Drug gangs taking over US public lands

[Adsos Letter]

Source: AP

SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. – 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," said Brent Wood, a supervisor for the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement. He said Mexican traffickers have "supersized" the marijuana trade.

Interviews conducted by The Associated Press with law enforcement officials across the country showed that Mexican gangs are largely responsible for a spike in large-scale marijuana farms over the last several years.

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.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100302/ap_on_re_us/us_drug_war_pot_farms
___________________________________________________________

Way past time to legalize and tax; shift the emphasis to finding the meth labs

[immoderate]

1. You have to think the government loves this.

I can't wait for them to develop a "task force" so we can go to war against Mexico in our own national parks!

Gateway drug indeed!

--imm

[Hekate]

2. Their "farms" also degrade the local ecosystem badly. It's a terrible situation...

... and Uncle Sam should just put them out of business by legalizing pot.

The priority absolutely has to be on meth, which is deadly dangerous.

Hekate

[cliffordu]

4. Yep.

[leftofcool]

6. +1

[DisgustedInMN]

12. Bingo.

By continuing to criminalize pot, our government is complicit in this. I bet if you follow the money, there are bribes going to whatever law agencies is supposed to have authority in these parks.

[Hekate]

18. I don't think the Park Rangers are at fault; national park lands are huge and often roadless...

Rangers are spread thin, and not well-funded.

The drug cartels are highly motivated, exceedingly well-funded and well-armed.

Hekate

[DisgustedInMN]

29. I wasn't really thinking ..

.. of the Park Rangers. Taking on international crime cartels doesn't strike me as really being something they have the resources to do effectively. Mia culpa.

[MonkeyMama]

23. +1

[upi402]

3. I never heard of this before

Maybe because Lou Dobbs is off the air.

That's no good, I want to take my kid to the Redwoods etc. Hope there will be some action against this stuff. Yeah, long past time to legalize and tax it. And double the tax on Doritos too.

[ourbluenation]

5. Mendocino County deals with this all the time...

illegal grows on public land, stealing water (which is already in short supply), polluting creeks, etc... The number one killer of livestock in this county is packs of pitbulls roaming the countryside after being released once the growing season ends and the folks head back home. my understanding also is that some of these men have been forced to work the grows by cartels back in mexico, for fear of harm coming to their families back home.

[upi402]

7. Republican utopia n/t

[Newest Reality]

8. So ...

Has the collective "we" come to any conclusions yet, all things in total?

Is this particular "drug", (weed, high medicine, ancient herbal) highly dangerous and in need of total eradication, or are we ready to come to terms with the absolute fact that the people and laws behind demonizing it are the actual cause of the danger involved, over all?

Folks, there has been, and will continue to be, a tremendous amount of destruction and degradation, (and profitable and highly advantageous, somewhat racial, obviously financial, politicking) going on in relation to the WEED, but are we clear yet on whether it is the plant or actually the people who have been wasting decades of time, money, (well, some people have and are making a LOT of money on it) and people in fighting it? I mean, it is kinda' like a long-term, botanical version of the Salem Witch Hunts, ey? We have been played on this false paradigm long enough and many of you see how it is breaking through as a movement, so be brave and keep it going. Start with your friends, family, and children, (don't lie to them in a pretense of protecting them based on what you were lied to about) and then, it moves outwards into the community to counteract the venom of propagand we have had to endure.

Just how many more people and lives will we voluntarily allow to be sacrificed, degraded and wasted simply because we are collectively suffering from a false, "Save our children from that WEED DEVIL!" mentality when everything we know factually and scientifically is trying to wake us to an extremely potent and important political reality that demands that we either do something concrete and viable soon, or take some shared responsiblity for the consequences of this cultural failure so obviously glaring at is and screaming in our ears every day.

Right now, we are able to ascertain that what is most dangerous about the WEED is getting busted, (it can ruin your life) and now, going hiking or hunting. Just how much more can you take when it is not only crystal clear, it is unavoidable?

You are not saving your kids from utter destruction here by opposing this WEED. In fact, if you don't be honest and let them know that the real dangers are going to prison and getting killed on a camping trip, you are simply a slave to propaganda and they are not being raised in a reality that reflects the facts of our times.

