Foreign Drug Cartels In Our National Forests????

http://www.sierratimes.com ^ | 10. 2. 02 | By Barry R. Clausen

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Foreign Drug Cartels In Our National Forests
"A Dangerous Epidemic."
By Barry R. Clausen © 2002
Published 10. 2. 02 at 11:16 Sierra Time

While environmentalists and the U.S. Forest Service concentrate on shutting down our public lands to America's ranchers, farmers, miners and recreational users, foreign drug cartels are using them for growing large marijuana gardens.

The world of drug dealing has sometimes been depicted as almost glamorous. Movies such as "Blow" and television shows like "Miami Vice" show fast cars, easy sex and unlimited wealth. This fantasy portrayal of those who sell drugs to others has had no regard for human life or the well being of this nation's youth. In reality, this life style is dangerous, violent, and ruthless. It frequently comes with direct ties to organized crime. But that all happens somewhere else, right? Wrong. This often sadistic element, formerly seen mostly in urban society, has now surfaced in many of America's National Forests, including those in Northern California and the reality is anything but attractive. Larry Jones of the Glenn County Sheriff's office wanted all Californians to know that, "It is not only a northern California problem but it is a tremendous problem state wide."

Going even farther Bryan Roemeling of U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement & Investigations in Washington D.C. states, "The dramatic increase in marijuana production supported by Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTO's) is alarming. It is primarily occurring in California but is not limited there. We have indications that Mexican DTO's are operating in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah and as far away as Arkansas." He further states' "…The problems continues and is increasing. These illegal aliens brought in to tend gardens are dangerous; they are armed and will protect their gardens. The visiting public and Forest Service employees are at risk in many areas of National Forest System lands in California. Evidenced by the shooting of a father and son last year while on their property within the boundaries of the Eldorado National Forest."

It was much easier to smuggle drugs into our country in the time before 9-11. But with a tightening of our borders and continued pressure by law enforcement to locate and seize illegal international drug traffic, certain drug cartels are finding it safer and more profitable to send foreign nationals into America with the intent to set up drug operations in our national forests. In recent weeks a Tehama County Deputy Sheriff was shot by a Mexican national during a marijuana growing operation raid and Siskiyou County Sheriff Deputies conducted a raid that resulted in the arrest of three Asian nationals. Information has also surfaced suggesting that some young Native American tribal members are also being trained to grow marijuana on Sacred Tribal Lands. Many of the Asian and Mexican nationals who are living and working marijuana grow operations are connected to Asian and Hispanic drug cartels. According to Detective Mark Merrill of the Siskiyou County Sheriff Department there are even "Hawaiian's" active within his county.

The story is similar in all of the Northern California counties contacted. Shasta County has had five major raids so far this year. The latest was September 12 where Mexican nationals once again are the suspected growers. Shasta Interagency Narcotics Task Force Commander, Russ Reeves refers to the groups involved in grow operations as "cells" because he says, "Many of these foreigners that work the fields, are so low in the scheme of things they do not even know who they work for." He further stated that much of the money obtained from marijuana growing is used to finance illegal methamphetamine (meth) operations. Reeves went on to say, "These same meth producers then ship their product to other states. We have been successful in tracking some of that."

The safety of all who use either National Forests and/or Bureau of Land Management lands has been intensely compromised by these organized criminal drug activities. Deputies from across Northern California, California Highway Patrol and U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement Agents are quick to affirm the danger. Forest Service Law Enforcement Officer, Michael Irvine of Fort Jones, California underscored his concerns and pointed to organized crime who he feels are responsible for the risks the general public now face when visiting public lands. California Highway Patrol Officer, Keith Ericson echoed the words of Irvine when he said, "The danger on public lands is a very big concern as a result of marijuana grow operations." According to Darrell Plemons, Chief of Operations for the Tehama County Sheriff's office, "The situation has increased over the last few years to a dangerous epidemic."

