Calif. Cops Destroy Over 40,000 Pot Plants

(CBS/AP)  Sheriff's deputies in Fresno County are continuing a marijuana plant eradication program, raiding several illegal outdoor gardens (including sites erected in state and national parks) and netting tens of thousands of pot plants.

The summer is prime time for marijuana harvest, said KGPE correspondent Amy Allen, and the Sheriff's Department, working with the Forest Service, the California Department of Justice, and the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement and have cleared out 40,000 pot plants in remote areas in just three days.

A single plant may produce $4,000 worth of marijuana.

A report by the National Drug Intelligence Center says California's Central Valley is one of the most significant cultivation areas for cannabis in the country.

In 2008 authorities eradicated more than 5.3 million cannabis plants (both indoor- and outdoor-grown) in the state, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and about one-quarter of those were in the Central Valley.

Data also shows that outdoor cultivation has been on the rise over the past five years in Fresno, Kern, Shasta and Tulare Counties.

During a raid near Balch Camp, Calif., Lt. Bob Miller of the Fresco County Sheriff's Department told CBS affiliate KGPE that illegal growers cut down and cleared out trees and hauled in fertilizers, drip lines and other equipment. "Extremely, extremely sophisticated operations," he said.

The eradication of the illegal gardens is not just to keep drugs off the streets but also to prevent environmental damage: Highly-toxic chemicals from the growing sites - from pesticides and chemical repellents to rat poison - pollute watersheds, harming fish and wildlife and eventually getting into the water supply.

The Fresno Bee reports that at one encampment in the foothills of the eastern part of Fresno County, approximately 10,000 plants were growing in a one-third acre patch. A shelter with kitchen and canned supplies were also found.

Forest Service volunteers will help clear out trash from the encampments.

Also this week, authorities removed about 3,500 marijuana plants found growing in park land in the Santa Monica Mountains.

The National Park Service said Wednesday that trash, pipes, camping equipment, fertilizer and pesticides were also removed Tuesday from three plantations - two located in Malibu Creek State Park and one in the Zuma-Trancas Canyon area.

Authorities said it costs up to $12,000 to clean up an acre of cultivated pot, taking away money that could be spent on other public services.

[Logicmarton]

And we wonder why California has money problems...yes politicians/cops burn up all the States potential profits to make their point but 1 year and 6 months from today cannabis will be fully legalized and this comment will prove they were idiots who were willing to burn up monies that could have save the laid off cops that were so proud of their cannabis eradication but they will soon stand in the unemployment line with the citizens they busted and all of this for lack of common sense and a workable State budget.

[carlyt1]

Definitely time for legalization. No more harmful than alcohol and the tax revenue will help many states. There is a related post at http://iamsoannoyed.com/?page_id=588

[thusspokezara]

Man I can't believe that at a time like this when we are in economic trouble and people are out of work that our money would be going to harrassing those good citizens of the State of California who choose periodically to enter an altered mental state through the stately door of cannabis in order to briefly get some relief from the state of anxiety that comes from living in this miserable State and as I stated that money would be better spent somewhere else in this state and not be wasted but I think I am stating the obvious althought it is costing me a lot of mental energy to type this through the altered mental state and paranoia that this altered mental state entails.

[Samuel-HiLL]

Don't worry everyone, we planted about a gazillion plants, so what they find is just a drop in the bucket. We might be stoned, but we ain't stupid!

[Lizzz33333]

Did you all know that the drug dealers started using the National Parks to grow Pot because Bush reduced funding for Park Rangers??? This problem, like everything else, occurred under Bushes watch!!! The arrests occurred last year.

[Kyle1965]

"Did you all know that the drug dealers started using the National Parks to grow Pot because Bush reduced funding for Park Rangers???"

They were growing in our national forests before Bush became president. What is probably causing an increase in these grows is increased pressure on the border making it more difficult to smuggle the thousands of tons of marijuana they bring in every year from Mexico. It doesn't really cost them much more to grow it in the U.S. and they don't have to pay so much to smuggle loads in and put so much of their product at risk of detection at the border that now does actually have enhanced security. There may be some greater risk of their fields being detected here, but an awful lot is interdicted in Mexico. Mexico actually seizes more marijuana than any other country in the world, much more than us even. They grow more and more here using dirt cheap and expendable Mexican laborors, sometimes even coerced labor. The product they grow here is actually better than what they can grow in Mexico because their hot climate is really not the best for growing high potency marijuana.

