cannabisnews.com: Homegrown: Special Marijuana Issue 





Homegrown: Special Marijuana Issue 
Posted by FoM on August 18, 2000 at 20:47:59 PT
Clamping Down on NC's Cash Crop
Source: Creative Loafing
My Viking soul had been telling me for weeks that something was about to go down -- the feeling was getting stronger and stronger."It will come tonight," I told my photographer friend, Michael Traister. That very night, the TV announced "it" and the next day North Carolina launched a fleet of helicopters. I had called the start of " Operation Bladerunner," the state's air and ground marijuana eradication program, almost to the hour.
Suddenly there were choppers dropping in on friends living in the country, choppers doing night sweeps over Raleigh -- choppers everywhere. After a few days of this, I picked up the phone. I had to find out.In The Air: Suddenly, I found myself 300 feet above surging, billowing trees aboard a big, spooky black helicopter -- a UH-60 Sikorsky "Blackhawk." I was the guest of Lt. Brad Knight of the NC National Guard and director of MANTA (see sidebar), some of his colleagues, a Sgt. Jester of Yancey County and associated law enforcement. The UH-60 is just one of 26 fixed and rotary wing aircraft sweeping the state from the mountains to the sea, ferreting out pot patches.Of the six agencies involved in Bladerunner -- DEA, FBI, NC Highway Patrol, local authority, National Guard and Civil Air Patrol -- National Guard does most of the grunt work, humping law enforcement to where hunches lead them or where informants have tipped them off. This sortie consists of a spotter chopper, a four-seater Bell OH-58 "Kiowa," the Blackhawk, and a ground unit comprised of elements of National Guard, Crime Control, Public Safety and local enforcement.On the federal side, Bladerunner is top-loaded through the Department of Defense, National Guard and DEA under the auspices of General Barry McCaffrey -- President Clinton's drug czar. On the state level, Gov. Hunt and the SBI call the shots.In a small, brick building at the small airport serving Elkin, we had our mission briefing. The talk was given by this wily, old bird named Richardson who's been doing this for years. He instructs us not to photograph the tail numbers of the birds or the faces of the pilots to ensure their anonymity -- and their physical safety. The briefing is succinct and to the point: what happens if we are fired upon (it often happens and there is no armor), what to do in the event of a crash or a field emergency, how to exit the craft without getting one's head chopped off ("you won't feel a thing, but I'll have a mountain of paper work," Richardson says, grinning ruefully and shaking his head).Lt. Knight and I had met each other outside before the briefing. We smoked a couple of cigarettes and he gave me a general rundown on the structure of MANTA. After the briefing, Knight took me aside to emphasize that most of MANTA's operating budget goes to DARE programs and to pay for in-school officers. MANTA and McCaffrey's position on marijuana's place in the pantheon of the drug world is that it is a both a precursor drug and illegal -- hence missions like Bladerunner.Outside, we are given an aircraft briefing for the Blackhawk. The pilots (there are always two pilots -- again, a ground-fire issue) go over the particulars of the craft. The big side doors slide open and are locked back. We board and strap ourselves into the four-point harnesses. The crew dons flak helmets and begins flipping a battery of switches.There is the whine of electric starters, the staccato buzz of the igniters. The 50-foot, four-bladed rotor begins to spin -- a slow, gentle spin -- faster and faster until it is a heavy, thudding blur, a noise that's a cross between an express subway, being stuck in a vacuum cleaner, and someone beating on your chest.The craft, shuddering and rocking, taxis gracelessly out to an intermediate tarmac on the big wheels. The crushing racket goes from general shriek to a concussive whopping sound, and then. . .the wheel stops turning and the world suddenly gets small.Holy smoke. This is like a little day trip to the unconscious -- like every flying dream I've ever had. My precedents regarding the rules of motion -- all those years on motorcycles and in airplanes -- are null and void and I'm having an out-of-body experience.Bladerunner is a search-and-destroy operation. There is no attempt to arrest people on the ground; that's left for another day via the local authorities and the SBI. On the federal side, there is one DEA agent allocated to marijuana. The agent and his computer wonk are building a database of the business structure of the operatives in North Carolina -- and even then DEA doesn't mess with less than a hundred pounds.The strategy is much like a game of hopscotch. The nimble, fast 58, piloted by Richardson, flies