cannabisnews.com: State Harvests Record in Marijuana Seizures


cannabisnews.com: State Harvests Record in Marijuana Seizures





State Harvests Record in Marijuana Seizures
Posted by FoM on October 23, 2000 at 19:42:32 PT
By Brian Melley, Associated Press Writer 
Source: Sacramento Bee
 The state's marijuana harvest is in and the good news is law enforcement officers seized a bumper crop. The bad news is they seized a bumper crop and operations are growing in size. Working mostly on public lands and in Central Valley counties, officers harvested 345,207 marijuana plants -- 43 percent more than last year's record -- valued at $1.3 billion.Topping the list was Kern County, which accounted for more than one-sixth of the total harvest with a single discovery of a 59,000-plant garden in the Sequoia National Forest -- the largest ever found in the state.
"Normally Kern County is proud to be No. 1 in carrots and oil," Kern Sheriff Carl Sparks said at a news conference. "We're not proud to be No. 1 in marijuana."Investigators there found sleeping bags for 40 people and the remnants of a small community, including food and waste. But the remote camp was abandoned by the time law enforcement hiked in to begin destroying the scattered plantings."Next year we're gonna throw people in jail," Sparks said. "We just weren't prepared for that and how crazy these people are and how fast they are."Reflecting what deputies encountered in the forest, only 16 arrests were made in the 18th year of the so-called California Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP).Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who released the annual figures, said the effort has driven up the price of marijuana by cutting supply and that should make it less accessible to youths. He said the goal in the future is to target the kingpins, not the people lower down the chain cultivating the illegal crop.A representative of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws said the growing number of plants seized shows the law enforcement effort is not working."Money used for education and rehabilitation are the only things that work" said Bruce Margolin, the director of Los Angeles NORML. "Marijuana isn't going to go away no matter how much law enforcement money goes into it."Begun in the early 1980s to help sheriffs combat marijuana growth in the "Emerald Triangle," where Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity counties converge about 150 miles north of San Francisco, CAMP has spreading across the state.The latest trends include a shift to large-scale, sophisticated operations, often on public lands, presenting a possible hazard to hikers, hunters, and others who use the land. Just two weeks ago in El Dorado County, a father and son hunting were shot and seriously injured after stumbling across a marijuana patch.Increasingly, this area known for its abundant agriculture production is becoming a fertile land for methamphetamine and marijuana production, often with ties to Mexican drug organizations. More than half of the marijuana seized this year came from Central California and the larger operations are believed to be tied to Mexico.During the press conference in Madera County offices, bags of marijuana valued at about $3 million were laid out on a table, flanked by bundles of methamphetamine and illegal arms -- both seized during weekend raids in Madera County. The sting, not part of CAMP, netted 15 suspects.Madera, Calif. (AP)Published: October 23, 2000Copyright Š The Sacramento Bee Plus:California Says Marijuana Seizures Worth $1.3 blnPosted at 6:14 p.m. PDT Monday, October 23, 2000San Francisco, (Reuters) California officials Monday said they seized marijuana plants valued at a record $1.3 billion during 11 weeks of raids in a yearly exercise. More than half of of the plants were being grown on public land.Law enforcement officials in recent years have seen California's illegal marijuana production evolve from small-scale businesses run by private landowners to one that borrows large-scale farming practices and publicly owned land.California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said agents seized 345,207 plants during this year's California Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP), compared with 1999 when a 241,164-plant haul set a record.The 2000 CAMP operation ended last week with what would be the end of the marijuana harvest season.About 60 percent of the plants were found in state or national forests or on other publicly accessible land that border the fertile valley that cuts through the state from near Bakersfield to the capital city of Sacramento, officials said.``What we have is easy access to foothills that provide prime growing conditions, and easy access to people to tend the gardens,'' Michael Van Winkle, a spokesman for the California Department of Justice, told Reuters.The popular Sierra Nevada foothills rise out of California's Central Valley and are covered with tall trees that help hide the illegal plants. Trees also protect the plants -- which can reach 10 feet (about 3 meters) at maturity -- from excessive sunlight that would cause them to wilt, Van Winkle said.``This presents a very dangerous situation for hikers, campers and hunters who may accidentally stumble upon an armed garden-tender under orders to `defend' their illegal crop,'' Lockyer said in a statement.A Mexican drug cartel appears to recruiting local migrant workers and using proceeds from the sale of illegal methamphetamines to finance more lucrative marijuana farms. A single plant can have a wholesale value of $4,000, drug enforcement officials said.In the 1970s and 1980s, marijuana farming was a grass-roots operation clustered in the state's north coast. Farms had ``a couple hundred'' plants at the most, Van Winkle said.This year, CAMP's biggest take was a 59,000-plant crop in Kern County, which was valued at $230 million. More common, though, were operations with 8,000 to 15,000 plants.``These large operations, directed by Mexican drug organizations, utilize a corporate approach, with different branches for production and distribution,'' Lockyer said.Published: October 23, 2000Š 2000 The Mercury News Related Articles & Web Site:NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/ Massive Pot Farm in Hills Discovered http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7140.shtmlRecord Drug Bust Near San Mateo County Reservoirhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7133.shtmlMadera Cultivates Millions in Pot Haul http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7116.shtmlPot Warriorhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7047.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by HerbGreene on October 24, 2000 at 14:13:27 PT
Record amounts???Yeah Right!!!
Lets see the statistics of How Many growers got all Their Eggs In The Basket.i Sure That Amount Make "Camps" Amount Look Like A Grain Of Sand on the Beach!!! and that Latina Woman Who Runs that Little Rascist Stoperation Should Go Back To Transient farming Like Her Parents did.Because farmers are Not Criminals!!!!
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Comment #2 posted by AOCP on October 24, 2000 at 10:14:16 PT:
Thank goodness the kids aren't smoking MJ!
>Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who released the annual figures, said the effort has driven up the price of marijuana by cutting supply and that should make it less accessible to youths.Yea, right. What that REALLY says is that the kids will then be breaking into more cars to steal the goodies within for sale for the money necessary for the increased MJ costs or even better! ... they can raid mommy and daddys' medicine cabinet for the vikes or perks or whatnot that they'll use to cop a buzz instead of the dread MJ! Brilliant! It must be really nice to be this blatantly stupid. Sure relieves one of life's burdens of maturity.>He said the goal in the future is to target the kingpins, not the people lower down the chain cultivating the illegal crop.That's not what he really believes:>"Next year we're gonna throw people in jail," Sparks said.This filth about "kingpins" brings new meaning to the word "smokescreen". They don't give a rat's a** who they throw in jail, just so long as they get to continue their cat-&-mouse charade. It's not that i don't LIKE cops, it's just that i don't TRUST cops. Y'all know what too much power and too little restriction leads to.
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Comment #1 posted by Dan B on October 23, 2000 at 22:55:40 PT:
Notice the Boogey-Man Mentality
These articles are clearly intended to further "demonize" marijuana by associating it with "Mexican drug organizations." Notice that they accomplish two goals at once: they demonize marijuana, and they demonize Mexicans. A win-win situation for the racist "war on drugs."Notice, too, the ridiculously high estimates of value per plant. Most of the plants they "harvested" (a misnomer if there ever was one) were, if true to form, immature plants as of yet incapable of producing anything. What they really harvested was a bumper crops of seedlings, which amounts to nothing. As for the "dangerous situation for hikers, campers and hunters," this situation was created by the antis themselves. They are the cause for this violence, not the marijuana farmers. All these people are doing is protecting their investments.Enough is enough. Halt the drug war.Dan B
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