[tincup356]

CAUTION,,,,Being exposed to BS spewing from the mouths of liars backing the prohibition of marijuana,,,,,can cause anyone listening to be filled with ignorance of the facts. To hear those people tell it Marijuana causes,,,,,Death, criminal behavior, insanity, and the list goes on and on......why do people who have jobs that require trust of the public lie through their teeth, so they can persecute non violent people? The DEA was created by the biggest crook and liar to hold the office of the Presidency, at least that was until we elected the last four,,,that would have been Richard M. Nixon......and the DEA is just as crooked as he was. The prohibition of marijuana should not be based on the opinion of a select few , it should be based on the opinion of the people of this country, and the facts about it ,,,NOT THE MYTHS. If things should be outlawed because they were bad or dangerous to the people ,,,,CONGRESS would be the first thing that should be banned.

[tincup356]

Wasted manpower, wasted marijuana,,,,,,,seems like our government is REAL GOOD at wasting things. That manpower could be used to go after criminals with real victims...like corporate and investment fraud.We need to forget "Tea Parties"...it is time to flat run the greedy lobby dollar sucking criminals out of office,,,,BOTH PARTIES are traitors.

[Kyle1965]

Legalize it and regulate the industry similar to the way the alcohol industry is regulated and then no one would be growing it in our national forests and the Mexican cartels who are responsible for most of these grows along with the many thousands of tons they produce in Mexico and smuggle into this country each year will lose most of their income. The ONDCP says cartels make over 60% of their income from marijuana produced in Mexico bound for the U.S., even though they smuggle in and distribute most all of the cocaine, meth and heroin consumed here. Who knows how much they make from the marijuana they grow here in our national forests? The number of these grows is increasing and these organizations are now starting to get involved with indoor growing in a major way. Legalizing it would end all this pot growing in our national forests and deprive these organizations of most of their income. On top of that, it would make it harder for them to sell their other far more dangerous drugs because they wouldn't have all the buyers and sellers of pot that they now tap to help them move their other drugs. Pot users would buy their product at "pot stores" that would be no more likely to sell drugs like cocaine, meth and heroin than liquor stores are today.

[AttentionDeficit]

Kyle: It's also good to remember that the ONDCP are a bunch of lying pukes. I wish festering boils on McCaffery and Walters.

[Kyle1965]

AttentionDeficit:

That may be, but the ONDCP aren't the only ones that recognize that Mexican cartels make most of their money from marijuana. We've had other government officials making even higher estimates about the percentage of their money they make from marijuana. The Mexican government believes they make most of their money from marijuana. The UN says marijuana is the biggest money making illegal drug in the world.

It's not that profit margins are so high with marijuana. Profit margins from the cost of production to the point the drug is retailed to consumers are much higher with a drug like cocaine. But relatively few people use the other drugs. Thousands of tons of marijuana are consumed in this country every year. The total amount combined of all the cocaine, meth and heroin used in this country every year is only in the hundreds of tons. Americans use more marijuana than all other illegal drugs combined. The black market for illegal drugs is mostly a black market for marijuana. If we legalize marijuana and get it running through legal channels we will deprive Mexican cartels and many other drug trafficking organizations of most of their income and we'll shrink the total black market for illegal drugs down to something much smaller and easier to manage. These criminal organizations will have a good bit less than half the money they use to fund their criminal enterprises and they will be much less of a threat.

[horse3farm]

Isn't it about time California broke away from North America and floated out to sea? Some psychic predicted that decades ago. But wait...yesterday the news said they were thinking of taxing pot, now they are destroying it. Isn't it about time California broke away from North America and floated out to sea?

[Questionews]

I think the idea of burning the pot is a good one. Just not all at once. Spread it out over the course of a year or so. And don't use flammable liquids to get it burning. That just pollutes the atmosphere with petroleum fumes. I suggest burning it inside little tiny papers that are rolled up. Way fewer toxic fumes & is better for the environment.