cannabisnews.com: Pot: Anti-Cultivation Program Kicks Off 










  Pot: Anti-Cultivation Program Kicks Off 

Posted by CN Staff on August 05, 2003 at 10:03:21 PT
By The Porterville Recorder Staff 
Source: Porterville Recorder  

Sacramento -- Officials just kicked off the California Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, but authorities in Tulare County beat the start of the season by eradicating gardens at two locations in the county last week.Attorney General Bill Lockyer recently announced Tulare County placed fifth among California counties in plant seizures during the 2002 marijuana planting season, with a total of 29,271.
Mendocino led with 103,104, followed by Sonoma, at 39,313, Santa Barbara, 32,698, and Tuolumne, 32,698."This year, the CAMP team continues its efforts to rid our state of dangerous commercial grow operations," Lockyer said."These illegal gardens are run like multi-national, multi-million dollar corporations. They are highly organized, efficient businesses that often use the profits from marijuana cultivation to finance other illegal drug trafficking operations like methamphetamine," he said.Under the direction of the California Department of Justice, the program brings together officers from nearly 70 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to locate and eradicate large outdoor marijuana operations in remote forested areas during the height of harvesting season.The marijuana growing season starts in mid-April with harvests ending in late September of early October.Lockyer said nearly 10,000 plants with a wholesale value reaching $40 million, were eradicated prior to the main harvesting season.The U.S. Forest Service reported seizing 4,360 plants in an area near Badger in northern Tulare County last Monday, with more collected the following day, and Tulare County Sheriff's Department detectives reported seizing 1,065 plants at a location on Dry Creek Road near Lomitas Drive in the northern portion of the county.In the 20-year history of the CAMP program, agents have eradicated more than 3 million plants with an estimated wholesale value of $12 billion.During the 2002 season, program agents seized a record 354,164 plants worth more than $1.4 billion."With each season, we are perfecting techniques to locate and eradicate large marijuana planting operations, CAMP director Val Jimenez said. "It isn't that there are more plants out there. We're better at finding the gardens."During the past few years, CAMP agents report they are finding many more illegal gardens on public lands. Last year more than half of the plants seized were located on national forests and other public recreational areas.Operations hidden on public lands put California's outdoor enthusiasts in danger of stumbling upon gardens protected by armed sentries, officials said. Source: Porterville Recorder (CA)Published: August 5, 2003Copyright: 2003, The Porterville RecorderContact: David_Arkin link.freedom.comWebsite: http://www.portervillerecorder.com/Related Articles:Marijuana Found Thriving in Forestshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14764.shtmlHow Green is The Crop?http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11568.shtml 

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Comment #11 posted by FoM on August 05, 2003 at 20:54:57 PT
Just a Note
My post seemed to silly for me tonight so I removed it. Don't mind me.
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Comment #10 posted by freedom fighter on August 05, 2003 at 20:45:53 PT

Petard
those public places you mentioned are to be avoided because they are fully chemically sprayed with herbicide.. In other word, they dumped weed killer every once a while... But, you are right, I think I am going to dye my blonde hair black and put some black shoe polish on my face and plant me so ever many seeds and seedlings..........Every year those clowns proclaim more numbers of plants killed, more stupid they look....Thanks for the price support but hey, THAT'S NOT FAIR TO THE SICK FOLKS or to the "BROWN" faces. What really get my goat is that these camp fools are using racism as an angle these days... and why the hell the media are publishing this trash???Especially, in a state that is supposedly be "progressive" or "liberal"? What does in heaven is the logic of keeping a program that will never accomplish anything??????? While the entire state shudders under the burden of "taking care" of the "growers" in prisons... ?????While the rapists, real robbers, murderers, cons with no conscience roams the street???Someone ought to find out if these program actually contribute "constructive" to society?Sigh!:(pazff
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Comment #8 posted by Petard on August 05, 2003 at 18:20:52 PT

Overgrow them
I still advocate all recreational partakers of herb to collect their seeds from every bag they buy or plant they grow and toss them out their car windows at random while driving. Especially those that live in or visit the countryside or enjoy outdoor recreation. Scatter bag seed to the 4 winds, toss a few in the flower beds outside City Hall, Public Libraries, Police Stations, fast food and upscale restaraunts, college campuses, everywhere and anywhere there is soil and light. It's good for the soil, it's good erosion prevention, and it's good for the unemployment situation in the USA as it gives the cops job opportunites in pulling plants. 
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on August 05, 2003 at 17:23:12 PT