In order to shield themselves from law enforcement and ward off unwanted intruders, this lowly element is heavily armed. They have also planted booby traps meant to injure or even kill innocent hikers, ranchers, hunters, backcountry horseman, forest service employees, firefighters or anyone who enters our national forests.

On August 30, 2002 a gunfight ensued between two Glenn County Deputy Sheriffs and two Mexican nationals at the site of a marijuana garden. There were no injuries. One of the two suspects, identified as Juan Carlos Olivera from San Jose, was arrested while the other suspect escaped. Tehama County Deputy Sheriff Troy McCoy was wounded during a gunfight on August 21, 2002 while participating in a Marijuana Eradication Team (MET) raid on a marijuana grow operation. That raid resulted in the arrest of three Mexican nationals also from San Jose. Tehama County Sheriff, Clay Parker's staff has raided 17 growing operations in just the first eight months of this year. Those raids have resulted in the destruction of 27,306 plants and the confiscation of 5 rifles, 1 shotgun and 2 pistols. Both Commander Reeves and Sheriff Parker concur that some of the money from growing marijuana is used to buy chemicals necessary for the production of "Meth."

According to rancher Laverne Daley of Oroville, California, last year a hunter was found shot to death near a marijuana crop close to Daley's ranch. Prior to that a marijuana grower, found to have used the Daley's cattle for food, was apprehended (also near their ranch). That grower had hooked a very fine trip wire to a shotgun at head level on a forest trial leading to his plants. When caught by law enforcement he was in possession of both a grenade launcher and an AK-47 assault rifle.

A Siskiyou County MET drug raid in August 2002 resulted in the arrest of three Asian Nationals and on September 1, 2002 Mexican nationals were found with 7,500 marijuana plants in their possession. According to Detective Merrill, some growers are using only the buds of each plant, which produces approximately 1 pound of finished product. The wholesale value equals about $4,000 a pound with the street value considerably higher.

Law enforcement officers also confirm the massive environmental damage that has occurred at grow locations. Shasta County Sheriff Sergeant Tim McDonald explained that growers use such compounds as rat poison, insecticides and pesticides to kill unwanted animals that penetrate their operations. Growers also carry large amounts of fertilizers to the site. Leftover chemicals are discarded after the plants are harvested and usually end up in creeks and watersheds. Months of human waste, paper, food cans, propane canisters, food wrappers as well as other forms of garbage are found strewn about. Clean-up costs for these sites are enormously costly for counties. Added to the cost of a well-planned raid that can utilize as many as 35 officers, vehicles and trucks to haul out confiscated plants, helicopter costs at $500.00 per hour, many hours of overtime for the officers involved and then prosecution expenses, it is easy to see how rapidly county funds are depleted.

The main active chemical within a marijuana plant is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). Short-term effects of marijuana use include memory loss and impaired learning, distorted perception, difficulty with thought processes and problem solving skills, loss of coordination; and increased heart rate, anxiety, and panic attacks. The marijuana of the past had a low THC level but today's plants show THC levels have increased potency and ultimately the long-term affects are expected to have an increased and dramatic impact on users.

Estimated profits to marijuana growers and Meth producers in each operation may vary from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars annually. That's a tidy sum for just six months work and all on our federal lands.

[Anti-Bubba182]

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[Tailgunner Joe]

bttt

[Waco]

Bingo! This is exactly why the dems. pushed to curb roads etc. in Nat. forests. They are deeply involved with our enemies and VERY anti-America! Bet on it.

[Carry_Okie]

This one is worth a gang flag.

[farmfriend]

If it was worth a gang flag to you, I guess I'll have to read it. Let's just hope it doesn't take me a year.

[crz]

Nothing new here, just another dirty little secrete that is never told. Thanks to Barry Cluassen we are finding out. Ask any DEA agent where the stuff is mostly grown and you'll hear in the USFS forest lands. Less than 10% of it is ever found and destroyed according to the Natl Guard who handles some of the search and destroy missions around here.

[farmfriend]

It's a well known fact that you don't go walking in the woods around North San Juan, Neveda County. People disappear around there all the time.

