timiscute

California's marijuana seizures at all-time high
11/4/09 | PressDemocrat.com | The Press Democrat | Santa Rosa, CA | GLENDA ANDERSON


California's pot police have again shattered records for confiscating marijuana.

The state's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting seized 4.4 million marijuana plants during this year's eradication operations of four-and-a-half months, up from last year's take of 2.9 million, officials said Wednesday.

State Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement spokeswoman Michelle Gregory attributed the hike to increased cultivation and more comprehensive eradication.

“We think they're growing larger gardens and we're getting better at finding them and being able to access them,” she said.

Critics say the increase in marijuana seizures is an indication the war on pot production has failed.

Confiscation records were also set in Lake and Mendocino counties, two of the top five pot producers in the state. But after three years in the top spot, Lake County fell this year to second place, despite the seizure of 506,506 plants, up from 499,508 last year.

Shasta County, where law officials seized 557,862 plants, took its place for the most pot seized.

State officials, together with local law enforcement, seized 440,689 pot plants in Mendocino County, up from 231,802 last year. In Sonoma County, just over 100,000 plants were seized, compared with 71,364 last year.

The state's figures do not include the number of pot plants seized by local officials the rest of the year and without assistance from the state program, called CAMP.

Most of the seized marijuana — over 75 percent — was growing on public, state or federal land. And much of it is grown by Mexican drug cartels, state law officials said.

The gardens are causing deforestation, damage to wildlife habitat and streams and leaving behind chemical pollution, they said.

Armed gardeners pose a risk to people utilizing public lands for recreation, said George Anderson, director of the Justice Department's Division of Law Enforcement.

CAMP seized 89 weapons and made 111 arrests during the operation.

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kjp420

Thats interesting... gives me an idea for legalization: legalize it and less forest will be cut down. good,bad?

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admiral nelson-youve got a lil admiral in u

cj117

Imbeciles!
The main reason pot confiscations are so high now is because of the decriminalization efforts, and lack of regulation (AND LEGALITY). Demand is up, therefore more seizures is no big surprise. Or at least it shouldn't be!

nikk

I swear I bet all they do is find a field of plants walk around kill like 1,000 of them and they're like,
"how many do you think we killed today? "
"Oh, id say about 55,000. "
"Alright Sounds good."

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"But am I less holy, cause I choose to puff a blunt and drink a beer with my homies. Before we find world peace, we gotta find peace in that war on the streets."

claygooding

News Flash!!!!!
The number of grow busts are breaking records in nearly every state. Just within the three counties around mine,there have been a half dozen,most small non commercial personal grows,but some large ones with possible cartel connections too. And that is in a part of Texas where the grower has a lot of work furnishing water in August.
And as usual,trying too put a spin on their efforts by claiming that the growers are polluting the soil with the same fertilizers people use in their home gardens and farmers use all over the world.

prorathack10

Did you ever hear about busting someone growing tobacco?
That would be silly, you know why?
Because it is legalized... and you know what's the bad thing? It kills way more people than any illegal drug per year...
Solution? KILL THE BLACK MARKET BY LEGALIZING IT... Easy.

boxmandude

Weed is in, and I hope it stays like this or even expands in the future. I don't know how I feel with legalization (it would be nice to smoke a j without worry), but hopefully the government sees what we really want. Why can't they see that most of the population are for legalization?