Related Article About CAMP
Forest Raid Yields Lots of PotPublished: August 5, 2003More than 8,000 4-foot-tall marijuana plants were uprooted from Stanislaus National Forest land east of Tuolumne yesterday and narcotics agents said another 12,000 were still to be pulled from the massive plantation. The operation marked the kickoff of the 2003 pot eradication season for the statewide Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) program. As they did yesterday, today law enforcement officers from the Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office, Stanislaus National Forest, CAMP, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, California National Guard and the National Park Service continued removing the thousands of nearly mature plants from two other commercial plantations within 4 miles of yesterday's haul. Sgt. Jim Mele, who heads the sheriff's department narcotics team, said the two-day operation is expected to yield 20,000 plants. Once pulled, the plants were netted, lifted out by a helicopter and were to be destroyed, thereby robbing the growers of $40 million. That's the pot's estimated street value, agents said. Tuolumne Narcotics Team members said they expect to raid and uproot several more marijuana gardens growing around the county in the next two months. No arrests were made yesterday. But TNT officers and Forest Service law enforcement officers had previously seen two Hispanic men in the area, most likely there to tend the gardens for the summer, Mele said. Early yesterday morning, a sheriff's department SWAT team and five other state and federal law enforcement officers raided the area in an effort to catch the gardeners. However, sheriff's Lt. George Ruckman said the two men were gone and likely left before the latest rainstorms, because no footprints were found near the campsite, which was made up of a lean-to shelter, sleeping bags and cooking utensils. No weapons were found. The 8,000 plants destroyed yesterday were found in three separate gardens that the agents dubbed the Basin Creek grow. Officers carrying 40-pound backpacks loaded with water and tools had to climb and hack their way in or be airlifted into steep terrain off Forest Service Road 2N07, off Cottonwood Road, about five miles outside Tuolumne. Copyright: 2000-2003 Western Communications, Inc.Link: http://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=11525
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Comment #6 posted by goneposthole on August 05, 2003 at 15:39:42 PT

the rush
before or after a good night's sleep?
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Comment #5 posted by BigDawg on August 05, 2003 at 14:12:13 PT

Yes EJ
They become addicted to the "rush" of a bust. Like a kid who steals something for the first time and gets away with it. Often, they steal again... not because they needed something, but to get that rush.The same applies here. They don't think about the harm they wreak on their fellow man... just the rush from a bust rationalized by the holier than thow attitude.
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Comment #4 posted by freedom fighter on August 05, 2003 at 14:01:50 PT

e_j
I do think they are. They have to be. Danglin in the air lookin for some plants is not my idea of fun. I remembered couple articles about this Sonya Barnes who runs the show. For a "lady" she is pretty gung-ho.Their favorite weapon is this fully auto 50 caliber rifle. Every helicopter are outfitted with that machine. When they fly these helicopters, they do'nt make that much noise until they are right upon you. My friend had that experience while he was skinny-dippin up somewhere in North Calif. He said that the helicopter was flyin 100 feet above him. So, yes, in answer to your question....They may not be on drugs but they sure looked addicted.I was wondering when will someone say something about last year helicopter crash that caused the wildfire in Calif?pazff
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Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on August 05, 2003 at 10:41:59 PT

Journalists are really shirking their duty
The most important detail about any government program is how much it costs the people who have to pay for it.
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Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on August 05, 2003 at 10:31:08 PT

Does anyone have stories about how they work?
I'm working on a novel and I need to research this topic.Is it true they're a bunch of crazed paramilitary types?
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Comment #1 posted by cloud7 on August 05, 2003 at 10:30:53 PT

Hmmmm...
"With each season, we are perfecting techniques to locate and eradicate large marijuana planting operations, CAMP director Val Jimenez said. "It isn't that there are more plants out there. We're better at finding the gardens."Could it possibly be the case that people ARE planting extra so that when some it does get "weeded" by CAMP they still have enough to meet supply? Is it frustrating for these people to know that they spend a large portion of their time on somthing that has, let's be honest, zero effect on the availability of marijuana? Here's to another "successful" year of eradication efforts!
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