ahead spotting. When there is a hit, the 60 takes position over the site, providing air cover for the personnel on the ground that hack their way through the forest. The robust Blackhawk has the ability to hover indefinitely. When the area is secured and the plants destroyed, the 60 moves on behind the 58 and so forth.I'll admit, most of the details reside in the background for a time. This ride is absolutely hallucinatory -- the stark, brilliant clarity of the young day, the bracing air, the movements of the machine defying my past experiences -- rising at five feet per second, stopping, twirling around at a fixed altitude, side winds blowing the six-ton craft aside for a gut-dropping instant, then off in a swirl of petroleum fume.We bank lazily over Yadkinville -- over the neat, modest homes, faded trailers, tire shops and store fronts. Citizens emerge from their homes and gawk. I spot a sweet old granny holding a toddler. She tries to convince the child to wave. He finally does, but still looks worried.Forget thermal imaging. They do all that (and they're working on a satellite), but not on this mission. No hocus-pocus; this is strictly daylight observation, I am the only one on board with even a pair of binoculars. The only concession to the study of the dream-like landscape for these intent men is the occasional removal of their black-wrap shades.We fly on, circling broken field and forest and an amazing number of junked cars. Creatures panic at the arrival of the Blackhawk. Deer struggle through high grass, looking like fleas crawling through the fur on a dog's back. Cattle stand, front legs stiff and cocked out, dumbly assessing this new horror, eyes bugged out. Horses flee at full gallop, their manes and tails like flowing corn silk in the morning sun.Like tornadoes, these helicopters seem to be attracted to trailers. Hovering over a group of mobile homes, the occupants emerge from their sad little dwellings, stand on their stoops, blinking and stunned by our appearance. One guy talks on a cell phone, shaking his head. Past the edge of town, we slow and spin over forest, the deputies pointing, directing the movement of the thunderous machine.Professional spotters say with a little practice the patches aren't hard to find. They tell me that the telltale signs are proximity to water, paths through the woods, clearings in forest canopies and signs of cultivation.We have a hit. The Blackhawk lowers to the earth and soon a raging wind buffets the forest canopy, kicking up a blizzard of leaves that dance through the understory. The powerful rotor wash bends trees, snapping a few fairly large limbs. Warm, spicy aromas of bruised plants ride the cold wind. From a small cleared area in the forest surrounded by a circle of black fencing, I see men in camo and black shirts. One gives a thumbs up. The deputies move about swinging machetes.After several minutes, the bird swings around and with that distinctive popping, we're gone -- pushed back in the seats by acceleration. With the only reference the now-distant ground racing past, we're suddenly going a hundred or so and we're on to the next pull.The next seizure was a tip from someone who had observed the flights and called the sheriff. One of the MANTA guys explains that sometimes tips come from hunters and locals, sometimes from growers who don't like competition.The take for these two missions was a hundred or so plants. The value is assessed by MANTA at $2,400 per plant. One of the deputies commented that the trip had paid for itself. The Blackhawk costs $300 to operate, the 58 somewhat less.Miller time. We high-tailed it back to Elkin, the pilot messing with our minds by flying in a series of high arcs to give us a taste of zero G -- hanging us loose in the harnesses for a few seconds at a time, the big machine purring along like your grandma's furnace.Back on the deck at Elkin, the 58 hangs five feet in the air 100 feet from us, rotor churning. The pilot of the Blackhawk holds the 12,000-pound craft at a grand altitude of one foot, dead motionless. Then the beast relaxed and settled on the asphalt with the unheard sigh of sturdy expensive hydraulics.On the Ground: "Abdul growing any this year?" one deputy asks another. We're waiting for a helicopter, this time at the airport outside Siler City."Told me he hadn't had time to plant.""Who's Abdul?" I ask."Arab dude. Moroccan, I think. Most every year he grows some behind his house and most every year we bust him. Doesn't try to hide it and he's always cooperative. He sends us a card every year. He's always saying, 'Invest with me.' He buys these rings and watches overseas and sells them at his little store. Nice guy. Blesses goats and sheep at the slaughterhouse." This is the other side -- the ground operation. This one has a distinctly multicultural feel: Chatham County Sheriff Randy Keck