Marijuana Inc: Inside America's Pot Industry

[greenberetTFS]

Had a chat with Bryan last night and he brought me up to date on this issue...... Read his last post, he explains it pretty clearly I think...........

GB TFS

[incarcerated]

U.S. Supreme Court refuses hearing on medical marijuana question

May 20, 12:59 PM
Two counties in California, San Diego and San Bernardino, had sought to exclude themselves from the state law requiring they provide identification cards to persons qualified for California’s medical marijuana program. The counties brought the suit on the legal question of whether the state law was preempted by the federal ban on marijuana. The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the case, a move which ends the appeals process in the case.

California’s Medical Marijuana Program Act, enacted in 2004, legalizes medical marijuana for qualified patients in the state who possess proper identification cards. Recreational use of marijuana is still illegal in the state. Under federal law, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I substance, meaning it has a high potential for abuse, is not approved for any medical use, and is banned nationwide.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision would have set legal precedent as to whether states can apply marijuana laws which differ from federal laws. In Colorado, law enforcement agents have the same difficulty with judgment calls about jurisdiction: medical marijuana is legal in the state, and Denver has passed laws making marijuana possession the lowest priority for police officers, yet that does not mean a person will not be arrested and prosecuted under federal laws.

http://www.examiner.com/x-6256-Denve...juana-question

[BigJimCalhoun]

Originally Posted by zuluzerosix

Don't forget about the booby traps. I won't describe any here today, but they are out there and nasty. We find them all time on my father-in-law's spread. We can't let the kids wonder the woods anyway, because of bears and mountain lions, but the booby traps add an additional danger.

Heard something about fish-hooks at eye level.

[zuluzerosix]

It is probably not a good idea to get into booby traps here in the open, some hip liberal hippy watchdog will say we are posting information on making them here. These open forums are searchable from the internet. Descretion.

[greenberetTFS]

Originally Posted by Brush Okie

That is one of their many tricks. Punji steaks, bear traps, pits, shotgun shells in pipes set to go off, trip wires.................. the list goes on.

BO,

How in the hell do these guys get away this? It's just unreal what is going on there....... Maybe if a LEO would be one of the people hurt out there it would be a different,I don't know............

GB TFS

[zuluzerosix]

Originally Posted by greenberetTFS

BO,

How in the hell do these guys get away this? It's just unreal what is going on there....... Maybe if a LEO would be one of the people hurt out there it would be a different,I don't know............

GB TFS

If an LEO was injured, it would be WAR. Then again, sometimes LEO's run point for these guys. In this little town of 16K, we have enough folks carrying CCW's to sustain a small insurgency. This is one of the easiest places to get a CCW. The dopers don't just have weapons, they have them legally.

There is no short supply of assault weapons under the table either. Our Gun Club offers combat pistol and combat shotgun courses. The dopers are networked, well armed and the big growers have support.

A doper can purchase all his supplies and get great "how to"and instruction here:

http://hydropacific.com/

The DEA, really doesn't get much support here. Unless we are talking 100 plants or more, Meth, weapons and/or combination of them.

Where there is amajor grow operation, there will most certainly be cash, weapons, Meth or Coke (sometimes both) and Mob or Gang connections.

Remember, our former DA, made this possible. He is dead now, but read this:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...type=printable


Norman Vroman, the outspoken district attorney of Mendocino County who fought to decriminalize marijuana and once served nine months in a federal prison for refusing to file federal income taxes, died Thursday of cardiac arrest.

Mr. Vroman, whose unconventional personality and positions made him a controversial figure much of his career, was taken to Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa after his heart stopped Tuesday, but he never regained consciousness. He was 69.

He was, in many ways, the perfect top prosecutor for the rugged, mountainous region known as the Emerald Triangle, where marijuana is said to sprout like mushrooms from the forest floor.

He was a tough but compassionate outdoorsman and a staunch defender of the Constitution who left a promising legal career in Southern California for a land where overalls are standard garb.

Born in Los Angeles in 1936, he was given up for adoption three weeks after his birth. He grew up in San Dimas, in San Bernardino County. An industrious youth from the beginning, he drove an ambulance when he was still a teenager and was hired by the Pomona Police Department when he was only 18.

He earned a law degree from the University of Colorado in 1961 and began working for the Los Angeles County district attorney. He was appointed to a judgeship in San Bernardino County by Ronald Reagan in 1971, when he was only 35, said his daughter, Kathryn Vroman Benner.

Mr. Vroman also worked as a private practice criminal defense lawyer in Southern California before deciding he had had enough of the rat race. In 1975, he moved to Willits, where he worked as a cattle rancher, then in real estate.

