Yosemite National Park latest site of illegal pot farm discovery, eradication

Is there any wild place that isn't going to pot?

Yosemite National Park is the latest in a list of popular outdoor destinations to report discovery and eradication of illegal marijuana farms.

(If the photo looks familiar, it was used earlier this week to illustrate a similar occurrence in Mono County. That followed discoveries and eradication efforts in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. Both discoveries prompted warnings for hikers to exercise caution and report suspicious activities.)

Yosemite rangers and National Park Service Agents, with assistance from Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, eradicated 4,735 marijuana plants valued at nearly $19 million from within the park on Thursday.

They found and removed nearly 400 pounds of fertilizer, 3,000 feet of irrigation hose and 200 pounds of human trash. The trash posed a threat to wildlife, especially bears, which are easily habituated to garbage. Park officials did not disclose the location of the discovery.

“Yesterday’s operation reaffirms our commitment that Yosemite remains safe for visitors, that the park will not accept these incursions, and organized growers will not profit from these activities”, Chief ranger Steve Shackelton said in a news release.

Presumably, this "abuse of public property" was the work of Mexican drug trafficking operations. Hikers who stumble into these areas are urged to leave as quickly as possible and report to the nearest authorities

-- Pete Thomas

Photo of pot plants by the Associated Press

Comments

[Benjie]

Brother Bugmenot speaks the truth. The truth will ultimately set this plant free; unfortunately our beloved country may be bankrupt before they listen to the truth. Not until the lobbyists take their slimy hands off the ears of Uncle Sam or until the citizens shout loud enough for Uncle Sam to hear us will there be a change on marijuana prohibition.

[bugmenot]

Now we're reading about pot farm busts worth 1$ billion. It's time the US government realized that this nation is swamped with cannabis. Anyone who wants to buy it can do so readily, and that's been the case for years. Teens report that they can buy pot easier than alcohol. The reasonable thing to do is regulate the sale of cannabis to adults via licensed merchants. Just like we do for the far more dangerous drugs, alcohol & tobacco. The major difference is that alcohol & tobacco combined kill 400,000 US citizens yearly. While there isn't even one documented case of cannabis alone having killed even a single user in 5,000 years. Licensed merchants successfully keep minors from buying alcohol & tobacco otc 90% of the time. The same will be true when cannabis use by adults is re-legalized. The reason we're seeing an uptick in cannabis arrests & eradication is due to Obama signing legislation which provided another $1 billion taxpayer dollars to be squandered on drug enforcement activities. That money could have been used to set up an over-site program for legalized cannabis sales. The return in sales tax would be enormous. It would effectively destroy 85% of the drug cartels cash flow, illicit cannabis sales. Keeping cannabis illegal drives people to drink. Prohibition brings cannabis seekers into contact with drug dealers who will gladly expose them to hard core drugs. It's cheaper to buy heroin than cannabis, now. Drug dealers push that point & that's why heroin use has greatly increased as of late. We can break the link to hard core drug exposure via legalization. Anyone who says legalization would increase cannabis sales & addiction is woefully misinformed. There's no way cannabis use could be increased more than prohibition has already increased it. Plus, even the U.S. Govt admits that caffeine is more addictive than cannabis. Legalization would effectively end the 100's of thousands of adult cannabis users needlessly forced into drug treatment programs by our courts each year. This would free up our drug treatment system to treat the 1.5% of our population that actually is addicted to hard core drugs like heroin. With licensed farmers replacing illicit grow ops, there would be no incentive to grow pot on public lands. It's very important to keep the sale price of alcohol, & eventually cannabis, low enough to remove the profit motive of illicit sales. The exorbitant sales tax on alcohol is why we're seeing the return of moonshine. So, let's stop that, 'tax the Hell out of marijuana sales' talk. Please, visit the NORML website & use their tool which helps people contact their elected officials. Let them know it's time we ended the war on cannabis users. God bless.