cannabisnews.com: Pot Goes Up in Smoke


cannabisnews.com: Pot Goes Up in Smoke





Pot Goes Up in Smoke
Posted by FoM on August 23, 2000 at 10:07:07 PT
Kids hop fences in fields & tip drug squad 
Source: Pioneer Planet
The law enforcement officials who seek and destroy marijuana that is growing wild in Dakota County and other Minnesota hemp harbors call their 4-year-old endeavor ``Operation Emerald Harvest.''It could have been dubbed ``Cheech and Chong's Worst Nightmare.'' Their movie plots all centered on the marijuana culture. As a dozen members of the National Guard chopped and burned 35,000 stalks of marijuana on a private pasture south of Hastings on Monday, several cars inched past with drivers craning their necks for a glimpse. 
Members of the county's Drug Task Force believe at least some of the drivers were the same teen-agers who attracted police attention to the field by hopping the barbed-wire fence to gather the pot plants for sale or personal use. Each plant yields about a pound of marijuana, which has a street value of $500 to $800, depending on the quality of the crop. By the time the last of the county's 15 major fields is ``whacked and stacked,'' police estimate that $125 million worth of marijuana will have gone, well, up in smoke.``We're breaking some hearts today,'' a National Guard staff sergeant said with a chuckle, watching an Oldsmobile idle by for a third time.The National Guard provides Operation Emerald Harvest with machete-wielding workers while sheriff's deputies stand watch over the fields in case the crew runs into some peeved pot farmers among the 8-foot-high plants.Such surprises aren't rare. During a Lakeville clearing, officers stopped a man driving away from the field in a car so packed with marijuana he barely had room to drive, said Sgt. Mike Scott of the task force.In other incidents, officers in helicopters chased three men through a patch for several hours in a state park north of Winona, and workers have come across pitchforks and other booby traps around prized plants in Lincoln County.The National Guard volunteers for Operation Emerald Harvest are not allowed to drive their own cars to the fields or to identify themselves because of the risk associated with their work. On the van ride to the site south of Hastings, several pointed out roadside pot plants and discussed the local crop, some of which has been tended while the rest simply grows wild.``Some of it is pretty high quality,'' one Guardsman said.``And how do you know that?'' asked another.``That's classified,'' a Guardsman in the middle said with a grin.Despite the teasing, the work is not easy. Marijuana is a hardy plant that can grow on rough terrain and special weed-whackers are sometimes used for particularly stubborn stalks.While critics might argue that the money and time spent on marijuana eradication would be better used to fight harder drugs, narcotics officers defend the program by saying the National Guard's help cuts down on the number of armed officers responding to neighbors' complaints about the wild fields. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, also a partner in the operation, sends samples from local fields to a Mississippi lab that tracks the level of the high-inducing chemical THC in regional crops.``Marijuana is usually a gateway drug,'' said Maj. Terry Sieben, a counter-drug coordinator for the National Guard. ``(And) a lot of this isn't your father's marijuana anymore. Nowadays, the THC level has increased so much that even the weakest marijuana is a lot stronger than the old stuff ever was.''As the soldiers burned the first 3,000 plants, 63-year-old Charlotte Wohlers watched with interest as the smoke billowed up from the 5-acre pasture where her husband's cows graze. Wohlers shook her head, saying she had no idea other residents were trespassing to help themselves to a bright-green, illegal forest. Then she caught a whiff of the fire below.``Oh, my gosh,'' she said. ``Our neighbors are going to wonder what's going on.'' By Hannah Allam, Staff WriterHannah Allam, who covers Dakota County public safety, can be reached at: hallam pioneerpress.com or (651) 228-2172. Published: August 22, 2000Š 2000 PioneerPlanet St. Paul (Minnesota) Pioneer Press Related Articles:Homegrown: Special Marijuana Issue http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6760.shtmlLarge-Scale Marijuana Fields Found in SW Virginiahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6754.shtmlMarijuana Garden Worth $40 Million Destroyedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6748.shtml
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Comment #6 posted by Dan Hillman on August 25, 2000 at 10:18:56 PT
Clutching at straws
Wild growing pot has always been and will always be a feature of the midwest. Law enforcement is so desperate to bust *anything* that they're actually going out and collecting ditchweed. This quote says it all:>``Some of it is pretty high quality,'' one Guardsman said.>``And how do you know that?'' asked another.>``That's classified,'' a Guardsman in the middle said with a grin.Yeah, it's "classified" all right. What is quite obvious and *not* classified at all is just how dumb you clowns can be...
