30,000 marijuana plants found at site linked to Santa Barbara County fire [updated]

  Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown, speaking at a news conference today, said investigators believe the La Brea fire was started by Mexican drug traffickers because of the size of the marijuana garden and the equipment found at the campsite where the fire began.

Brown stood in front of large poster showing the blackened campsite. He said that 30,000 plants, ranging from 2 feet to 6 feet, were discovered at the remote pot farm. Also found were stacks of propane tanks, melted irrigation tubing, empty canisters of fertilizer, mounds of trash, a torched cooking stove and a semiautomatic rifle.

The growers diverted a nearby stream and planted the garden on the side of a mountain.

The suspects apparently fled as firefighters approached the source of the fire and are still at large, Brown said. He warned rural residents not to approach anyone leaving the forest.

[Updated, 2:20 p.m.: It's been a record year of pot seizures for the U.S. Forest Service and sheriff's department narcotics agents in Santa Barbara County. So far they have pulled 225,058 plants, with a street value of about $675 million. In late July, agents eradicated 113,000 plants in a camp not far from the one where the fire started.]

Brown said it's virtually impossible to get rid of all the marijuana grown in forests.

"The reality is that we could have an army out there and not be able to cover all of that ground," he said.

Every year, smaller fires are doused that have been started by suspected drug traffickers in the forest, said Russ Arthur, a special agent with the U.S. Forest Service. But the 90,000-acre La Brea fire east of Santa Maria is the largest ever, he said.

-- Catherine Saillant in Santa Barbara

Photo: Campsite, including a blackened camp stove in the background, where the fire is believed to have started. Credit: U.S. Forest Service and Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department

Comments

[venga si usted no puede más tontos]

Great...just another wake up call to liberals as to why we need stronger and steadfast anti-immigration laws.

[AB 390]

The environmental damage caused by illegal grow operations on public lands are yet another of the terrible costs we incur in keeping marijuana illegal. What are the benefits to society of marijuana prohibition? They are non-existent: Despite decades of arrests, eradication, and ruined lives, pot is still easier for teenagers to buy than alcohol. Who benefits from marijuana prohibition? Only special interest groups: drug cartels, the prison industry, and government bureaucrats.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results. Let's end the insanity and legalize marijuana for adults. http://yes390.org

[woody]

Are Mexican drug traffickers the only ones that would grow pot in the hills?

[KK]

Soon the Mexican cartel will infiltrate our goverment thanks to open borders. Wake up please and not let California become a failed state.

[Hair Brainman]

So...another example why we need to remove the monetary aspect by legalizing
the herb....So much waste from this silly prohibition!

[Tara]

these drug dealers have no respect for our environment; they use fertilizers that are banned in the u.s., divert streams, use the woods as their toilets, hack away branches to provide light for the grows, have no concept of 'hike out your litter'. our national parks are turning into barrios. Legalize MJ and incarcerate and deport all illegal alien criminals and their networks.

[Common Sense]

Seems like if Marijuana was grown and regulated in a Govt approved facility (like tobacco, alcohol) we wouldn't have these problems. But no the Govt has the economy under control, we can can afford to let the cartels profit billions from Marijuana every year. Status quo, right?

[C D A]

tax and legalize is just an old tired mantra used by proponents to lure government into legalization.

If dope costs money, there will ALWAYS be crime involved to get the money to buy it.

Grow your own legally, persuant to our existing laws, don't get greedy, be responsible, and all would be OK. Why give the feds any more money to waste? Why have more laws and intrusion into our lives? Why make government bigger?

don't be ignorant, or worse, a hypocrite.

[Hiram Wheat]

The Sheriff's cluelessness notwithstanding, there are ways to whittle the detection task down to size. First look at all the year-round springs and creeks. They can't grow anything without water and there isn't a whole lot of it in the Santa Barbara back country in the Summer.

Someone needs to spend a couple hours putting the SO's fancy GIS system to work identifying likely grow zones with the right mix of water, soil type, vegetation type, and exposure to sunlight. You don't need an army for that, just one or two smart people.

[Jamie O'leary]

Liberals make communists look like capitalist.

Between their death panels and illegal immigration they are going to try to eliminate all white people in america.
It is soo sad

[brownboy78]

Peoples lives are plagued with violence South of the border and North of the border we're seeing how far cultivators will go to keep their profit margins. We need to legalize this simple plant - it's gotten too far! The war on drugs is a failed project.
AND...
Mexicans aren't the only ethnic group growing in the hills. Maybe we should start deporting rural white farmers in Humboldt County?

