In the News: 96 Pot Farms Shut Down

In a real team effort in the War Against Drugs the Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Homeland Security, U.S Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and local agencies busted 14 individuals who were running mass production of marijuana on public lands. Operation Mountain Sweep has only indicted these 14 individuals so far but have shut down a massive 96 pot farms in California.

Whoa!

A total of 578,000 marijuana plants were destroyed as a result of Operation Mountain Sweep. Authorities state that Operation Mountain Sweep will continue until the end of August.

Benjamin B. Wagner, the U.S attorney for the Eastern District of California, spoke on the social and environmental dangers that mass marijuana production bring to the local public. More often than not these large marijuana mills are ran and organized by drug trafficking gangs which brings illegal activity and violence to those areas. It poses as a safety threat to the community. Also, growing any plant where it doesn’t naturally flourish has ramifications on other plants and wildlife. These marijuana plant operations are known to spread poisons that kill other plants and wildlife.  More specifically in California, weasel-like creatures known as fishers are being poisoned with rat poison.  NPR reports that up to 4 fisher deaths were caused by rat poisoning; additionally 46 of 58 dead fishers had the rat poison present in their body.

Marijuana growers usually spray rat poisoning around the plants and irrigations lines to keep rodents away. The chemicals could affect not just fishers but also red foxes, wolverines, and other carnivores. These illicit pot farms are very similar to the cocaine fields found in Guatemala and Colombia or the poppy fields of Afghanistan. There are always negative consequences to drug production and trafficking beyond those that the individual addict suffers. Before marijuana is smoked, baked, ingested – it is grown then trafficked. In that process laws are broken, the economy is inflated, wildlife is damaged and killed, and people are hurt through addiction. It’s never really worth it.

If you or someone you know is looking for treatment for marijuana use, call us at (877) 711-HOPE (4673) or visit us online at www.palmpartners.com.

Sources:

http://www.conservationmagazine.org/2012/07/weed-killer/

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/22/1-billion-in-pot-destroyed-in-raids-on-federal-lands/?hpt=hp_t3

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=marijuana-farms-poison-wildlife-12-07-22

http://m.npr.org/news/front/156924028?singlePage=false