Posted on 09/03/2009 11:21:39 AM PDT by BGHater
Border Crackdown Makes Farming in U.S. Forests Attractive; Cartel Links Suspected
Marijuana growers, many believed to be affiliated with Mexican drug cartels, are aggressively expanding their illegal farming operations in the U.S., clearing land to plant pot in dozens of national forests from coast to coast.
Illicit cannabis farms on public land first sprang up in California more than a decade ago and remain a serious problem in that state. But in the past two years, the U.S. Forest Service has documented a rapid expansion of the practice.
Authorities have discovered pot farms in 61 national forests across 16 states this year, up from 49 forests in 10 states last year. New territories include public land in Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan, Alabama and Virginia.
"They're moving across the country," said David Ferrell, director of law enforcement for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which includes the Forest Service.
With the expansion comes an increased risk to campers and hikers -- a particular concern this Labor Day weekend, as families converge on public land just as many cannabis crops are ready for harvest.
The propane tanks, stoves and trash left behind by pot farmers pose fire risks; such a camp is believed to have sparked a fire last month that burned 88,000 acres in California's Los Padres National Forest. And many pot patches are watched over by armed guards or booby-trapped. Some are remote, but others are near popular tourist sites, such as a pot farm discovered late last month in California's Sequoia National Park, a half-mile from a cave famed for its crystal formations.
More than 51,000 marijuana plants were seized in Colorado's Pike National Forest in July.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Tax MJ to pay for illegals’ healthcare.
These should be American jobs.
I have /had several friends with Pot ‘Plantations’ inside their closets.
whenever i come to that fork in the trail, i must always choose the wrong way, man! duuuuuuuuude! ;)
Legalize it and end this madness
POT could be advertised during the NFL game like beer is
Remember to smoke responsibly
Well, I guess the DEA will just have to sieze the land and auction it off.
Our elected, pensioned and lifetime-benefited Government knows exactly where these farms are, but elect to not do anything about it.
We have thousands of illegal gangs and criminals in our towns and jails, and our Government refuses to protect us.
At what point do we just take matters into our own hands?
When does Pelosi and her ilk (including RINO’s) be sent packing and have someone actually enforce the law?
This is madness, and to say it is is “racist”.
This is old knews here in Nor Cal.
Weed is the largest cash crop in the state. A state by the way that is the largest agricultural force in the country.
The Pols are salivating for the chance to legalize and tax it.
Calif is broke and will take the cash any way they can get it.
Cheers,
knewshound
Like heck it should. We have enough useless 'duuuude" zombie paranoid schizophrenics waste of a life zero's around as it is.
Absolutely. That's what these "legalize it" pot heads just don't get. If they ever do legalize it, that doesn't mean they will be able to grow their own, and sell it to their pals. It will become regulated like alcohol and tobacco. They will still go to jail for the same felony charges of cultivation for purposes of trafficking, or dealing as they do now.
It will simply become a controlled, and heavily taxed substance. And controlled means you can only smoke the government stuff, with a "safe" limit of THC content.
Forget the hybrid hydro stuff dopers. And forget growing your own and dealing. You'll have to go to the local booze can and buy the government stuff, and if you buy it for the underage kid outside the door, you're busted, and it's off to jail you go.
Why do I give a crap about alcohol?
Pot causes as least as much, if not more more problems. But at least with pot, MacDonalds will always have a good supply of brain dead idiots who’s only job skill is flipping burgers, and making other dopers eat the boogers they put in them.
Keep pot safe, green, and illegal!
>>>> Weed is the largest cash crop in the state. <<<<<
It is the largest cash crop in all 50 states.
Thus the largest cash crop in America.
Complete lie.
Alcohol is far worse then pot is. It is not even close
The “gateway” drug with any druggie is generally alcohol, not pot.
All pot does is make people sleepy and cause them to giggle more. Alcohol has far more devastating effects
One day, so called conservatives on FR will understand what a waste of taxpayer money it is to keep pot illegal
Only in potheads dreams.
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