cannabisnews.com: Pot is Burning Issue on Mendocino Ballot





Pot is Burning Issue on Mendocino Ballot
Posted by CN Staff on May 31, 2008 at 05:26:24 PT
By Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Mendocino County -- Marijuana is so ubiquitous here that everyone, from schoolteachers to kids, can tell you when a sinsemilla bud is ripe. From late summer to fall, the county reeks with the skunk-like stench of ready-to-harvest weed. The annual $1.5 billion pot crop constitutes two-thirds of Mendocino County's entire economy."You tell people from other parts of the country that folks grow pot all over town, and they think this is just a freak show here," said Ross Liberty, who owns a welding shop in Ukiah. "They're not far off."
Earlier this year, Liberty and others who used to be benign about the issue decided enough was enough. They put Measure B on Tuesday's ballot to repeal the nation's most liberal rules for growing pot, which for eight years have allowed anyone to grow up to 25 plants for personal use. If Measure B is approved by a majority vote, the per-person limit will revert to the statewide limit of six plants.But then there's the other side.Opponents of Measure B call it a meat-ax approach to an emotionally volatile issue and say that going after the weed in Mendocino's backyards and spare rooms is wrongheaded at best, cruel at worst. What is really needed, they argue, is a better effort to eradicate large-scale plantations that are hidden in the heavily forested mountains and guarded by thugs toting assault rifles.The forces against Measure B are led by an ex-congressman's daughter who was busted and later cleared for growing a medical pot garden."We need to harness this gigantic industry, not try to kill it," said Laura Hamburg, whose arrest last fall so infuriated her that she decided to head up the anti-B push. "There's this caricature about this county that we're all hippies sitting around smoking joints, but that's the last thing from reality. Medical users truly need this plant."The homegrown weed in most of those yards and rooms is medicine to be used by those who grow it, Hamburg said, or sold to the 400 medicinal marijuana clinics in San Francisco, Berkeley and the rest of the state. These grow-farms are not the problem, she insisted - flashy out-of-towners are. Snipped   Complete Article: http://tinyurl.com/4txkpmSource: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)Author: Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff WriterPublished: Saturday, May 31, 2008Copyright: 2008 San Francisco Chronicle Contact: letters sfchronicle.comWebsite: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Related Articles:Backlash Against Pot Growing in Mendocino http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23969.shtmlRuling Clouds Mendocino Pot Measurehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23966.shtml
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Comment #5 posted by John Tyler on May 31, 2008 at 20:39:15 PT
county cannabis
The annual $1.5 billion pot crop constitutes two-thirds of Mendocino County's entire economy. What are these people squawking about? This is a boon for the whole county. A rising tide lifts all boats they say. In the fall they should have a county cannabis festival and celebrate their good fortune. 
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on May 31, 2008 at 09:33:08 PT
My response to the government's really big shows.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! 
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on May 31, 2008 at 09:28:24 PT
Comment 1: Major crime? 
"major crimes task force kicked in the doors"Well, I guess it's good to know that a "major crime" in this country is just growing plants... not kidnapping or murdering or anything like that. No one is getting hurt or mistreated hideously or killed anywhere... nothing more "major" than horticulture. What a safe place we live in when we have government kicking in doors and screaming to save the rest of us from someone growing plants. Government seems to love to put on big overwhelming, scary shows of power and might for us. We had a huge show of government military style might and power here in Texas recently. We call it "Eldorado". Hey... it was big enough to be historical in magnitude and get attention world wide. Of course, people were terrorized... especially women and children... but that's often part of the really big show, it seems.Yeah... it really looks like we need more police. I remember a saying that used to mean something here. "One Riot. One Ranger."How many elite police officers to take down one garden? Well, recent history tells us that twelve is a small number... but they still put on a really big show.
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Comment #2 posted by afterburner on May 31, 2008 at 07:31:46 PT
RE #1: Deconstructing DEA: Marijuana Grow House
http://cannabisnews.com/news/23/thread23923.shtml#10
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on May 31, 2008 at 05:41:20 PT
SFC: Just a House in The Hills - Until The Raid
By Kevin FaganSaturday, May 31, 2008Calpella, Mendocino County -- The house looked like any other in the hills overlooking Lake Mendocino: neatly painted blue walls, a redwood deck spreading into a yard of raked dirt and stones, a tidy shed to the side of the driveway.Then the 12-man major crimes task force kicked in the doors one day earlier this month at twilight, screaming, "Police Department, search warrant!" And it became clear this was no house for living.It had been gutted and transformed into an indoor farm for at least 270 marijuana plants.Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/31/MNRE10N3JE.DTL
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