[houston1]

all of which would not be happening if not for the WOD/forfeiture laws, i.e. the only place you can grow pot without risking losing your own property is on govt. lands. Kind of an ironic side effect of the WOD.

[Vidalia]

" According to Detective Mark Merrill of the Siskiyou County Sheriff Department there are even "Hawaiian's" active within his county. "

Another Braniac in law inforcement.

Gee Mark, are you aware that Hawaii is a real state and part of the United States?

This "detective" is a complete idiot, adn the country wonders why it takes so long for some high profile crimes to be solved...?

[bonesmccoy]

NO! you think???!!!???!!!
http://www.examiner.com/frank_gallagher/default.jsp?story=n.gallagher.0517w0
SF Examiner
Publication date: 05/17/2002

Green bud supervisor
By Frank Gallagher
Of The Examiner Staff

SUPERVISOR MARK LENO wants San Francisco to get into the weed business.

"I'd like to see The City get into both the production and sale of medical marijuana," Leno said, adding that the idea came to him after yet another local pot dispensary shut down in the face of increasing heat from the feds. "I'm just trying to implement Prop. 215 at the county level."

[Dog Gone]

Boy, I don't know what to think about this. I guess I wish marijuana didn't exist at all, because it has led to all this.

But since it certainly exists, maybe it's time to legalize it. The current situation is getting people killed, depriving us of the use of our own public lands, and costing a fortune. And it's not stopping it.

[EggsAckley]

Definitely worth a gang flag! Didn't we recently have some of these guys caught somewhere over near Mt. Madonna? Years ago there was a "farm" found somewhere near my property; to this day the black helicopters love to hover here. As annoying as it is, I have to laugh at how utterly wrong they are.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Reefer madness, I say! Reefer madness!

[Carry_Okie]

Definitely worth a gang flag!

Should I have called that a gang-reefer-ill?

I'll go hide now...

[SierraWasp]

"in the woods around North San Juan, Neveda County."

Oh... It's all better now! They got a dope smokin hippie in a wheel chair elected to the county Board of Supervisors! Another one is President of a national organic farming collective and the other two for their 4-1 majority are limosine liberal leftist environMentalcases!!!

All the radical down-zoning around these parts is making everything useless and the only way some of these folks can make it is to hang out down at the Prop. 215 lawyers office and cover themselves with that so they can buy a generator to run the grow lights and haul their "Mother Lode" in bales of hay in their horse trailers.

Urban sprawl, my a$$!!! This area looks more like Appilaccia (sp?) than L.A. by a country mile!!! I was glad to see our county be named right toward the front of the article. Hell, somebody has to supply the demand of the commercial rafting companies so they can provide "value added" whitewater trips!!!

[SierraWasp]

Didja phlag Marsh2? Her county is included... Big Time!!! They've got everybody up there on welfare since the timber industry was more critical there than it was here!

Welfare & Weed in all the counties mentioned is the economy!!!

[philman_36]

...to this day the black helicopters love to hover here.
There is no such thing as a black helicopter. The "resident experts" all say so. You can't believe your lying eyes, trust them. (they are dark green, not black; tinfoil alert; you're crazy...so many more)

[AuntB]

My, my, there are just all sorts of things to think about with this one. First, I've never seen any of this reported anywhere...this is a good one to send to media types. Second, sounds like a good reason to slam the borders shut, at least for a while. Heck, think of all the farmers that can't water their crops...they could water an acre of this scourge and and make 10 times more money than 100 acres of potatoes! Talk about boosting the economy....

[tubebender]

The mexicans are still growing in the woods while the old timers have gone indoors and gettin at least 3 crops a year. They buy property for a low down payment and then skip. Had one case where the guys built a house off 299 and from the air it looked like family lived there with kids toys in the yard and a veg garden. They spilled some diesel in the creek and Fish and Game investigated they found evidence of the grow operation. That was 2 years ago and they just caught the last one over by Sierre Wasp.

