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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests
#13029332 - 08/09/10 10:04 PM (13 years, 7 months ago) |
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Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests August 9, 2010 - kcby.com
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — As the helicopter raced over the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Saturday morning, the pilot explained his rationale for flying low and fast.
"We try to fly about 300 feet above the ground," said the Jackson County Sheriff's deputy. "It's better than at high altitude. This way you are only a target for a few seconds."
Folks who grow marijuana on federal forestland have been known to take shots at unwanted visitors, he will tell you.
He and the copilot —both of whom asked not to be named or photographed because of the sensitivity of their work — were flying U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, to Gold Beach to discuss the growing marijuana problem on federal land with a team of drug fighters called Southern Oregon Multi-Agency Marijuana Eradication and Reclamation or SOMMER.
En route, the deputies pointed out sites where patches of marijuana plants had been confiscated in the mountains overlooking the Applegate Valley. Most of the raided patches resembled clear cuts from the air.
The pot isn't just on federal land: the helicopter flew over countless marijuana plants growing behind tall fences adjacent to homes in Jackson and Josephine counties, which one of the deputies described as "pseudo medical marijuana" patches. Some of the sites had more than two dozen plants that look like oversized tomato plants from above.
But the pilot steered clear of what he described as two active "cartel grows" on federal land farther into the flight, noting he didn't want to tip off the growers.
A "grow" refers to an illegal marijuana patch. "Cartel" is a reference to Mexican drug-trafficking organizations which law enforcement officials say are now involved in growing marijuana on federal land in the region.
To a man, the seven sheriffs in the group organized by Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters urged Walden for more funding to beef up their departments, which have been hit hard by budget cuts over the years.
Unlike domestic pot operations of years past, many of the plantations now growing on federal land are operated by Mexican drug-trafficking organizations who are well-financed and well-armed, the sheriffs said.
"The longer it goes on, the harder it will be for us to overcome," Winters told Walden. "They are better funded than us ... There are more of them than there are of us."
In fact, the U.S. Department of Justice's National Drug Intelligence Center's 2010 national drug threat assessment released in February reported that the number of plants removed from public land grew more than 300 percent from 2004 to 2008, primarily from pot gardens operated by Mexican drug cartels. The pot growers favor public land because of its remoteness and because it can't be seized or traced to an owner, the report said.
A separate 2008 NDIC report on cartel-related drug-trafficking organizations said the Federation cartel was active in Klamath Falls, and undetermined cartels were working in Medford and Roseburg.
To consolidate law-enforcement efforts, Winters came up with the SOMMER project and received a $202,000 federal grant to find, investigate, remove and clean up marijuana gardens on federal land this summer. Other counties participating in SOMMER include Josephine, Curry, Coos, Douglas, Klamath and Lake.
The seven counties pulled out more than 55,000 pot plants from federal land in 2009, with nearly 30,000 of them coming from Jackson County.
The Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program, the Drug Enforcement Administration operation that funded SOMMER, reported earlier this year that pot plantations on federal land in Oregon, California and Washington are among the biggest producers in the nation.
After observing one eradicated pot plantation after another during the flight, Walden concluded to no one in particular, "We used to grow timber."
The congressman, who told the sheriffs he would do everything he could to help their cause, is urging U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to increase their efforts to stop pot growing on federal lands. Vilsack oversees the Forest Service, while Salazar is in charge of the Bureau of Land Management.
In a separate letter to Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, Walden asked for increased assistance from both the Oregon National Guard and the state police in helping stop the illegal drug operations.
"These growing operations are typically guarded largely by armed foreign nationals, who pose a direct and dangerous threat to ranchers, hikers and anyone enjoying our public lands," Walden warned in the letters.
The Justice Department's 2010 national drug threat assessment concluded the operations "constitute the greatest drug-trafficking threat" to the nation, he added.
Like Winters, Curry County Sheriff John Bishop told Walden that his deputies are spread very thin, although working together through SOMMER has boosted their combined resources.
But overtime and flight time eats into their extremely tight budgets, Bishop said.
"We are getting into country now where we can't expect our guys to hike in there in 120-degree weather, cut the plants, haul that out and then haul out the trash and toxins and all that," he said. "We've got to have helos, and that is expensive."
