Though much of the news involving national parks and marijuana plantations has been focused on Sequoia National Park, a bust the other day in Yosemite shows that that park has some pretty fertile ground for pot as well.
On Monday rangers in Yosemite raided three marijuana gardens and confiscated nearly 7,500 plants with an estimated street value of $22 million.
"The illegal cultivation sites bore the characteristics of a Mexican drug-trafficking enterprise, including a sophisticated watering system, use of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides," say park officials, who didn't identify where in the park the pot gardens were.
Chief Ranger Steve Shackelton says the park is working with several California counties, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, and other national parks to mount a comprehensive campaign against the California-based crime families "that often use illiterate and financially desperate Mexican nationals to do the actual cultivation."
"For years we've been seeing these people make millions of dollars in profit, while they devastate the environment on private property and California's majestic public lands. They destroy habitat, pollute streams with poisons and nitrogen fertilizers, kill wildlife, and pose a fire threat. The only thing missing is public outrage," says the chief ranger.
While it's good to hear parks are trying to crack down on marijuana cultivation within their borders, the problem isn't new and seems to be ongoing, which makes me wonder whether the Park Service truly has the resources it needs to combat this practice?
Comments
There are ONLY 20 million daily pot smokers???? I have a feeling that is a count of the people who ADMIT to a daily habit and not a realistic number of all daily pot smokers. I am going to guess that the number is much higher, at least double that figure. The solution to the problem lies with us and we are the only ones who have any chance of coming up with a sloution. Past experience has proven that the issue is too volatile for any politician to want to get involved. A candidate who publically takes either side of the issue is committing political suicide. If we wish to be responsible citizens, we have only two choices: 1 - stop smoking pot unless we are growing it illegally for our own consumption (which is never going to happen...daily pot smokers tend to be lazy and not all that industrious) or 2 - legalize marijuana. The latter option seems more feasible. I am not here to promote the use of marijuana, simply to say that illegal usage of marijuana is here to stay unless we change the laws and remove its illegal status. To be honest, as intoxicants are concerned, I think marijuana is probably the least toxic and poses the least threat to the general public, unless of course, you find shelves stripped of Oreos and milk and the general apathetic attitude of the user to be of major concern or threat to our society.
Sherry
Drugs are a serious problem and seeing these marijuana plantations makes me think about how serious the problem really is. Drug smugglers are really powerful, they keep pushing drugs down to the market and the result is mostly disastrous. How can we stop this?
Drug rehab facility
We can't stop it. It's supply and demand just like any other business.