Drugs may be a problem to some degree, though we have always been a drug-oriented beast, (big-Pharma, coffee, alcohol, nicotine, etc.) but the problem is not what it has been spun into, and never was, ever. We won't solve the problems about drugs at all until we can be honest and open and compassionate about how we are related to the chemicals that we have interacted with as a species since time immemorial. Don't count on modern, vested interests to make this relationship and its impact clear or illuminate its values and detriments in any way that is practical or reasonable or true.

[bobburgster]

9. Never ceases to amaze me...

...how our government continues to waste precious dollars fighting pot. Narcotics, Meth, Cocaine continue to wreck havoc families and communities across the country.

[Fumesucker]

11. Alcohol wreaks more havoc in families and communities than the illegal drugs all put together.

And tobacco kills way more than all the illegal drugs put together.

[Altoid_Cyclist]

13. I've pointed that out at family gatherings (in-laws) on numerous occasions.

I always get the same two results from them. One is Bush worthy smirks that usually mean that they think that I'm an idiot, and the other is the statement that if alcohol and tobacco are legal, that equates to being harmless.

FWIW, I don't drink, smoke or use any illicit drugs anymore. I do however remain amazed, saddened and disgusted by the number of dollars wasted and the number of people in prison for minor drug offenses.


Annual Causes of Death in the United States

Note the first and third as well as the last cause listed.


Tobacco 435,000
Poor Diet and Physical Inactivity 365,000
Alcohol 85,000
Microbial Agents 75,000
Toxic Agents 55,000
Motor Vehicle Crashes 26,347
Adverse Reactions to Prescription Drugs 32,000
Suicide 30,622
Incidents Involving Firearms 29,000
Homicide 20,308
Sexual Behaviors 20,000
All Illicit Drug Use, Direct and Indirect 17,000
Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Such As Aspirin 7,600
Marijuana 0

Rest of article:
http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/30

[Fumesucker]

16. Practically everyone knows somone who has drunk themselves to death..

And practically everyone knows someone who has died of lung cancer or emphysema from smoking..

Deep inside they know you are right, but they cannot admit it.

[Altoid_Cyclist]

17. If nothing else, it is interesting to be the only dyed in the wool LIBERAL at these gatherings.

I think that it scares them that I could be right about anything.

There are very few things that we find common ground on so I tend to avoid gatherings so as not to piss off them or get myself worked up.

I try to remember that they're not 100% bad people, they're more a product of the local environment which is very right wing and extremely conservative.

The funny thing is that even most of them voted for Kerry in 2004.
For once in his miserable life, "W" was a uniter.

[imnKOgnito]

10. Pisses me off to no end

I often solo backpack in places like these and have no fear (but a healthy respect) of the wildlife there. This is something I really don't need on my mind as I head out this coming season. The "War on Drugs" is gonna wind up destroying the last of our wildlife refuges and places of retreat. Someone stop this planet and let me off.

[arcadian]

14. Mega Monster Gardens would be a good name for a Discovery channel show.

Surprised they haven't jumped on that.

[arcadian]

15. How to bust a grower

It's easy really, step 1.) go a rural feed and garden store during growing season, 2.) hang out until you see some punk in a Bob Marley T-shirt buying several pounds of 10-10-10 fertilizer and Pro-Mix, step 3.) Follow said punk back to his patch.

[Hekate]

20. The ones in the OP are Mexican drug cartel growers, and very dangerous people.

I seriously doubt they are buying anything in the local economy, especially since their "farms" are deep in the wilderness.

Hekate

[arcadian]

25. They gotta get there supplies from somewhere.

[Hekate]

26. I think supplies get packed in, from the looks of photos of those campsites.

Their locations are not "local" to much of anything.

Hekate

[RadiationTherapy]

22. "punk" - hahahaha.

"gramps" hahahaha

[arcadian]

24. Don't you think it's rather punkish

to discuss growing technique in public? some people just think they are invincible, besides taking from growers is great fun, a challenge. They always present themselves as being so noble.

[Blue_In_AK]

19. I totally agree with your bottom line. n/t

[Therellas]

21. someone really needs to tell lou dobbs about this .

srsly.

[LiberalPC]

27. This is what you get when you legalize guns in parks!!!

[DailyGrind51]

28. You mean they are practicing laissez faire privitization?