and his deputies, a couple of good old boys, a black dude and this tough little gal; the MANTA people, a young guy named Jason Pleasant, Torres (a big, happy Puerto Rican guy) and an SBI agent named Parrish.Ground support means a lot of hurry-up-and-wait, but I'm assured that Chatham County is fertile ground -- old hippies, farm workers and a whole lot of forest.We're outside now. The team is hustling their gear out of a variety of federal GSA sedans and a shiny state Crown Vic into a rag-tag assortment of private four-wheel-drive hunting trucks.The sound now buried in my brain, my ears prick up. I hear the helicopter before I see it, a speck above the trees.It's a lone HP Bell piloted by two fairly menacing NC State Troopers in black flight suits, packing Beretta 92s in some very elaborate gun leather. Outside, the ground team examines the chopper. I explain the cable cutters to one of the deputies. Power lines are a huge, invisible hazard, so the machines are equipped with cutters that work like large letter openers, hopefully severing power lines before they can do real damage.After a short briefing, we gird ourselves for the ordeal, and we're off. It is hot and humid, temperatures in the 90s.We drive in big circles for an hour or so, meeting back at the airport to confer and exchange personnel. The force settles on two sites and then it's back in the vehicles. We stop at a convenience store to wait for confirmation.After a 15-minute drive, we're on a dirt road leading to cutover timberland; the property line plainly marked "No Trespassing." Our convoy powers right on through and we disembark, the team preparing -- gathering radios, machetes and putting on camo vests.We hustle down a weedy path at the boundary between the cutover and the forest, pushing through blackberry vines and poison ivy. At a certain point, directed by the spotter, we turn and forge full on into the jungle, crouching and at one point crawling, sweating and grunting though the dense thickets, the burly men hacking their way through the gloomy, sweltering understory.The SBI guy, Parrish, had warned me about booby traps."That's why I'll be way in the back and you'll be in front," I told him.Then we are upon a dark, cool creek, jumping on flat rocks, pausing to reconnoiter -- quiet voices and the crackle of radios, the Bell thumping over us, occasionally visible through the canopy 50 feet overhead. We move down the creek about 25 yards or so.I smell it before I see it. The patch is immediately adjacent to the creek, a light green, sun-dappled clearing amid the much darker forest shades. We climb up the creek to a small, flat area surrounded by chicken wire. The officers commence chopping the foot-high plants, kicking down the wire and generally wreaking destruction.There is no gloating or celebration -- this is business. The plants are collected, tied with cord and taken to be "dried and incinerated." As the deputy holds the seizure, the only thing I can think of is a fishing trophy photo. Parrish stands off, his Glock in hand, vigilant.Keck leads the way to the next site, waving to most everyone he sees. This one is more of the same: a dirt road marked with a sign for a security service, which we just about run over. Pleasant has had to bail, so Traister and I are forced, humorously, to press his Sentra into a counter drug operation, the little Nissan surprisingly jolly about following in the swirling dust left by the four-wheel-drive trucks bouncing along the rutted lane.This is a genuinely eerie setting -- an odd, well-made concrete house with two wings like the ends of a dumbbell. It's a hippie house of sorts that seems to have been abandoned a few years ago -- as if the inhabitants just walked away. Pushed up in chest-high weeds is a nearly identical Sentra with '97 tags and a Nine Inch Nails sticker on the back glass. The female deputy and I walk over to examine an abandoned flower garden overrun with weeds; baked dry by neglect and the suffocating heat.At the end of the driveway, we find the patch: 10 feet by 10 feet, boxed with 2x6s, blue tarp laid inside the box, hundreds of pounds of potting soil filling the void. Twenty-seven one-foot high plants fall to the blade, the box kicked apart, the blue tarp hacked to ribbons.I feel bad. I know the stuff's illegal, but it was someone's little project. It lay now in ruins, the classic "Oh, fuck!" when whoever, kids it looked like, returned. The deputies don't leave a business card as they sometimes used to, so this one will remain a mystery to the growers.Accompanying that twinge of regret is a curious feeling. If I was to be on a marijuana eradication mission with all these large, armed people in heavy field clothing and magnificent thundering equipment, I wanted to see me some pot, man -- I mean I wanted vast waving fields of green instead of this wilted, hacked up