In 1980, he decided to begin practicing law again, but was determined never to wear a suit.

"He didn't like wearing suits because it represented to him the rat race he had gotten away from," said his daughter. "I remember him actually going to court in overalls."

Mr. Vroman worked in private practice in Ukiah, as a public defender, judge pro tem and as a prosecutor for the Mendocino County district attorney.

In 1991 he served nine months in a federal prison after being convicted of a misdemeanor for failing to file federal income taxes.

"He felt there is nothing in the Constitution that requires you to pay taxes or to file," said his daughter.

Mr. Vroman expressed disgust later that he had to spend more time in prison than some rapists.

In 1997, he found his birth mother in Ohio and was overjoyed to find out he was part Irish. He often told the story about how, on a subsequent visit to Ireland, he wore Irish tweeds and faked an Irish brogue prompting an American tourist to request a picture of him as an example of an authentic Irishman.

He was elected district attorney in 1998, defeating 12-year incumbent Susan Massini, and took office in 1999.

He told The Chronicle at the time that he favored decriminalizing marijuana "because the war on drugs isn't working. If it is a war, we lost it a long time ago."

" He started the nation's first medical marijuana licensing program and stopped police from seizing legal pot gardens and hassling legitimate growers who registered under California law. He eventually started wearing ties again and, in the end, suits, but was forever known in legal circles as "that Mendocino Man" who protected pot growers.


Think about this like if was an insurgency,or something like that-

Motivated
Funded
Armed
Support network
intelligence support

[zuluzerosix]

Vroman was also one of the CCW instructors. He out fitted his investigators with silenced MP-5's. I saw him regularly at my work. He and the owner would often go to lunch. I spoke with him many times and handled the sale of his personal vehicle paid for by the county. New Ford 500-"loaded."


This just in:


BREAKING NEWS: Grows with Santa Clara County connections busted
By ZACK CINEK The Daily Journal
Updated: 05/21/2009 12:42:21 PM PDT


Mendocino county police worked to remove marijuana plants from several grows busted in the Ukiah area Thursday.

One grow located in a wooded subdivision just north of Talmage was busted around 7:30 a.m. and another smaller grow on Guidiville road east of Talmage was raided around 9 a.m., police from the Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force said.

At the first grow, 888 Watson Road, police loaded marijuana plants cut from growing pots into the back of a pickup truck.

"I think they just come here, water, and leave," Bob Nishiyama, task force commander said. One member of the task force estimated that there were about 500 to 600 plants through out the home and down below in a makeshift basement.

Based on conditions inside the home, Nishiyama said that the people were probably there for short amounts of time. "I think they spent time here when working and setting up."
A garage on the property housed nine grow lights and three household fans mounted around the walls. Nishiyama said that his crew was likely to be there all day.

In the basement, cloned marijuana plants taken from "mother" plants grew in large white plastic trays. The space under the house was illuminated by a grow light becoming increasingly brighter as it was turned on.

No one was at the grow when police arrived, but one involved with the grow was in custody in Santa Clara County. Those involved with the grow are believed to be Vietnamese, he said.
One measure taken by the growers was to bypass
the home's electrical meter by tapping into the power line, allowing the meter to read 750 watts; a below-average amount of electricity for a house.

On a property at 3010 Guidiville Rancheria Road, two were in custody as police readied to take down the grow. A small home and some vineyard grapes were planted on the hillside behind the home.
A bypass of an electrical meter was also done at that location and PG&E was coming to repair it.
In a metal building with plywood interior walls a neat and orderly office space and computer was in one corner. In a back room soft chant-like music played.

Early estimates from police placed the number of plants at about 200.
At the Watson Road home Nishiyama said that several cars would be seized as assets.
A soft-air style rifle in the form of a machine gun, made to shoot rubber bullets, appeared to be used as a decoy. Made of metal and plastic, the guns are actually heavier than the real thing, Nishiyama said.

Zack Cinek can be reached at udjzc@pacific.net or 468-3521.

[incarcerated]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...2D59.DTL&tsp=1


Agents seize $1.2 billion worth of pot in Calif.

By GARANCE BURKE, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Federal and state agents have arrested 83 people for growing more than $1.2 billion worth of marijuana in an ongoing crackdown on illegal pot gardens in California's Sierra Nevada range.

Local officials said several Mexican marijuana-growing cartels helped set up the grow sites scattered throughout rocky mountainsides of eastern Fresno County, and warned more arrests were likely as the sweep continues.

More than 318,000 marijuana plants were destroyed in the operation, which also netted nearly $41,000 in cash, 25 weapons and two vehicles, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said Thursday....

