed toward more serious "crimes".
Spending most of my time in the woods this time of year, I am constantly being buzzed by the low flying pot planes and have shown them on many occasions my bare butt. The cost of maintaining these planes, man hours, prosecution of the "criminals" and the following incarceration runs into millions of ill-spent taxpayer dollars.
So far, the agents have found a grand total of 32 "maturing" plants! No suspects, no arrests. It would make more sense to just buy it from the drug dealers on the street and avoid the dangers of tree-top flying and booby trapped plants.
If the government agencies want to make us feel safe (as they were hired to do) maybe the National Guard should be reassigned to our borders and begin arresting the wave after wave of potential terrorists that are entering our country.
If you'd like to learn more about growing American Ginseng and the ginseng trade in America click here
http://www.catskillginseng.comSo far, the agents have found a grand total of 32 "maturing" plants! By their own account, last year Missouri LE found and destroyed almost 70 million plants. Of that total, less than 12 thousand were described as "cultivated marijuana".
The cost of maintaining these planes, man hours, prosecution of the "criminals" and the following incarceration runs into millions of ill-spent taxpayer dollars.Death penalty opponents employ a similar stratagem. They work around the clock filing expensive frivolous appeals that drive the costs of incarceration and administration sky-high and then argue "The death penalty is way too expensive for society to tolerate. We must eliminate the death penalty."
So too the dopers and dealers proceed with their cynical game that drives the costs of enforcement up so you can whine, "It's way too expensive to keep dope illegal. We must legalize dope."
That's why it makes me smile when I hear the pro-dopers whine, "Millions of drug users and dealers are living in wretchedness in prison." It assures me that despite the "resistence is futile" claims of the pro-dope contingent, resistence is actually packing quite a wallop and making the lives of many abusers and dealers miserable.