bunch of what could have been $3 worth of basil from a grocery store. One would have to be nuts to try and grow pot outside when they fly. . . unless you're really careful. By Peter EichenbergerThe General's Plan: Operations such as Bladerunner are but one small part of MANTA's mission. MANTA (Mid-Atlantic Narcotics Training Academy) is just a tiny part of a big, new plan to combat drugs (called CounterDrug) on a global level emanating from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, headed up by General Barry McCaffrey, US Army (ret.). http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/ONDCP and McCaffrey's plan consist of using the personnel and assets of the US Department of Defense to interfere with drug production and transit, using an intelligence-based strategy to affect both the supply and demand side of the business. DOD operations outside the border of the United States (like the current and growing one in Colombia) fall to military personnel classified as Title 10. Title 10 military personnel are forbidden to engage in actions against the citizenry, so in order to engage DOD in domestic actions, ONDCP must rely on National Guard, members of which are classified as Title 32. With a total CounterDrug budget of around a billion dollars, DOD is poised to attempt to affect a 50-percent decrease in drug use in the US. On the domestic side, the National Guard operates five regional training academies, of which MANTA is but one.MANTA is a multi-jurisdictional organization that provides intelligence, tactical support, logistics and -- most importantly -- uniform, free training to any law enforcement agency that wishes to take classes. Classes include subjects such as clandestine labs, K-9, marijuana spotting, drug interdiction, SWAT and so forth.The intent is to provide a consistent, uniform level of training in order to make operations involving different agencies proceed without errors arising from different law enforcement cultures. For more information on ONDCP and McCaffrey's plan, to the general's own white paper which he presented to the Economic Strategy Institute -- Peter Eichenberger http://www.econstrat.org/ECONSTRAT/BMcCaffrey.htmPot Busts By The Numbers:Risk of Marijuana Arrest Varies Greatly from State to State, County to County Across AmericaBy Don Hazen The risk of being arrested for marijuana smoking is far greater in some states than others, and far greater in some counties within a state than in other counties. So says a surprising new report that demonstrates the enormous inconsistency in the enforcement of drug laws across America.An unlucky marijuana smoker in Alaska or New York, for example, is three times more likely to be arrested than a marijuana smoker in Pennsylvania, North Dakota or Hawaii. Similarly, a smoker in New York City is nine times more likely to be arrested than a smoker in Nassau County, NY, a suburb of the city.On the west coast, a smoker in California's Trinity County (adjacent to Humboldt County, legendary home of much marijuana cultivation) is nine times more likely to be arrested than a smoker in Lassen County, which is only separated from Trinity by one county. The statistics all come from the NORML Foundation's most recent study, and were reported by the online drug reform magazine DRCNet. According to the study's author, public policy analyst Jon Gettman, 38 percent of all marijuana arrests in the United States -- nearly 700,000 each year -- occur in only 10 counties. http://www.drcnet.org/http://www.norml.org/facts/arrestreport/"Very often, during academic or public debates with individuals who support marijuana prohibition, I'm confronted with the terrible myth that 'no one gets arrested for marijuana anymore!'" explained Alan St. Pierre, executive director of NORML. "Obviously this is not true."The NORML Foundation's report seeks to dispel that myth and demonstrate the massive scope and burden of marijuana arrests on America's already overburdened criminal justice system. At the NORML web site, citizens can now look up marijuana arrests for the last three statistical years, for nearly every county in the United States. Not only is there a shockingly high amount of marijuana arrests -- an arrest every 45 seconds -- but the vast majority of marijuana arrests (85 percent) are for possession only.The report reveals a number of social trends and law enforcement patterns, including the high incidences of marijuana arrests in the following places:* where major state and federal highways intersect * border regions with Mexico and Canada * international airports * ski resorts * State or National Parks/Wilderness Areas; * university or college towns * amusement and theme parks * sports complexes and music venuesGettman's study reviews county and state marijuana arrest data nationwide from 1995-97 (though detailed data was not available