Marijuana and the Enviornment
 

Whatever your feelings about legalization of cannabis, it is clear the current muddled non-policy (legal in California for medical purposes, illegal under Federal law) has hurt our environment. If it was legal the production could be regulated at least...I think it would stop many ills. I also see the destruction of the forest and the danger to the salmon population as evidence that regulation by government can stop dangerous abuses. If you hate the heavy hand of government regulation just look at mess these growers have left. And I can think of many places where wholesale destruction of forests and jungles take place because of the lack government regulation or corruption. Third world in many cases.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,2903043.story

I've heard about this recently too. Another reason for the Feds to get out of the way and let the California Dept. of Agriculture oversee this newish crop. We need the industry to be regulated and overseen like any other farming operation. The danger posed to recreational users of the forests (campers, fisherman & hikers by these pot bandits is unacceptable. It's happening locally in Cleveland National Forest, too. I've read stories of people being run off at gunpoint from National Forests. As an occasional user I realize that there is a small amount of blame that I shoulder but I'm fairly vocal about the need to eliminate these illegal farms from our National Forests. On private land farmers have to follow plenty of regulations and should. That is the first that I've heard that they were diverting that much water as to affect the water levels and fish. That is messed up. Regulate it and tax it like any other industry. Moonshine has similar problems. I'm sure there are some who would disagree that pot farming needs some fairly stringent oversight but they are wrong and IMO just as screwy as the gun nut doomsday preppers, albeit to a lesser extent. The wild west doesn't have any place in modern society. Let the Dept. of Agriculture do it's job and leave the DEA the job of dealing with the coke and opium trade. I'm against legalization of the two previously mentioned hard drugs. Not so with cannabis-call me simpleminded but the cannabis business has many of the attributes and problems of the liquor business. High profitability is a factor at present that will entice the lawless element to the trade. I guess we need pot revenooers?;)
Sorry for the rambling reply. I'm not stoned, yet!:cool:

I heard the growers in CA are furious at Obama for reniging on his campaign promise to stop enforcing pot laws.

Pete

He didn't really renege since what he said referred only to medical marijuana. Holder has occasionally said that medical mj is inconsistent with federal law and offered no guarantees that DoJ wouldn't enforce federal law in that regard but actual enforcement has been essentially zero.

With an "at any given time" limit of 100 plants, medicinal growers are small backyard operations. The growers up in Humboldt, Trinity, Mendocino and Sonoma Counties are huge operators with tens of thousands of plants growing on acres and acres of land. Their groves are patrolled by some very tough, heavily armed hombres. These are very big, very dangerous criminal enterprises, often linked to the Latin American cartels. It's a completely different world.

John

Sort of odd how the criminal element benefits from the contraband status of pot....it seems like anti-legalization laws work in their favor.

Obama has been a pretty traditional "law and order" President in my view with some exceptions....and if you think he has been weak on immigration that is just not the case, support of the dream act and amnesty of kids brought here by their parents notwithstanding. Many have been sent back to Mexico...

Maybe we could get the NRA to support legalization by pointing out that being shot doesn't hurt so much if the populace is stoned?

Think they'll go for it?

Regards,
Dave

Hmmmmm...

Pretty gratuitous, don't you think?

Can't you tell by now that I don't think?:p

LOL!

http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/It+...d6_4192745.jpg

;)

Pete