[Carry_Okie]

Didja phlag Marsh2? Her county is included... Big Time!!! They've got everybody up there on welfare since the timber industry was more critical there than it was here!

Yes; forester lives there too, but I do have to correct one thing: Not everybody is on welfare; government is the number one employer in Siskiyou County.

[farmfriend]

Not everybody is on welfare; government is the number one employer in Siskiyou County.

Like the man said, everybody is on welfare.

[AuntB]

Government and welfare and not much else since the timber industry and farming was shut down in Siskiyou County. I love that area and will be down there soon I hope. I threaten to move there every few years. This time it's more than a threat. When we had the monument "meeting" with Babbitt a few years ago, I think I was the only one from Medford, except a county commissioner. Everyone else was from Siskiyou County. They "got" it alot sooner than most did here.

[mia]

But since it certainly exists, maybe it's time to legalize it. The current situation is getting people killed, depriving us of the use of our own public lands, and costing a fortune. And it's not stopping it.

I used to think marijuana was fairly harmless, or at least not addictive. Well, after talking to one of my relatives who's husband is into marijuana "big time," I've realized that this loser is addicted. He can't hold down a job and is completely unmotivated to do so. He is so "out of it" most of the time that he has no interest in how to make ends meet. He just drifts along. And, when deprived, he becomes a monster.

Legalizing marijuana is not the answer. Society does not need more losers.

[Dog Gone]

That may be true, but we have had losers since time began. If this guy wasn't doing pot, he'd probably be doing moonshine.

Pot is his thing, but he'd probably be a loser even if the plant didn't exist, don't you think?

[185JHP]

Drug addiction is a good reason to think about starting to exile people from the U.S. Maybe give them "three strikes" before giving them the boot. We could pay a country to give them citizenship - Chad?

[Carry_Okie]

I'm just musing here, so don't respond as if I am wedded to any of this.

The problem with legalization is that drug use really isn't "victimless," as anyone who has dealt with an alcoholic knows. Once the drug is consumed, the user can no longer exercise the judgment to refrain from destructive behaviors, whether accidental (such as while driving) or deliberate (violence).

The only policy that has historically worked is unrelenting and severe punishment of users, ala Singapore. It worked here too until upper middle class kids started getting busted and parents wailed for leniency (around 1970). There are those who argue that before we had drug laws there was no problem of the current magnitude. They unfortunately ignore the fact that the drugs are now FAR more powerful and people have more access to technology by which to magnify the damage that they can do to others while impaired.

The only legalization scheme I have envisioned that might work is a "drug resort" that takes responsibility for the user on the premises and won't release them until sober. The problem with that idea is that liability costs would render the use expensive enough that a black market would exist with all the problems we have now.

Perhaps machines could address the problem in a similar manner. Current or latent sensor technology could detect impairment by any means (including fatigue, age, allergy meds, whatever), the reduced capacity for harm might allow us to revisit the question of limited legalization. Such technology could easily be produceable and commercially viable in about five to ten years.

Once again, unfortunately, the nature of torts makes development of such equipment a VERY risky proposition. We can thank the trial lawyers for keeping us all safe.

[mia]

I don't know what the answer is, Dog Gone, but I honestly don't think legalizing another drug is the solution. I'm sure you're right about his being a loser by choice. It's really too bad, he's a very likeable guy. He's just making some bad choices.

[mia]

LOL

[mia]

Once again, unfortunately, the nature of torts makes development of such equipment a VERY risky proposition. We can thank the trial lawyers for keeping us all safe.

LOL -- You've found a use for trial lawyers.

[marsh2]

Did you say Roadless Area? New Wilderness Bill? hmmm

Yes, I am learning more about the issue in my district. Apparently, Mexican labor is forced. They hold the grower's family hostage in Mexico to ensure performance. It is proliferating

http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/archives/index.inn?loc=detail&doc=/2002/August/06-3397-news1.txt

Marijuana plants worth millions seized by Siskiyou detectives

HAPPY CAMP - When Mark Merrill flies over a marijuana garden hidden among the fir trees in western Siskiyou County, the illegal plants stand out like a sore thumb to the longtime sheriff's detective.