for the District of Columbia, Kansas or Vermont). Arrest counts and rates are provided in the report for 2,951 of the nation's 3,140 counties, accounting for 95.5 percent of the total estimated marijuana arrests for the year.In terms of state-wide numbers, Alaska had the highest arrest rate with 417.71 people arrested on marijuana charges per 100,000 population, followed closely by New York at 404.59. The marijuana arrest rate was the lowest in Pennsylvania with 125.57 per 100,000 population, followed by North Dakota (131.05). The national average marijuana arrest rate was 259.61 per 100,000, an increase of 15.8 percent over 1995.North Carolina ranked 12th in the nation, with 259.61 arrests per 100,000, an increase of 43.34 percent. South Carolina ranked fifth in the US, with 379.44 arrests per 100,000, an increase of 19 percent over 1995. More complete regional stats can be found in this story's sidebar.http://www.cln.com/charlotte/newsstand/current/cover3.htmAccording to St. Pierre, the NORML foundation believes that "one of the prime reasons for the increased number of marijuana-related arrests is the specter of forfeiture. Since the mid-1980s, law enforcement has been given awesome powers to seize assets from suspected (not convicted, or even arrested) citizens. And unlike other branches of government, law enforcement agencies can fund themselves with what they can rustle up on the side of the road, principally in the form of a traffic stop turned drug arrest." This financial incentive may motivate police to turn a simple traffic stop into a full blown search and seizure. NORML's complete study, including state and national maps, Dr. Gettman's commentary and analysis, and charts ranking the 50 states and counties within each state, is available. http://www.norml.org/facts/arrestreport/The Cool North:Canada's Hemp Legalization Sparks Growth of New IndustriesBy Helena Katz Now that the jokes about getting high on hemp are trailing off, Greg Herriott is happier. It means people have a better grasp of the differences between hemp and marijuana.http://www.cinevision.com/cihc/Industrial hemp, like marijuana, is a member of the cannabis sativa family, but has negligible traces of the hallucinatory chemical THC. Herriott is in the hemp business, one of a growing number of entrepreneurs developing a new industry now that hemp can be grown legally in Canada.In 1998 the Canadian government legalized the growth of industrial hemp under license from Health Canada, the country's ministry of health, following a 60-year ban because of hemp's association with its psychotropic cousin. Hemp generally contains 0.1 percent to 0.4 percent THC, far less than needed for any kind of drug-induced high. Marijuana, by contrast, generally has THC levels of between 4 and 20 percent.In legalizing hemp production, Canada has broken step with the United States, which has adamantly refused to lift its ban. Four states -- Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota and North Dakota -- have passed legislation to permit hemp production for research and commercial purposes, but the federal Controlled Substances Act still keeps it illegal. Legislatures in five other states -- California, Illinois, Montana, Vermont and Virginia - have called on the federal government to change its policy. Until that change occurs, hemp production remains off limits.US drug czar Barry McCaffrey has argued that legalizing hemp would make it impossible to bust marijuana-growing operations, since hemp in the field looks similar to marijuana. But Andy Kerr, a member of the board of the North American Industrial Hemp Council, scoffs at that line of argument. "There are 30 countries that can tell the difference between hemp and marijuana, but he can't seem to," Kerr said.There's other opposition to legalizing hemp. Hemp is a remarkably versatile crop, requiring almost no herbicides, that can be used to make everything from fiber products and oil to textiles and paper, according to the Hemp Industries Association, based in Occidental, CA. Hemp advocates say the synthetics industry, which supplies so much of these products already, sees hemp as a threat to its market share.http://www.thehia.org/index.htmlCanada's legalization of industrial hemp has opened the door to a whole new market comprising mainly small companies selling a variety of hemp-based products ranging from soap to salad dressing.Herriott and his wife, Kelly Smith, operate Hempola, based in Port Severn, Ontario, which sells hemp-based products including massage oils, flour, salad dressing, soap, moisturizing cream, lip balm and hemp oil. "We were pretty gun-shy," Herriott recalled. "After close to two years of research we finally bit the bullet."http://www.hempola.com/Hempola is part of an industry that, still in its infancy, is growing at an estimated 20 percent a year. According