Public lands going to pot harvesting

Washington Times:

Marijuana cultivation on public land in the U.S. is a multibillion-dollar business, run by Mexican drug cartels and guarded by heavily armed members of U.S.-based street gangs and Mexican nationals, says the head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

"Our national treasures are now ground zero for international and domestic drug cultivation and trafficking," said drug czar John P. Walters. "We must push back against the invasion of foreign drug-trafficking organizations through increased law-enforcement collaboration, enhanced intelligence and expanded investigations to reclaim our public lands."

Mr. Walters made his comments last week during Operation Alesia, a multiagency marijuana-eradication initiative in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, the largest national forest in California.

Coordinated by the Shasta County Sheriff's Office with the support of the California National Guard, the weeklong operation involved 17 federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies.

"America's public lands are under attack," Mr. Walters said. "Instead of being appreciated as national treasures, they are being exploited and destroyed by foreign drug-trafficking organizations and heavily armed Mexican marijuana cartels."

ONDCP spokesman Stephen E. Schatz said violent Mexican drug cartels construct, operate and manage 80 percent to 90 percent of all U.S.-based marijuana plantations — most of which are in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Kentucky, Oregon, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia.

Mr. Schatz said those hired to tend and guard them do so with high-tech equipment and state-of-the-art weapons.

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California is where the majority of the pot is grown which is probably pretty close to where it is consumed too. I blame the environmentalist who want to keep the commercial interest from using national forest and park areas which leaves them to the pot farmers who are organized criminal gangs. We are in effect keeping a protected reserve for a criminal enterprise. If legitimate businesses had more access to ranching and forest management in these areas it would be much more difficult for the crooks to operate and much easier for the government to prevent the crooks from taking over.