More than a thousand plants concentrated in a small area really get Merrill's attention. So when Merrill spotted a large garden in the hills west of Happy Camp last week, he rounded up a group of sheriff's detectives and Forest Service lawmen to raid the garden early Monday morning.

It was the third raid so far this year for Siskiyou County sheriff's detectives, who used a helicopter to lift 1,308 plants from a hillside beside the Klamath River. If the plants were allowed to grow to maturity, their buds would have been worth an estimated $4.6 million, deputies said.

Merrill and the dozen other detectives who made their way to the pot garden just after daylight Monday had hoped to make an arrest during the raid. The growers, however, were nowhere to be found and could have distanced themselves from the garden recently because of all of the activity associated with a recent forest fire in the area, Merrill said.

In case the growers were on site, the armed detectives were ready.

"A lot of them run," Merrill said of marijuana growers' reaction when sheriff's deputies and Forest Service law enforcement officers show up.

The detectives slashed the marijuana plants down and then bundled them up so the helicopter could lift them to a pull-out beside Highway 96 to a waiting sheriff's transport truck. As deputies made plans to transport the seizure back to Yreka, detectives turned their attention to tracking down the growers.

They also found four tents and irrigation equipment.

Sheriff's Sgt. Craig Dilley said detectives focus on eradicating marijuana gardens during the summer to keep pot off the streets later. This year has been busy so far, as more than 8,000 plants have already been seized. In 2001, Siskiyou County detectives raided more than 50 outdoor marijuana gardens. Twelve more indoor gardens were investigated.

Siskiyou County officials are seeing an increase in marijuana gardens in the mountains of Siskiyou County as authorities in other counties crack down on drug problems there. The rugged terrain and isolation of western Siskiyou County has become prime marijuana country.

Dilley said flights over the forests of Siskiyou County reveal many of the gardens.

"It has a different shade of green," Dilley said of the appearance of marijuana from the air.

When growers are busted, authorities often seek federal prosecution because of California's Proposition 215 medical marijuana law.

The seized marijuana is stored at a sheriff's facility, where it is used as evidence and eventually destroyed.

Merrill urged anyone with information about marijuana gardens in Siskiyou County to contact the sheriff's office at 841-2900 or the Happy Camp substation at 493-2338. He also urged deer hunters and others who discover pot gardens to be cautious and leave the area of the garden.

- By Andy Martin

We don't seem to be making much progress. Last Year on Sept. 7, 2001 this story ran:

Sheriff raids county dope plantations

HAPPY CAMP - An army of 60 law enforcement agents are on the battlefield today as the war against illegal marijuana growing moves to Siskiyou County.

For the last three days, law enforcement from state agencies and three counties literally swooped down from the air to cut and haul away marijuana plants from about 40 clandestine gardens in remote areas.

The raids also included ground troops from the Army National Guard who eradicated the more accessible marijuana sites.

These marijuana gardens are located mostly in the Klamath and Six Rivers National Forests in Siskiyou and Humboldt Counties. The targeted sites range from Seiad Valley to the Hoopa Indian Reservation, mostly in the hills along the Klamath River gorge.

Base operation was at the Ti Bar Campground on the Klamath River about five miles up river from Somes Bar. This is about 105 miles down river from Yreka.

About 3,500 marijuana plants were cut and hauled away from the 40 gardens raided. Most of them were identified from air surveillance.

Don Pearson, from the California Department of Justice, said the average street value of each marijuana plant is about $4,000. He anticipates the ten week statewide eradication effort called Campaign Against Marijuana Producers (CAMP) will take about 400,000 plants.

Siskiyou County Sheriff Deputy Mark Merrill, leader of the Marijuana Eradication Team (MET), said besides being illegal, these marijuana gardens in the National Forests are a danger to the public.