Helicopters enable law enforcement officers to hit more "grows" per week, an activity that averages about three patches a week during this time of year, Winters told the congressman.
"In the old days, when we used to hike in with the steep terrain and everything, our guys were wiped out," he said, adding they were lucky to hit one patch a week.
"And there is so much more dope now," he added. "You aren't dealing with just a few plants now. You are dealing with grows that have 5,000 plants."
In 2009, his department assisted law enforcement officers just across the state line in Siskiyou County, Calif., raiding a patch which had 200,000 plants, Winters said.
"We've picked up our efficiency and are doing the best we can but we don't have enough people," Winters said. "Most of us are half-staffed or losing people."
"Consolidation is absolutely the only way to combat this we just don't have the resources," stressed Josephine County Sheriff Gil Gilbertson.
Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger said departments can't hire law enforcement officers on a seasonal basis to eradicate pot on federal land.
"These are guys you are pulling off the street to handle this work," Evinger said. "So you have to pay them overtime or go short on shifts."
In answer to a question by Walden, all the sheriffs said the lion's share of the illegal pot patches they are eradicating are on federal land. They also observed that using federal funds literally ties them up in red tape.
"The cartels shouldn't be able to do business easier than us," Winters said at one point.
While the sheriffs were quick to tell Walden the Forest Service and BLM work with them, they asked for more federal help.
"It's already a collective effort," Winters said. "We need them to come in and help us a little more. It's their land.
"The problem we get into as county sheriffs, we have to protect our people from county line to county line," he added. "They recreate, fish and hunt out there. So we end up having that responsibility whether we like it or not."
Noting the cartels use money raised from pot to fund other criminal activities, the sheriffs said they often find gang members and others manning the illegal patches.
"Now they are going in with weapons and camping," Bishop said. "It is more dangerous going into gardens now than anytime in the 24 years I've been in law enforcement."
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bloodsheen
ChemChaplin
Registered: 09/24/08
Posts: 7,659
Last seen: 4 years, 2 months
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Re: Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests [Re: veggie]
#13030216 - 08/10/10 02:38 AM (13 years, 7 months ago) |
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"The cartels shouldn't be able to do business easier than us," Winters said at one point.
Are you fucking kidding me? Of course your job should be harder to do than the cartel's. They are allowed to use any fucking methods they want because they are unregulated. What you are really saying is you wish the government would give you a blank check to bust grows non-stop.
And even if you were to pump 100 billion into this one area and eradicated every field as it popped up, you still wouldn't affect the drug flow because they would just start digging huge holes and filling them with old boxcars like that one grow in Canada.
Its almost like the government is unable to comprehend failing. Its like they look at the statistics every year and go "No no no, this can't be right. Your telling me we put more money into drug enforcement and there is a RISE in drugs found? Ok, how about 10 billion more, think that will do it?" Then the next year it happens again and they say the same thing. When will they learn?
-------------------- A cautious young fellow named Lodge / Had seat belts installed in his Dodge. / When his date was strapped in / He committed a sin / Without even leaving the garage. That's clever, isn't it?-A boy and his dog
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Le_Canard
The Duk Abides
Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 94,392
Loc: Earthfarm 1
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Re: Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests [Re: bloodsheen]
#13030223 - 08/10/10 02:43 AM (13 years, 7 months ago) |
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Indeed. The WOD has been a miserable failure. If they would legalize and regulate weed, it'd take a lot of the profit away from these vicious and destructive cartels.
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henk600
Medical cannabis user
Registered: 07/08/10
Posts: 635
Loc: nederland
Last seen: 12 years, 5 months
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Re: Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests [Re: Le_Canard]
#13040376 - 08/12/10 07:45 AM (13 years, 7 months ago) |
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the only problem in this news is the goverment who dont legalize it. the ganja plants are not the problem here
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OregonChronic
Iron, Lion, Cyans
Registered: 09/12/10
Posts: 1,970
Loc: Scoping Woodchips
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Re: Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests [Re: henk600]
#13266084 - 09/29/10 05:38 PM (13 years, 5 months ago) |
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Ya the weed grows NICE here...thousands of plants get busted on my local news every year. Such nice weed everywhere here in nor cali and southern oregon i think it just might be the best spot to grow in the US
-------------------- Wavy Cap Cyan Spore Prints for Trade/Sale
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Le_Canard
The Duk Abides
Registered: 05/16/03
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Loc: Earthfarm 1
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Re: Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests [Re: OregonChronic]
#13266273 - 09/29/10 06:16 PM (13 years, 5 months ago) |
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Y'all over there in that area are well known for growing some of the best weed in world.
