Pot Pirates
September 4th, 2009Via: CNN:
Drug traffickers are planting millions of marijuana plants on U.S. public lands ever closer to tourist sites, guarding their plots with heavy weaponry, federal authorities say.
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Though traffickers have been planting on public lands for years, figures from the U.S. Forest Service indicate the sheer volume of marijuana plants on public land has increased every year since 2005 — by millions. And those are just the plants that the government knows about and has destroyed.
Most pot farms are cultivated by low-level cartel workers, many who are working to pay off smugglers who helped them cross the border, officials have said. Campsites are sophisticated and well hidden, with foxholes and sniper nests, Arthur told CNN.
The workers plant four to five farms at a time to get one bountiful crop, reckoning that two might be destroyed by law enforcement, one might fail because of weather, and another could be pilfered by what officers call “pot pirates,” Americans who risk getting close to traffickers to score free pot, Arthur said.
The beach town of Santa Cruz, CA is shutting half of it’s forested park due to heroin cooking and sales, which has caused wildfires. The problem is that the walkers and people with kids were the ones pushing the dealers to the area without trails
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_13267733