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Comment #5 posted by Kickaha on August 24, 2000 at 09:09:14 PT
Pretty funny
This must be some kind of make-work project, although there is this tiny group of people here who keep trying to re-criminalize possession. Norm Coleman tried it in his bid to defeat Hubert H. Humphrey for Gov,(of course Jesse V beat them both) and was lambasted by even the mainstream press, so maybe this is a feint for their benefit. Growing up on a Minnesota hobby farm where this stuff grew rampant (the horses loved it), it's kind of hilarious to see money being spent eradicating it. I can tell you from experience that you might as well smoke lawn clippings!
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Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on August 24, 2000 at 05:13:20 PT:
A possible answer
Remember how the antis are always going on about how strong today's cannabis is compared to 'our Daddy's pot'?`Marijuana is usually a gateway drug,'' said Maj. Terry Sieben, a counter-drug coordinator for the National Guard. ``(And) a lot of this isn't your father's marijuanaanymore. Nowadays, the THC level has increased so much that even the weakest marijuana is a lot stronger than the old stuff ever was.''To 'prove' their statement, they are comparing hydro to the ditchweed they 'secure':'The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, also a partner in the operation, sends samples from local fields to a Mississippi lab that tracks the level of the high-inducingchemical THC in regional crops.'The same U of Miss shop where they grow the pot for the 8 remaining Compassionate Use program members, perhaps?It's been long known among the cognoscenti that the US government had no stable source of cannabis to test to create a baseline measurement to determine 'average' THC content. Their samples were so wildly divergent that there simply was no way to create a benchmark. The closest that they had was the dreck that they grow at U of Miss. So now it seems that they are trying to use ditchweed as the baseline, their dreck as an intermediary, and hydro as the top end. Talk about cooking the books. So *of course* hydro will be the killer weed - compared to Farmer Brown's Drainage Ditch Special.I think it must be axiomatic that to become an anti one must be dropped on one's head immediately after birth.
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Comment #3 posted by Wait a sec.... on August 24, 2000 at 00:04:52 PT
Wait a sec....
did it occur to anyone that if you could drive by the area it certainly someone would have seen that many "pot plants" before now? This was feral hemp, the cops knew it was there and waited for a photo op. pretty pathetic. As for the Major's comment's; Standard Prohibitionist Bullshit (SPB) factor: Moderate to High.
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Comment #2 posted by hempity on August 23, 2000 at 20:47:08 PT
really smart guardsmen ain't availible
In other incidents, officers in helicopters chased three men through a patch for several hours in a state park north of Winona, andworkers have come across pitchforks and other booby traps around prized plants in Lincoln County.Should probley give them a break, maybe even feel sorry for someone who thinks a pitchfork is a booby trap, guess nat. guardmen ain't hired for inteligence.
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Comment #1 posted by legalizeit on August 23, 2000 at 11:35:11 PT
Get a life, bozos
>While critics might argue that the money and time spent on marijuana eradication would be better used to fight harderdrugs, narcotics officers defend the program by saying the National Guard's help cuts down on the number of armedofficers responding to neighbors' complaints about the wild fields.If pot were legal and available at the corner liquor store, as it should be, there would be no "wild fields", any more than tobacco fields are wild today. >``Marijuana is usually a gateway drug,'' said Maj. Terry Sieben, a counter-drug coordinator for the National Guard.``(And) a lot of this isn't your father's marijuana anymore. Nowadays, the THC level has increased so much that even theweakest marijuana is a lot stronger than the old stuff ever was.''What makes you, SIR, an authority on this? Especially when numerous reports, some even commissioned by Uncle Sam, refute these postulates?>The National Guard volunteers for Operation Emerald HarvestPeople actually VOLUNTEER for this crap? They really need to get a life instead of ruining others' lives.That's really noble work for Nat. Guardsmen, guarding our country from a plant.
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