[Cooper]

Americans are being kidnapped and killed,our border agents are being shot and killed, the mexican drug cartels are coming over and ruining our forests, our country. The Mexican president has the gall to tell Obama that we should be doing more. A wall should have gone up years ago or we should have put our military on the border. It seems to me that its too late. Even if we legalize pot, the mexicans will find something else to eradicate the Americans.

[Jared]

@brownboy78 : Can we just deport the tweakers?

[bee714]

yes!! im with u brownboy78>>> no its not just mexicans growing pot in the hills!!!

[Marcos El Malo]

If the $675 Million represents 10% of the crop illegally grown crop (and that's not even getting into the hundreds of millions, if not billions, in smuggled pot), that's at least $675 Million of potential tax revenue flushed down the drain by marijuana prohibition. Tack on to that tax revenue from what is now smuggled and the billions saved from the justice system that is spent on marijuana law enforcement. We could be looking at both full funding for all the liberal social welfare programs and a hefty tax refund to keep conservatives happy.

I'm a conservative and a non-pot smoker. This is a common sense issue and has nothing to do with liberals or illegal immigrants or "open borders" (which is propaganda), nor does it have anything to do with "death panels". (The commenter who posted that has marked himself as a birther-nutter.) Intelligent conservatives who have thought it out want to repeal the marijuana laws because they put fiscal responsibility and personal liberty. They don't twist this issue to fit their twisted agenda, like the nut cases that are currently wrecking the GOP.

[Bill Gates]

Seems just as likely that the cops started the fire while trying to destroy the pot they discovered.

[whiteboy70]

To brownboy78> Don't get the issue muddled up with racist attitudes about whether Mexican nationals (that 1) have no reason being here other than illegal grows and 2) are ruining the state forest land in the process) have more right to grow than "white farmers in Humboldt county".

[MeToo]

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said "it's virtually impossible to get rid of all the marijuana grown in forests".

WRONG

Prohibition keeps it in the forest, Law Enforcement cronyism keeps it in the forests, YOU keep it in for forest with your vote for "conservatives".

[Kevin]

Great... just another wake up call to the conservatives and democrats not wanting to legalize marijuana.

LEGALIZE IT!
Take it out of the hands of drug cartels. easy as that

[sage]

when the government becomes more greedy than they are now it will then be legal. my personal thinking, it is up to each person, not a group of people telling everyone else what they can and can not do.

[massmang]

This is just one of the many costs of prohibition. The only way to cut down on these clandestine grows is to take marijuana out of the violent black market, and put it into the hands of legitimate farmers, and regulated businesses.

Prohibition creates an irresistible profit motive for these cartels.

Despite all the money, and police resources being spent, marijuana is readily available throughout the US. If they crack down on the outdoor grows, more people just grow it indoors, crack down on them, and it just increases the incentive for cartels to smuggle it here from other countries.

Legalize it, tax it, and regulate it, and these clandestine grows will be a thing of the past. there is no way these cartels will be able to compete with a legal market.

[Chris]

Legalizing marijuana is the equivalent to open borders. We can't stop illegal immigration so let's just legalize them--let everybody come--they contribute to our economy as cheap labor. We can't stop people from smoking marijuana--let's just legalize it--it will contribute to our economy. If we can't manage to control something, the solution is to stop trying. If we legalize marijuana for adults, and it is still illegal for minors, how are we going to control that? Or should we just stop trying (alcohol for minors is not under control)?

Let's stop the invasion of public lands--it is criminal activity pure and simple--no matter who is doing it. It's bad for the environment. Stop smoking marijuana--it's bad for your health and it's bad for the environment--and it's a bad example for your children.

[Barry Oh]

This proves how much of a failure the war on drugs has been. Now its actually bringing the drug production into America. Bush made it very easy for the Mexicans to come over. He gave them temporary work cards, H-2A worker visas, drivers licenses etc... The argument that "liberals" allow the Mexicans through is just typical conservative babble.

This is one MORE reason to legalize marijuana.

[Fred Evil]

As if our stomping on personal freedoms weren't enough of a reason to legalize marijuana.

This is America, DON'T TREAD ON ME!!

[Gumshrud]

maybe it's time to legalize cannabis once and for all and get rid of all this criminal activity and destruction of our National Forests and Wilderness Areas. Cannabis Prohibition is so bogus.