Althouse: Mendocino cops helicopter in to a backcountry marijuana farm.

September 8, 2012

Mendocino cops helicopter in to a backcountry marijuana farm.

"We have old hippies in our county growing marijuana and they are not our problem... These are people who are trying to get rich quick.... Mendocino County was basically being taken over by thugs."

38 comments:

Conserve Liberty said...: Well I guess some Sheriff's deputies have jobs - but what a waste of time and resources.

Marijuana isn't the gateway drug. Beer is the gateway drug.

Or Adderall.; 9/8/12, 2:13 PM
edutcher said...: Sure.

And how dare those criminals take a living away from those hard-working, over-the-hill hippies (there's an oxymoron).

There may be no such thing as a poor, white Liberal, but there are plenty of poor, white Radicals.; 9/8/12, 2:17 PM
Foobarista said...: How about actually legalizing MJ? President Choom should have done that the day after his election.

Nah, can't have that: an entire class of law-enforcement types and sundry bureaucrats would lose their livelihood.

That part of northwest CA is otherwise economically dead, other than a few tourists and a winery or two, especially since environists have made it nearly impossible to log there. The MJ "industry" is the main economic driver in that whole area.; 9/8/12, 2:19 PM
yashu said...: In related news,

Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan says the federal government shouldn't interfere with states that have legalized medical marijuana.

The Wisconsin congressman tells KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs that he personally doesn't approve of medical marijuana laws. But he says that states should have the right to choose whether to legalize the drug for medical purposes.

In response to a reporter's question, Ryan said: "It's up to Coloradans to decide."; 9/8/12, 2:24 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: Let me recommend a great little film, Homegrown (1998), which has a great cast, including John Lithgow and Billy Bob Thornton. It has a sly commentary on the economics of pot growing in Northern California, and many devious plot twists. I don't know why it only has a 5.6 on IMDB. It's much better than that.; 9/8/12, 2:34 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: I used to work and play up there - harvesting and playing music - and I'm shocked to here this sheriff declare "one is legitimate" because that's not how I remember it:

I remember hippie kids, with huge rolls of $20 bills in their pockets, who couldn't make change because revealing what they had was an indication of what they were involved with. Teachers growing on the side. Houses with loaded shotguns behind the doors. Water being redirected, and people holding jobs JUST so they had an alibi to explain their incomes, though their lifestyle was waaay above what they were making at the burger joint where they were employed.

Crazy how much the cops' attitudes have changed,...; 9/8/12, 2:41 PM
MadisonMan said...: I wonder what the emissive footprint of marijuana is, and how it differs from the surrounding vegetation. Seems to be that using something other than visible light would be pretty handy. Certainly you could use IR to see the people scurrying away from the pot farms.; 9/8/12, 2:47 PM
Alex said...: Even if Ryan is not pro-legalization, he's at least taken the libertarian position on it. Let the individual states decide. But does that mean Romney holds the same belief?; 9/8/12, 2:49 PM
Known Unknown said...: In the next neighborhood over, a kid turned his parents in for growing ... after they presumably kicked him out. Ahh, revenge.

And we're talking about houses in the $400-$600k range.; 9/8/12, 2:55 PM
rhhardin said...: Wm. Buckley and Milton Friedman were pro legalization from the start, as a matter of economics and incentives and waste.; 9/8/12, 2:57 PM
Alex said...: Yeah but they never had to run for office. You know that the evangelical right is staunchly anti-legalization.; 9/8/12, 2:59 PM
kentuckyliz said...: Eastern KY has some fine weed, I hear. Subtropical climate, lots of forests and mountains, much of it inaccessible. There's DEA out here and helicopter raids.

I live right so I don't pay much attention.; 9/8/12, 3:10 PM
PatCA said...: Another unforeseen development of upper middle class left-leaning tolerance. Once they allowed the hippie farmers to grow, it was only a matter of time.; 9/8/12, 3:22 PM
wyo sis said...: It is a fine line dilemma. Just like most legal problems. I agree with Ryan. Let the states decide and enforce. Our neighbor moved to a state where he can legally grow his own medical marijuana for his wife with MS after his ex son-in-law turned him in.; 9/8/12, 3:30 PM
Seeing Red said...: Toke once a week during your junior high-high school years and they found you shave 9 points off your IQ. They found you can't get it back.

That explains a lot, doesn't it?; 9/8/12, 3:34 PM
ndspinelli said...: Billions of tax dollars flushed down the fucking toilet trying to stop the unstoppable, and billions of tax dollars that could be made legalizing this plant going to cartels. INSANITY!; 9/8/12, 3:41 PM
Riley said...: The county sheriff seems to have discretion to decide which pot growers are perceived as "the problem" and which are not.

That being the case, it would not surprise me if he were to prove amenable to certain inducements aimed at altering his perceptions.; 9/8/12, 4:27 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: I would like to see marijuana legalized if only for the reason that people will be able to more responsibly grow the stuff.

You can't imagine the damage that is being done in the 'back country' by these illegal growers and gang related activities. They trash the sites where they are active, throw tons of garbage around, leave dangerous chemicals, ruin the streams and habitat. It is a mess.