Last year, more than 5.2 million plants were uprooted in all federal and state operations that reported seizures to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

"Operation Save Our Sierra" began several months ago, and has involved more than 300 personnel from 17 local, state and federal agencies.

Officials said some of the Mexican citizens arrested in the bust were nabbed in previous years' raids on gardens further south along the mountain range....

[BigJimCalhoun]

Another story here
http://www.9news.com/news/article.as...0031&catid=188

Cliff Note:
Pike Forest, Colorado
5,100 plants
Tooks 24 hours to clear field

[Utah Bob]

There are now 9,000 medical marijuana users in Colorado. The retailers are doing a banner business.
I'm sure if O's health care plan goes through, there will be 18,000 shortly.

[incarcerated]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...MN6P18K1FV.DTL


Mexican growers having big pot year in state

Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
07-28) 04:00 PDT Shasta-Trinity National Forest - --
Mexican drug traffickers have expanded their marijuana-growing operations in California parks as state and local governments have tightened spending and slashed jobs and services.

Law enforcement officials say the traffickers, taking advantage of the fact that there are fewer sheriff's deputies and rangers monitoring parks, are cultivating more pot than ever before. This year's multibillion-dollar crop is on pace to be the largest in history, said state officials.

"It's a huge problem," said Gordon Taylor, the assistant special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. "California is ground zero for domestic marijuana cultivation in the country."

The illicit crops are believed to be hidden on ridges and in gullies in California's 31 million acres of forest, with most being grown in state and national parks.

So far this year, more than a million plants have been seized by the state's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, or CAMP program, according to Michelle Gregory, the spokeswoman for the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, and the pot-growing season is not even half over.

"Our whole state is overrun," Gregory said. "It's an epidemic."

Much of the cannabis grown in California is being exported around the country, into Mexico and overseas. One batch recently harvested in Shasta County was tracked by drug enforcement agents to Chicago and South Carolina....

[incarcerated]

http://www.independent.com/news/2009...fire-caused-m/

Fire Investigators Suspect La Brea Fire Caused By Marijuana Cultivation

Evidence Points to Illegal Cooking Fire As Cause of the 84,000-Acre Blaze
Saturday, August 15, 2009
By Ray Ford
A week-long investigation by U.S. Forest Service Special Agents, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Narcotics Unit, and Fire Investigators revealed that the origin of the La Brea fire is the result of a marijuana drug trafficking operation. Specifically, officials believe the fire started from flames or sparks from a campfire used for cooking.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Narcotics Unit has confirmed that the camp at the origin of the fire was an illegal marijuana operation believed to be headed by a Mexican National drug organization.

At the intersection of Owl Canyon and the south fork of La Brea Canyon, near a backpacker’s campground known as Cuchadas, the fire began in one of the most remote and overgrown sections of the San Rafael Wilderness. The camp is several miles inside the area and approximately two air miles south of the Sierra Madre Ridge.

Evidence of the garden, which did not burn during the fire, was discovered in the past few days. The Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Narcotics Unit, which has been working to eradicate other cultivation sites in nearby parts of the back country, believes the suspects are still within the San Rafael Wilderness and may be trying to leave the area on foot.

Officials warn not to approach anyone who looks suspicious but to instead contact the nearest law enforcement agency. Anyone with further information is urged to contact U.S. Forest Service, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department or local law enforcement agencies....

[BigJimCalhoun]

Another article talking about the problem in Colorado
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13212051

with a quote "We don't know why they have decided to come here," he said. "This is new for Colorado. We haven't had time to study the trend."

hmm, could the problem have anything to do with this article, posted on the same day?
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_13212872
Denver's marijuana policy review panel agreed Wednesday to send a letter to the presiding judge of Denver County Court urging a $1 fine as penalty for possession of marijuana of less than an ounce.

[afchic]

Originally Posted by Utah Bob

There are now 9,000 medical marijuana users in Colorado. The retailers are doing a banner business.
I'm sure if O's health care plan goes through, there will be 18,000 shortly.

I don't see a problem with medicinal marijana, if it is indeed being used for medicinal purposes.

A very good friend of mine was just diagnosed with lymphatic cancer at the age of 48. It has spread to her lungs and liver. They have given her less than a year to live, with chemo. The chemo makes her sick as hell. If marijuana could ease that, and enable her last year of life with her husband, children and grandchildren be more pleasant, I don't know why she shouldn't be able to do so.

Unfortuantely we live in IL, and she will never have that option.

[Richard]

America's khat.

And so it goes...

Richard's $.02