to a 1998 study by the province of Nova Scotia, the North American market for hemp is estimated at $28 million to $30 million (US dollars), with annual increases of $8 million to $10 million. That includes the United States, where industrial hemp products are legal, but their manufacture is not.Efforts to market hemp products in Canada are only just beginning because most of the first crop was used to develop seed for a new crop, explained Sasha Przytyk, general manager of Regina, Saskatchewan-based GEN-X Research. "After this, you'll probably see more than one brand of hemp oil, for example, on the market," he said.Hempola hopes to capitalize on this growth potential. Through its Canadian and American distributors, its products are available in health food and grocery stores in Canada and some stores in the United States.With some consumers wanting to know how hemp differs from its cannabis cousin, education is an important part of marketing, Herriott said. "When it comes to natural products, people are information-hungry."Health Canada officials could have used some information in October 1998, soon after the government lifted the hemp ban, when they tried to stop The Body Shop Canada from launching Hemp Dry Skin Treatment products and a provocative campaign that used such slogans as "High in protein, essential fatty acids and hysterics." Confused officials, who worried the skin products could get customers high, came to their senses when they realized the products weren't going to give users the slightest buzz.The resulting national headlines in Canada about the controversy actually helped companies such as Effort Industries Inc., based in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough. "It had a positive impact because it showed just how ridiculous our government is," said Effort vice president Robert Greenwald. "It made it easier when we made (marketing) phone calls."Effort began selling 30 varieties of hemp fabrics, mostly to manufacturers, six years ago. It launched T-shirts, pants, bags, hats and dresses three years later to demonstrate to potential customers how the sturdy hemp fabric could be used.While hemp textiles have made it big, they tend to be pricey, said John Roulac, author of several books about hemp and founder of the California-based hemp food company Nutiva. Food and body care products are poised to become big sellers, he predicted. "More people are willing to spend $1.50 for a hemp bar or $2.50 for lip balm than $70 for hemp jeans," Roulac said.Shaftesbury Hemp Ale is another product making a small splash among consumers. It was launched in May 1998 by Vancouver-based Shaftesbury Brewing (now Okanagan Spring Brewery). The beer is sold through Canadian government liquor stores, privatized beer and wine stores, and bars and restaurants in British Columbia and Alberta.Shaftesbury began producing hemp ale to capitalize on growing consumer interest in hemp-based products. But despite its increased popularity, hemp beer is not and never will be a big player in the beer category, marketing director Jim Pelkey predicted. It accounts for only 7 percent of Shaftesbury's sales volume, last on its roster of four beers."It's a niche brand but it's a very important brand for us because it's a cutting-edge beer that pushes the envelope a bit," Pelkey said.Jason Freeman, president of BioHemp, a Vancouver-based company founded in January 1999 to develop markets for hemp-based products, likes being part of a smaller niche. That way, he says, his company isn't "open to being trounced by a bigger player."Another advantage of having so many small players is that it makes the playing field level for everyone. "It's an open market right now," Freeman said. "It will be two or three years before the big players get into it." By then, a cutting-edge industry could well be going mainstream if Canadian consumers nonchalantly make hemp products a part of their lives, perhaps starting off the day lathering up with hemp-based soap in the shower, and winding down after work with a hemp beer. Contact: charlotte creativeloafing.comAugust 2000Copyright © 2000 Creative Loafing Charlotte, Inc. Operation Bladerunnerhttp://www.ncguard.com/main/BLADERUNNER.HTMLMarijuana Arrest Statistics for NC and SC http://www.cln.com/charlotte/newsstand/current/cover3.htm
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Comment #3 posted by dddd on March 14, 2001 at 01:54:31 PT
How many,,"allowed"??
NONE!
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Comment #2 posted by tan on March 14, 2001 at 01:48:16 PT:
hemp
how many hemp plant is allowed to be grown per house hold?
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Comment #1 posted by MikeEEEEE on August 19, 2000 at 06:35:33 PT
Storm Troopers
Never a brave warrior that fights a plant, ha ha.
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