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OregonChronic
Iron, Lion, Cyans
Registered: 09/12/10
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Re: Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests [Re: Le_Canard]
#13266347 - 09/29/10 06:32 PM (13 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
ToiletDuk said: Y'all over there in that area are well known for growing some of the best weed in world.
ya our plants get huge. There is so much weed here in SW oregon its nice..we smoke too much weed up here and i had to go sober for awhile to get high again because of tolerance...
The small 12days i went sober for didn't really do much so i gotta go clean and sober again this time for hopefully 30days and get my tolerance back down
I love weed though..its what we do here
-------------------- Wavy Cap Cyan Spore Prints for Trade/Sale
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Le_Canard
The Duk Abides
Registered: 05/16/03
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Re: Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests [Re: OregonChronic]
#13266365 - 09/29/10 06:35 PM (13 years, 5 months ago) |
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Beautiful country out there too. If I had the money, I'd move out there.
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psilyguy
Registered: 12/03/08
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Re: Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests [Re: Le_Canard]
#13268010 - 09/30/10 12:56 AM (13 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
"Consolidation is absolutely the only way to combat this we just don't have the resources," stressed Josephine County Sheriff Gil Gilbertson.
The only way to combat this is to legalize it so the supply doesn't come from the black market.
Sure the area is known for growing great weed, but the mexican cartels are an abomination. They are killing the forests that make it so amazing to be out in nature here (i know i sound like a hippy but this is true), so they can make a shit ton of money and send it back to mexico. They are also becoming more and more dangerous to regular people.
Its great that we have medical marijuana that people can abuse by safely and still illegally selling personal quantities to friends. But we seriously need to straight up legalize it so we can stop ruining our land and giving all our money to asshole mexican gangsters.
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SuperD
Cacti junky
Registered: 10/05/03
Posts: 6,648
Loc: The bridgesii bridge
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Re: Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests [Re: psilyguy]
#13268600 - 09/30/10 06:29 AM (13 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
psilyguy said: Sure the area is known for growing great weed, but the mexican cartels are an abomination. They are killing the forests that make it so amazing to be out in nature here (i know i sound like a hippy but this is true)
You don't sound like a hippy to me. You sound like a concerned citizen with a legitimate interest in preserving the forest lands local to your area. I don't blame you one bit. We have some beautiful forests in my neck of the woods too, and I'd hate to see them ruined by these rogue cartel growers. They rape the land and don't give a fuck what they leave behind.
-------------------- D Manoa said: I need to stop spending all my money on plants and take up a cheaper hobby, like heroin. Looking for Rauhocereus riosaniensis seeds or live specimen(s), me if you have any for trade
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Green_T
Registered: 10/02/08
Posts: 4,042
Loc: UK
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Re: Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests [Re: SuperD]
#13268641 - 09/30/10 06:59 AM (13 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
SuperD said:
Quote:
psilyguy said: Sure the area is known for growing great weed, but the mexican cartels are an abomination. They are killing the forests that make it so amazing to be out in nature here (i know i sound like a hippy but this is true)
You don't sound like a hippy to me. You sound like a concerned citizen with a legitimate interest in preserving the forest lands local to your area. I don't blame you one bit. We have some beautiful forests in my neck of the woods too, and I'd hate to see them ruined by these rogue cartel growers. They rape the land and don't give a fuck what they leave behind.
^QFT x 2
Unless we legalize soon, our backyards are going to turn into something that resembles the lawless badlands of Afghanistan.
People say that if we were to legalize, the cartels would just grow more in our backyards illegally and sell it, thereby not solving the problem. However, it would still be a crime to grow on federal land. If it were to be legal, this would still go on, except there would be one big difference: Legal growers would have a competitive edge over the cartels, and therefore not make it profitable for them to grow in the forest.
