[pct-l] Illegal Marijuana

[metam01 at earthlink.net (Monty Tam)]

I'm dyslexic.  Is the about Commercial Bud or a Bud Commercial??  


> [Original Message]
> From: <dsaufley@sprynet.com>
> To: <Lonetrail@aol.com>; <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
> Date: 12/5/2005 12:41:21 PM
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Illegal Marijuana
>
> A few travelers, Josie & Cuervo (I don't think they can be classified as
thru hikers!) did some exploring just north of Walker Pass.  They followed
a barely discernible trail leading off, and out of curiosity, followed it. 
After several miles, they ultimately came across an abandoned pot farm,
which appeared to have been supervised by Mexican nationals -- everything
left at the farm's campsites was in Spanish.  They also found a really
warm-and-fuzzy-but-otherwise-kinda-tacky blanket (the kind you sometimes
see being sold on street corners) that had been left at the site, and
because Josie & Cuervo were travelling with burros, they were able to pack
it out, and ultimately gave it to us.  It's now at Hiker Heaven, keeping
hikers warm and cozy when the weather calls for it.  
>
> L-Rod
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lonetrail@aol.com
> Sent: Dec 5, 2005 11:02 AM
> To: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
> Subject: [pct-l] Illegal Marijuana
>
>           
>  
> National Parks' Pot Farms Blamed on Cartels 
>
> Mexican drug lords find it easier to  grow in state than import 
>
> by Zachary Coile 
> San Francisco Chronicle - November 18,  2005 
> Hikers in national parks such as  Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon are 
> encountering a danger more hazardous than  bears: illegal marijuana farms
run by 
> Mexican drug cartels and protected by  booby traps and guards carrying
AK-47s.  
> National Park Service officials  testified in Congress on Thursday that 
> illegal drug production in national  parks, forests and other federal
lands had 
> grown into a multibillion-dollar  business in recent years -- mostly
concentrated 
> in California.  
> "These activities threaten our  employees, visitors and our mission of 
> protecting some of the nation's most  prized natural and cultural
resources," Karen 
> Taylor-Goodrich, the National Park  Service's associate director for
visitor 
> and resource protection, told the House  Resources Subcommittee on
National 
> Parks.  
> Last year, National Park Service  officers seized about 60,000 marijuana 
> plants, with an estimated street value of  $240 million, from parks in
California. 
> About 44,000 pot plants were removed  from Sequoia National Park near 
> California's Central Valley. Another 10,000  plants were seized in
Yosemite National 
> Park.  
> The Park Service also has found pot  farms and other drug trafficking 
> activities in the Santa Monica Mountains  National Recreation Area and
the 
> Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in Shasta  County as well as two Bay
Area parks: 
> the Golden Gate National Recreation Area  and Point Reyes National
Seashore.  
> The increasing use of national parks  and other public lands for illegal
pot 
> farming is part of a major shift in the  marijuana trade. Ten years ago, 
> almost all of the state's pot was grown in the  "Emerald Triangle," an
area 
> encompassing Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity  counties in Northern
California, law 
> enforcement officials said.  
> But Mexican drug cartels now are  seizing on the state's mild climate and 
> vast stretches of remote lands to set up  pot farms across California.
Tightened 
> security on the U.S.-Mexico border has  also convinced many drug gangs it
is 
> easier to grow marijuana in the state than  to smuggle it into the
country.  
> Park service officials said the drug  cartels took extreme measures to 
> protect their plants, which can be worth $4,000  each. Growers have been
known to 
> set up booby traps with shotguns. Guards armed  with knives and
military-style 
> weapons have chased away hikers at gunpoint. In  2002, a visitor to
Sequoia was 
> briefly detained by a drug grower, who threatened  to harm him if he told 
> authorities the pot farm's secret location.  
> During a raid of an illegal pot farm in  Santa Clara County in June, a 
> California Fish and Game officer was wounded and a  suspect shot and
killed.  
> "In prior years, guards used to flee  from Park Service law enforcement
but 
> now stand their ground with leveled guns  using intimidation tactics,"
Laura 
> Whitehouse, the Central Valley program  manager for the National Parks 
> Conservation Association, told the committee.  
> The illicit pot farms can also cause  environmental damage. Growers often
cut 
> trees, dig ditches, create crude dams on  streams, and haul in plastic
hoses 
> and other equipment to irrigate the plants.  Fertilizers and other
chemicals 
> used by growers pollute watersheds and kill  native species. Last year,
the 
> Park Service spent $50,000 to clean up tons of  litter, debris and human
waste at 
> pot farms that were discovered or abandoned.  
> Congress approved a slight increase in  funding for Park Service law 
> enforcement for next year, $3.6 million, $746,000  of it for drug
eradication efforts 
> in California parks. But federal and state  officials say they still lack
the 
> money and personnel to patrol vast areas in  and around the state's
parks.  
> "It's a $2 billion or a $4 billion  problem, and we're throwing $1
million at 
> it," said Supervisor Allen Ishida of  Tulare County, whose deputies
seized 
> 157,000 pot plants on public and private  lands and made 28 arrests this
year.  
> Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., the chairman  of the national parks
subcommittee, 
> said it would be tough to find more money in  the federal budget as
Congress 
> deals with rising deficits and is considering  cutting many programs. He
urged 
> the Park Service to put more officers on drug  eradication instead of
"writing 
> parking tickets."  
> Donald Coelho, the Park Service's chief  of law enforcement, agreed that
more 
> money was not the only solution. He said a  coordinated strategy by
state, 
> federal and local law enforcement officials  ultimately could put a dent
in the 
> Mexican cartels' operations.  
> "Sometimes it takes time to work your  way through an organization,"
Coelho 
> said.  
> State narcotics officers and the Drug  Enforcement Administration seized
a 
> record 1.1 million pot plants on public and  private lands in California
this 
> year, up from 621,000 plants last year, through  an aggressive campaign
called 
> CAMP, or Campaign Against Marijuana Planting. The  street value of those
drugs 
> is estimated at $4.5 billion.  
> But state and federal officials said  drug growers were adapting quickly
-- 
> for example, planting smaller pot farms  that are tougher to spot from 
> surveillance planes and helicopters. Some growers  have responded to drug
raids in 
> Sequoia and other parks by moving their farms to  nearby Forest Service
or Bureau 
> of Land Management lands.  
> Without a more comprehensive plan, "we are just shifting the  problem
from 
> one jurisdiction to another," Ishida said.  
>  (http://www.sfgate.com/) 
>
>
>
>
>  (http://www.yosemite.org/newsroom/clips2005/clips2005index.htm)  
> (http://www.yosemite.org/newsroom/archive.html) 
(http://www.yosemite.org/newsroom/press
> releases/index.htm)  (http://www.yosemite.org/newsroom/farley/farley.htm) 
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