Wall Street Journal: Pot ‘plantations’ on the rise

(Wall Street Journal) Marijuana growers, many believed to be affiliated with Mexican drug cartels, are aggressively expanding their illegal farming operations in the U.S., clearing land to plant pot in dozens of national forests from coast to coast.

Authorities have discovered pot farms in 61 national forests across 16 states this year, up from 49 forests in 10 states last year. New territories include public land in Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan, Alabama and Virginia.

With the expansion comes an increased risk to campers and hikers — a particular concern this Labor Day weekend, as families converge on public land just as many cannabis crops are ready for harvest.

The pot farms are not fly-by-night operations. Growers cut down trees and terrace canyons to create plantations big enough for tens of thousands of plants. They apply pesticides and herbicides — some not approved for U.S. use. They dam or divert streams and hook together miles of PVC piping to build irrigation systems, some rigged to sophisticated timers.

Each camp is typically tended around the clock by guards who may be equipped with assault rifles, night-vision goggles, walkie-talkies and radios to monitor law-enforcement chatter.

In other news, RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris are reporting that the Carolina farmers growing their tobacco crop are right on schedule.  MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch report that the hops farms of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho are producing a favorable crop.  E&J Gallo and Constellation Brands tell us that the Napa Valley vineyards should produce a fine harvest of wine grapes this year.

When asked how many of their farms were located in remote, hard-to-access public forest lands, tended by armed illegal immigrants who terrace the land and poison the soil, representatives from these companies looked at this reporter as if he was psycho and asked, “what the hell are you smoking?”, to which this reporter replied, “a crop worth more than all your crops combined.”

The Journal goes on to note how the Mexican cartels have stepped up US production of marijuana in public lands because of the increased US/Mexico border security and how the states have fewer resources to go after them because of the depressed economy.  If only we could come up with a way to relieve states of that burden while simultaneously funneling millions in new tax revenue into their treasuries…