Monday, September 14, 2009

Yep, pot growing is a victimless crime

Pot growers poaching on private land Press Democrat
Juliette Brown once roamed freely among the buffalo on her family's sprawling ranch in the rolling pine and oak-studded hills in southeast Lake County.

Now the 11-year-old is forbidden from riding her pony alone in remote sections of the 300-acre ranch owned by her father, Supervisor Rob Brown, and the 80 bison have been slaughtered.

The girl's freedom and the bison are victims of trespassers who set up booby-trapped marijuana gardens and camps on the Browns' land and adjacent properties....

Landowners throughout Northern California are faced with trespassing pot growers who tap their water supplies, pollute streams with chemicals, poach wildlife and create safety worries, law officials say.

“We usually hear from land owners on a weekly basis that are afraid to use their land for fear of running into armed illegal growers,” said Lake County Major Crimes Unit supervisor Sgt. Jim Samples.

20 comments:

  1. Bird watching anyone? Just park somewhere in our lovely hills and head out with your binoculars.

    Do be sure your will has been updated...

    ReplyDelete
  2. All of the outrages described in this piece have always been illegal. How much of this activity would still take place if this flora were not criminalized by an out of control government?

    Just askin'.

    ReplyDelete
  3. How much of this activity would still take place if defending yourself and your property were not criminalized by an out of control government?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Right, the evil government made you do it. You aren't responsible in any way for the misery you spread in every direction.

    ReplyDelete
  5. OK 2:06 PM since you seem to be "logic challenged" let me walk you through it.
    Trimmed pot buds sell for about $3000/lb because the product has been outlawed by your friendly government. What would the price be if pot was not illegal? Answer: close to zilch. Marijuana grows wild in nature and as with any such commodity is cheap to produce. Due to prohibition the risk of cultivation raises the price artificially. As with all prohibitions of a product for which a demand exists crooks see an opportunity for big profits and enter the production/distribution chain but must do so clandestinly. In order to avoid apprehension they commit the crimes noted in the linked article which would be unnecessary without prohibition.

    The government sucks up gazillions of tax dollars and employs thousands of careerists in the suppression of the "illicit" trade. These career bureaucrats have a vested interest in the system.

    As for: "Conflicts with pot growers have some landowners considering selling their land. Others take extra precautions.". Been there done that to the extent of going to jail and being forced off my land for defending my property and family from growers . End this madness NOW!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sure legalize pot, but you aren't going to get rid of the parasites who are growing it now and who forced you off your land. Many of them have already moved into heroin and cocaine, which are even more profitable.

    You have to understand that these people were depraved before they got here. They are now entrenched in the hills of Northern California. As you know, this is some of the most beautiful country in the USA. You aren't the only one they ran out of town. In fact, the hills are effectively closed to the public. If that isn't terrorism, what is?

    Blaming law enforcement for this problem really misses the point. Can't you see that they are utterly overwhelmed by it? Your story is sadly typical. There are hundreds, maybe THOUSANDS or personal tragedies like it. The growers will go after anyone who attempts to live in the hills of Northern California.

    The real solution will have to come from the military and it will come, never fear. We are involved in a war against terrorism. And we're taking incoming fire in Northern California...

    ReplyDelete
  7. 12:9 AM, "Many of them have already moved into heroin and cocaine, which are even more profitable."
    You still don't get it: or you are invested in the present system. Before these substances were criminalized in 1914 they were available (cheaply) at the corner drug store. There were no gang wars over them and very few addicted "victims". There always have been "depraved" individuals but now they are supported by the taxpayers on welfare which they often supplement with the criminal activity they find most profitable. Mercifully, the majority of these parasites choose to eventually destroy themselves and are purged from society. That is the choice they have made. The tragedy is almost exclusively the fault of the government nanny establishment which has created lucre out of what is really garbage and innocent citizens are the victims.