In addition, their presence is making it dangerous for the ordinary person to utilize the wilderness for hiking, camping, hunting and just daytime trips through the area. One of our favorite things to do is to take a picnic lunch, some beer or wine and go "boonie bouncing"...find a nice area to just sit and enjoy the afternoon and the scenery. It is too dangerous to go into many places and we always have to go armed.

Make it legal and they will grow in other places that are easier for them and it would be good for everyone else.; 9/8/12, 4:40 PM
Roger J. said...: The US I though conclusively proved that prohibition didnt work. I have no problem with MJ--never used it and during my military days would much rather had to deal with a pot head than a drunk.; 9/8/12, 4:54 PM
yashu said...: But does that mean Romney holds the same belief?

I'm not sure, but I assume he does. On the stump Ryan's been careful to speak on behalf of a potential Romney administration, not as Paul Ryan alone.; 9/8/12, 5:05 PM
The Drill SGT said...: MadisonMan said...
I wonder what the emissive footprint of marijuana is, and how it differs from the surrounding vegetation

yes, the feds can use IR to id pot versus fern clearings

DBQ is closer to this than me, but let me expand.

these are not nice people and the bad ones grow in the National Forest to avoid ID and forfeture.

they guard the plots with land mines and automatic weapons.

Forest Service rangers carry M-4's in pairs

these are not aging hippies; 9/8/12, 5:06 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Dust Bunny Queen,

You can't imagine the damage that is being done in the 'back country' by these illegal growers and gang related activities. They trash the sites where they are active, throw tons of garbage around, leave dangerous chemicals, ruin the streams and habitat. It is a mess.

If you're talking about marijuana growers, you should see meth labs. The MJ folks may way over-fertilize, so that the runoff causes algae blooms and the like in the streams, but they don't literally (I mean literally-literally, not Biden-literally) create Superfund sites.; 9/8/12, 5:43 PM
yashu said...: Michelle Dulak Thomson,

But unfortunately, while I favor MJ legalization (and can imagine it happening someday), I can't say the same about meth. I'd like to see someone make the difficult argument for the legalization of meth. (True fact, I originally slipwrote "death" for "meth".); 9/8/12, 5:53 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: ".... Mendocino County was basically being taken over by thugs."

But now the thugs have badges, which makes it OK.; 9/8/12, 6:22 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: ".... Mendocino County was basically being taken over by thugs."

But now the thugs have badges, which makes it OK.; 9/8/12, 6:23 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: ".... Mendocino County was basically being taken over by thugs."

But now the thugs have badges, which makes it OK.; 9/8/12, 6:23 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: @ Michelle

Unless you have seen the destruction of the environment, the streams diverted causing death and drying up of ponds, the death of meadows and all of the associated flora and fauna that can't live in the toxic environment. The heaping mounds of trash, rotting garbage, human feces, animal feces polluting the ground and what remains of the watershed, the spilled chemicals, gasoline and oils spilled on the ground and back into the river......you have no idea.

True...Not as bad as meth labs chemically...but the damage the marijuana growers inflict will take generations to undo. Much of this damage is not ever seen by anyone other than local residents and a few government employees. However, it exists.

Legalize marijuana and let the growers grow in the open and much of these eco problems will disappear. In addition it would remove the criminal element, the gangs from our public lands.; 9/8/12, 6:42 PM
Paddy O said...: "Make it legal and they will grow in other places that are easier for them and it would be good for everyone else."

I'm a social conservative, so have pretty conservative thoughts on the legalization of drugs too--they should be illegal for all kinds of reasons (all of which have been argued extensively all over the place), but what DBQ wrote is precisely why I support the legalization of marijuana.; 9/8/12, 6:50 PM
Dante said...: Teen use linked to 8 point IQ decline.; 9/8/12, 7:23 PM
bagoh20 said...: What about the freaking pot hole that's been in the street in front of my house for 15 years? You think you could send over a helicopter to get that fixed maybe?

If some pot grows in the forest and nobody knows it, do I give a shit.

Hundreds of cars hit that goddamn pothole everyday. Stop playing cops and robbers with my damned money and fix something that's broken. The broken shit is everywhere.; 9/8/12, 8:52 PM
wef said...: Obviously the protection racket does not like free-lance marijuana growing.

Servile power-worshiping buttinskis, gullible dantes who'd believe whatever validating pseudo-science garbage, bossy religious fruitcakes, and bootleggers keep this nonsense going.; 9/8/12, 9:26 PM
Insufficiently Sensitive said...: Big new discovery??? And the 'discoverers' don't know that MJ has been Mendocino County's biggest cash crop for the last 30 years or so?; 9/8/12, 9:32 PM
David said...: Many are run be Mexican cartel members who are armed and who set booby traps for wandering hikers.; 9/9/12, 3:53 AM
David said...: Many are run be Mexican cartel members who are armed and who set booby traps for wandering hikers.; 9/9/12, 3:53 AM
Insufficiently Sensitive said...: Don't be derogatory with Mexican drug cartels. Those illegal 'immigrants' with AK-47s are Obama's pets, brought to you by Fast and Furious. They're exercising their 'right to farm' at any location necessary.; 9/9/12, 8:19 AM
ndspinelli said...: Donald, Mendocino County set up an inspection program years back. Growers need to register and submit to random inspections w/ the Sheriff's Dept. So, it's the illegal growers that self selected by not registering and allowing inspections.; 9/9/12, 9:16 AM
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