1,500 pounds of illegal marijuana plants before being destroyed/NPS
Editor's note: The following is an unedited release from the National Park Service.
Nearly 3,000 illegal marijuana plants were eradicated from Sequoia National Park in California last month. Law enforcement officers discovered a cultivation site in the Yucca Creek drainage west, which is in a designated wilderness area of Sequoia National Park, west of Generals Highway.
The 2,986 plants were removed on September 14 and had an estimated street value of $7.5 million. No arrests have been made and an investigation is ongoing.
“Illegal marijuana grows like this can wreak havoc on the environment,” explained Ned Kelleher, chief ranger for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. “Trash is left everywhere and herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemicals accumulate in the watershed. The cultivators poach native wildlife, clear-cut acres of forest, and create unauthorized trails.”
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks this year have seen a five-fold increase in illegal marijuana cultivation over the last five years. So far this year, 21,000 plants with an estimated value of $52 million have been eradicated. And since the early 2000s, when the trend of large scale cultivation operations first began in the parks, approximately 270,000 plants have been eradicated with an estimated street value of $911 million.
Large marijuana cultivation sites can have major impacts on the Central Valley. A single marijuana plant uses six to eight gallons of water a day, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. That deprives water that would otherwise serve communities downstream with drinking water and provides for irrigation of crops. Because a large number of pesticides are used in growing marijuana, the water that does run off from large cultivation sites can be tainted.
The September 2016 operation was completed with the assistance of the California Army National Guard’s Counterdrug Task Force and the United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California.
Comments
Thanks for the references EC but why just for me? I said nothing about being anti marijuana, just concern about growing it on public lands which I hope doesn't continue. And as one article implies we better be legalizing heroin and cocaine before it moves onto public lands. If fact let's decriminaiize all drugs including steroids for atheletes. I had a recent head injury that required prednisone for a few days. Wonderful stuff for my mood but they say it will also kill you if taken long term. Let's find a drug that will do the same without the bad effects of prednisone. I should try marjuana as it may be the cure for almost all that plagues the world and we can all be stoned all day long. Being sarcastic a little of course.
If was for you because they were addressing 2 of your comments. One, that the price was high so people would still buy illegal pot. May have been the case when first legalized but Adams Smith's invisible hand has worked its magic (as it always does) and the price has dropped dramatically making illegal supplies unattractive. The second points to the fact that the cartels haven't gone away they have just shifted to different - and more dangerous - drugs.
All else being equal, I would be for legalizing all drugs. Problem is the addictive nature of drugs like heroin and meth don't just harm the people that choose to use them, but also usually turns those people into menances to others.
"making illegal supplies unattractive" I thought the point of this article is that growing pot on Nat'l Park lands is extremely profitable. Sorry if I missed your inflection saying the contrary.
Ottoman, it is profitable in states where recreational use is illegal. Not as much in states where it is legal.
"The Devil's Lettuce" is what recovering marijuana addicts call pot. I can give you a million reasons, primary is the erroneous perception of harm reduction as compared to other drugs. But I can assure you that the majority of marijuana is used by daily users. And daily use of marijuana places one in an addictive category. 75% of humans who smoke marijuana 100 times will statistically use cocaine at least once, either knowingly or unknowingly. You don't hear folks crying to legalize cocaine. In fact, no organization exists that advocates for that to my knowledge.
As a society we are asking the wrong question. The right question should be, why do you need to be stoned all the time? Because everyone I know who smokes stays stoned most of the time. They are "self-medicating". I suppose we could just go to the ADD/ADHD model and take other "legal" stimulants such as adderall and ritalin. 80 tons of that is prescribed annually to give folks more ability to "focus".
For those of us who deal with addicts, it is marijuana that gets most everyone to the bigger drugs, hands down, most every time.
Wrong, EC. Here in Seattle, the "legal" stores are complaining that "legal" marijuana is being taxed too much. Where are most people still buying their pot? On campus, on the corner, in the alley, in other words, still from the cartels. Yes, the state is very happy, but still getting only a pittance of the business. Certainly, no one I know with the habit is buying "legal" pot.
http://www.businessinsider.com/recreational-marijuana-washington-state-t...
Perhaps the tax scenerio is higher in Washington. As the articles i linked earlier, here in Colorado the price has enticed the cartels to move elsewhere. I can tell you that here in Breckenridge alone (a town of 5,000 permenant residents) there are 5 pot shops doing quite well. There are alot of people here buying "legal pot".
It sounds as if Breckenridge is truly "Colorado Rocky Mountain High" (with apologies to the late John Denver). Us? You're right. As liberal oligarchs, we just love taxing the hell out of any "vice." Not that we're hypocrites; we're just practical. If you're going to buy it, we're going to tax you, then complain when you don't buy enough. Sure. We would love it if people stopped smoking, drinking, gambling, etc., period, but if they won't, LET THEM PAY! Now, where did I put my lottery ticket? Our most liberal newspaper says I won four bucks!