The key word is "profitable". As long as it is profitable for them to guerrilla grow, they will. Legalization would take away the profit incentive, and completely fuck them. Furthermore, they could simultaneously increase the penalties for growing on public land, and divert resources from the DEA busting grandma to increase pressure.
It appears the way to make growers legit is to have them registered, and keep records of how many plants they have and how much they produce. That would prevent growers from saying they grow legally and then collecting plants from the forest. This would have to be done for tax purposes, and i'm sure its how it works with microbreweries.
One concern I have is that they will still transport to neighboring states, who will in turn blame the legalization status in Oregon/California as causing their problem, when it is in fact the legalization status in their states causing their problems.
-------------------- "I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man" - Thomas Jefferson Legalize Meth | Drug War Victims
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Le_Canard
The Duk Abides
Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 94,392
Loc: Earthfarm 1
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Re: Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests [Re: SuperD]
#13268649 - 09/30/10 07:03 AM (13 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
SuperD said:
Quote:
psilyguy said: Sure the area is known for growing great weed, but the mexican cartels are an abomination. They are killing the forests that make it so amazing to be out in nature here (i know i sound like a hippy but this is true)
You don't sound like a hippy to me. You sound like a concerned citizen with a legitimate interest in preserving the forest lands local to your area. I don't blame you one bit. We have some beautiful forests in my neck of the woods too, and I'd hate to see them ruined by these rogue cartel growers. They rape the land and don't give a fuck what they leave behind.
Sounds like a concerned citizen to me too. I'd be pissed too if those scumbags were devastating the forests around here.
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4runner
Registered: 07/16/10
Posts: 15,406
Loc: State of Jefferson
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Re: Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests [Re: Le_Canard]
#13269470 - 09/30/10 11:18 AM (13 years, 5 months ago) |
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Yup and every year we get stories like this one: "Hunters warned to look for signs of pot grows, avoid confrontations If you find an illegal pot grow, you should 'leave,' 'consider yourself lucky'" Kind of makes ya nervous going out hunting mushrooms when trigger happy "farmers" and hunters are stalking around. Bad enough hiking around and realize, I don't like what this trail is turning into, dammit time to turn back.
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OregonChronic
Iron, Lion, Cyans
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Re: Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests [Re: 4runner]
#13269542 - 09/30/10 11:32 AM (13 years, 5 months ago) |
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All those grows out here do piss me the fuck off and i find random chems in the woods...
The grow ima do here next year in the woods will be organic and no chems... why do they need to ruin the land?
And they grow shitty mexican weed in our perfect climate it pisses me off...I hope im just walkn up some mountain lookn for amanitas to run into a bunch of mexicans harvesting
I'd fuckin run up and let them know that the locals grow here and these are OUR mountains and i'd make them give me a cut of their harvest for ruining our forests
The cops around here all go for their grows only though,...making it perfectly legit to grow in my backyard without worries because almost every single house grows around here they can't bust us all
-------------------- Wavy Cap Cyan Spore Prints for Trade/Sale
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blujay
pass it b*ch!
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Re: Marijuana a growing problem in Oregon forests [Re: SuperD]
#13269554 - 09/30/10 11:35 AM (13 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
SuperD said:
Quote:
psilyguy said: Sure the area is known for growing great weed, but the mexican cartels are an abomination. They are killing the forests that make it so amazing to be out in nature here (i know i sound like a hippy but this is true)
You don't sound like a hippy to me. You sound like a concerned citizen with a legitimate interest in preserving the forest lands local to your area. I don't blame you one bit. We have some beautiful forests in my neck of the woods too, and I'd hate to see them ruined by these rogue cartel growers. They rape the land and don't give a fuck what they leave behind.
Of course they don't, they are only concerned with making the money and not getting caught, or killed. They're only in this situation because of us and our policy, and the position we leave our neighboring countries in. Have you seen Mexico? You would thing the neighbor to the supposedly greatest country in the world (or at least the one that was) would be doing a little better. Ironically, I can't blame them. In their situation, I would probably be doing something along the same lines.
It's so fucked that we're losing national parks to this shit and still nobody is talking about it. This is crazy.
-------------------- wat man rly
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