He said the growers are very protective of their marijuana gardens and most of them are armed. The goal is to clean up the woods before deer season starts and help make the woods safer for the public.

The CAMP enforcement action was intended to take away the illegal marijuana plants without confrontation with the growers. Law enforcement agents are armed and looking for suspects to arrest which they consider a bonus.

"These are federal lands and open to the public and not a place to conduct criminal activity," said Siskiyou County Sheriff's Deputy Matt Rokes. "People are confronted in the woods by marijuana growers every year."

Most of these marijuana gardens were spotted by air and will be eradicated by dropping agents into the garden from a line attached to a helicopter.

The procedure is called Short Term Air Born Operation (STABO). Two agents in harnesses attach themselves to a 150 foot line.

The helicopter then drops them into the garden where they cut the plants. Large harvests are first lifted out by net with the helicopter returning to pick up the officers.

Four helicopters were being used in this operation during the three days CAMP is working in Siskiyou County.

The growing season for marijuana is from April to October. This area is used for clandestine gardens because of its remoteness and longer growing season.

The goal is to get the plants before the growers do thus preventing them from reaching the street. The operation is a cooperative effort between California Department of Justice and the counties of Siskiyou, Del Norte, and Humboldt. Also assisting the crews were representatives from the Hoopa and Yurok Tribes.

During the briefing and daily assignments, the Hoopa representative brought information concerning another 15 marijuana sites on their reservation. The Native American representatives also pointed out some of their sacred sites and requested a no fly zone for them.

One of the units was assigned to Prop 215 enforcement. This team went to those who had licenses for the growing of medicinal marijuana where they checked the licenses and provided compliance education.

The Siskiyou County Sheriff Posse set up the base camp and cooked the meals for the CAMP members.

Rokes, in charge of logistics, said Siskiyou County Sheriff "Charlie Byrd feels this is important enough to throw resources at it." The Sheriff Posse provides three meals a day free to the workers.

He said this is the third time CAMP has come to Siskiyou County and worked this area. Often marijuana gardens are discovered at the same locations year after year. Many more are spotted from the air during the process

[henderson field]

Two years ago I saw 7 black helicopters parked on the tarmac at Albuquerque airport. I can distinguish black from green. No numbers, no insignia, no identification, just black.

[B4Ranch]

DARK, DARK, DARK, DARK GREEN. So green that they look black.

[B4Ranch]

There ya go. Doing that heavy thinking again! Your line of thinking has more supporters than you know.

[B4Ranch]

It's the smog that makes the ones in NM look black. (LOL)

[tubebender]

I need some info on the Klamath river fish kill. I have heard that the water in the upper Klamath lakes is as warm as the water in the river and that additional releases may do more harm than good. Did you know that a fisherman drowned near Weitchpec Wed. Sheriff said the extra water may have contributed to the drowning. I would't be surprised if ELF didn't poison the fish

[SierraWasp]

Haven't you NV folks got some kind of legalization measure on the ballot for the devilish weed?

[SierraWasp]

"And it's not stopping it."

If at first you don't succeed... GIVE UP!!!

Isn't that how that old American adage goes? (grin)

[SierraWasp]

Thanks for the great reports. It's really very nice to have someone like you in authority in your great county lurking and replying to our comments and questions.

I apologize for saying everyone is on welfare up there. I intended to say nearly everyone from the timber industry if they still live there.

[Zon]

If you're harmed by a person's act of smoking marijuana take the person to court and try to prove it to an impartial jury that the person's act of smoking pot harmed you. How many jurors do you think you could convince that you'd been harmed?

Drugs are health and education problems that a free market, peers, parents and friends can supply the demand toward a solution to the drug problem.

[Grampa Dave]

Remember that our favorite and most dangerous Watermelon Jihadist on the West Coast, Andrew Kerr, wants to raise hemp all over our national forests and in land seized in Rural Cleansing.

Of course the water saved from going to farmers to raise our food would be used for the hemp instead of raising food to eat.