    I do not blame "law enforcement" for this condition I've also "been there, done that". As you say, they are "overwhelmed" mostly with harvesting the "low hanging fruit" such as small time recreational users of dope while most of the evil ones slip through the cracks in the "system". I could regale you with many war stories but will confine it to one anectdote from real life in Humboldt County. A neighbor contacted me to report having been accosted at gunpoint in his yard by masked "youths". They demanded his stash of pot and car keys. He struggled with one of them and escaped into the woods after throwing his car keys into a thicket. I called the Sheriff's dept to report an ARMED ROBBERY and they requested the victim respond 20 miles to the Hoopa station. We settled by meeting a deputy at the Martins Ferry bridge. No effort was ever made to respond to the scene and investigate or collect the evidence the suspects had left behind. Contrast this with the willingness to arrest a citizen (who incidentally had a restraining order against the suspect) for returning fire after having been shot at by a convicted felon on his own property.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Frankly, it is easier to go after the law abiding citizen.

    It's too hard to go after the real bad guys, they aren't compliant, but they sure can bust someone for not wearing their seatbelt.

    ReplyDelete
  9. True, but "law abiding citizens" don't wave pistols in each other's faces. Look, this guy got pushed off his land by a grower like many other law abiding citizens. But he very nearly killed somebody in the process. Despite all his bluster, I think the neighborhood would be better off if he quietly dropped his pistol off a bridge. He's a very frightened and vengeful individual. Spare me "the right to bear arms" tirade. This guy needs to turn in his pistol for the good of the neighborhood.

    I do understand his anger at being forced out. But his is a typical scenario in our hills. It's over. He lost but the odds were against him 100 to 1). Happily nobody got killed. If the growers had managed to kill him, his body would have been buried in a secret place like so many others. That's how bad it is.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Humboldt Heretic9/16/2009 10:50 AM

    9:15 AM, Bluster: "Loud, arrogant speech, often full of empty threats."

    It would be helpful if you refrained from regurgitating what you heard from your 7th grade civics teacher who also coached the track and field team. Meanwhile to quote the deep thinker from Massachusetts (Barney Frank): "On what planet do you spend most of your time?"

    ReplyDelete
  11. Actually, law-abiding citizens have the right to defend themselves. As well they should.

    ReplyDelete
  12. True, Rose, but they don't have a right to blow away the neighbors. I'm not sure we're getting the whole story here.

    ReplyDelete
  13. 11:49 AM,
    If a neighboring convicted felon repeatedly shoots at you when you are unarmed and on your own property to intimidate you away from his illegal "garden", poisons your dogs, cuts down trees on your property, dumps his trash in your access driveway, cuts your only water line repeatedly, threatens to assault your family members and breaks down your locked gates all while under a valid restraining order which the authorities refuse to enforce, you are advising that it would be best to "turn in [your] pistol for the good of the neighborhood"?

    Ma'am, as the Heretic indicates; you truly are from an alien planet and it is best that this discussion end as it serves no useful purpose.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Interesting that the way you resolve a disagreement is to slam the door on discussion. As I said, I have a strong feeling we're not seeing the whole picture, just what you want us to see. You're supposed to have been pushed around by both the neighbor AND the police and all this is somebody else's fault?

    And Rose: check out this guy's bio, Notice the multiple overlapping careers: police, carefree seaman etc.

    My BS detector is ticking...

    ReplyDelete
  15. Why? Makes perfect sense to me.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Stinks to high heaven to me. You're getting snookered!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Pot growing is victimless.It's prohibition that makes it dangerous.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Good thinking mresquan. Murder too would be "victimless" if we would just get rid of those pesky laws prohibiting it.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Murder too would be "victimless" if we would just get rid of those pesky laws prohibiting it.

    Although I'm trying to break the habit of responding to utter nonsense, I'll pretend to objectively counter this statement.

    If we had 30,000,000 murderers in the United States, do you think we would just keep on doing the same thing or do you think people would get fed up and want to see a policy change?

    If nearly 1/2 of citizens had tried murder, 25% of 18-25 year olds were regular murderers, and we were seeing a resurgence in old murderous practices among baby boomers who grew up in the murder power days, do you think the current laws would stay the same forever or would public sentiment shift toward murder being more mainstream?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Mr. Nice - you are nuts. Just nuts.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are closed for the time-being.