The ultimate goal of the elite Anti Americans in charge of the Watermelon Jihad Rural Cleansing is no food for the masses, just soylent green/recycled food and a lot of hemp and weed to keep us stoned as we live a miserable life in one of the Goron inner cities with about 5,000 people per block.

[Dog Gone]

If at first you don't succeed... GIVE UP!!!

Well, that's at least partly correct. If a society has unpopular and unenforceable laws, they probably should be repealed. We do elect our representatives to enact legislation that reflects how we wish to be governed, and as long as the legislation is constitutional, I think they should represent the people who elected them.

I don't use drugs, and I'm extremely proud that I've raised a son who has never touched the stuff. He's more anti-drug than I am.

But unless we're willing to become totalitarian in our approach to drugs as Carry_Okie suggests, I don't see a viable alternative to legalization. The current approach obviously isn't working. We've tried it for decades now, and achieved nothing.

I think the spirit of the Constitution favors a legalization approach far more than a totalitarian approach, and I don't particularly like a minority of Americans imposing what is arguably a moral stance on a majority of Americans who don't see it that way.

Like I said before, I wish drugs didn't exist at all, and I know full well what costs they impose on society through damage caused by drug-using individuals. But the damage we're inflicting on ourselves through the expensive and futile war on drugs only makes it worse.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

I had the same thought. It is just possible.

[B4Ranch]

Haven't you NV folks got some kind of legalization measure on the ballot for the devilish weed?

Yeah, we sure do. The drugheads that came out of California are trying to see if we'll fall for their sick ideas.

[Carry_Okie]

"Harm," in this instance, is no theoretical concept; it is usually irreverisble and cannot be compensated by the assets of the perpetrator (unlesss adequately insured for the activity).

Your argument, while correct in the instance of a responsible user, fails in practice because so many are irresponsible: They choose to walk after inflicting that irreversible harm and any civil court that prosecutes them not only inflicts an overhead upon both those involved and society, but is incapable of providing a remedy when the perp cannot redress the injury. That fact socializes the risk associated with drug use and puts the cost of harm on the body politic. That potential for harm is magnified by the power of technology. When a large cost is put upon society, the body selects an agent to control the use.

Therein lies the problem: To give the agent a monopoly franchise to control the use of property is a way to power and a source of tyranny. The more the agent fails in operating the franchise, the more the power he demands to do the job, the more that power is available for corrupt profit interests of the agent in service to the politically dominant.

Re-read my post, you'll see precisely that distinction there.

[hosepipe]

Salmon can't handle warm water...

[hosepipe]

Hi punk...good article..

[GVnana]

"you don't go walking in the woods around North San Juan, Nevada County"

Not unless you're armed. This dope growing area has been active since the early 70's. A guy I went to high school with became a "security guard" for a plantation up there. Of course, he severed all local ties. Last time I saw him, he was heavily armed, driving a pick-up and there was talk about the new shipment going out to David Crosby. Yeah. That David Crosby. Jerry Brown (our not so illustrious former governor) owns quite a tract of land there.

Sierra, our county board of supervisors may be taking a different shape. The "it's all about me" organic babe, only won by 9 votes in the last election and didn't get a majority in the primary. In the GV district, a good man named Bedwell is putting on a tough race against the whining psychology degreed incumbent. There's hope yet.

[SierraWasp]

"the whining psychology degreed incumbent."

Which one is that? Peter Van Sant?

I see by the papers that Rene got censored by the Repellican Party for FIGHTING!!! What a riot. First he appoints the organic one as his planning commissioner, then her terminates her, then she does a write-in campaign and eliminates him in the primary! Now he's been tryin a come-back... Wow!!! What a county!!!

It makes our pitched battles down here pale by comparison. (grin)

[MrLeRoy]

The problem with legalization is that drug use really isn't "victimless," as anyone who has dealt with an alcoholic knows.

So you support banning alcohol?

Once the drug is consumed, the user can no longer exercise the judgment to refrain from destructive behaviors

Patent nonsense; users of alcohol and other drugs refrain from destructive behaviors all the time.