cannabisnews.com: California's New Pot Patch
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California's New Pot Patch
Posted by CN Staff on July 21, 2010 at 06:14:41 PT
By Tamara Audi
Source: Wall Street Journal
California -- Northern California's so-called Emerald Triangle, famous for marijuana farms that supply much of the U.S. with high-quality pot, is facing competition from hundreds of miles away—in Los Angeles County.As this year's marijuana-harvest season gets under way, law-enforcement officials are focused on the Southern California county, which by some measures has bloomed into the nation's most productive pot garden.
Law-enforcement agents seized more than 734,000 pot plants in Los Angeles County last year—the highest number of seizures in the country for that year. The haul surpassed those even in California's most-prolific northern counties, with the biggest 2009 seizure coming from Shasta County at 629,000 plants.Northern California as a whole still grows most of the nation's pot, according to law-enforcement officials. But the drastic spike in Los Angeles County pot-plant seizures has law-enforcement officials trying to figure out what is behind the increase, and whether it represents a real shift in the lucrative pot trade."Is it that there are more grows out there, or are we getting better at finding them?" said Federal Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman Sarah Pullen of the pot-growing camps being set up in Southern California. "Was last year an anomaly, or is there something different going on in the state?"Ms. Pullen said it is still too early in this season to tell. And law-enforcement officials say that pot-plant seizures throughout the country are on the rise—with California, as it has in the past, leading the way.Law-enforcement officials have seized 103,000 plants in Los Angeles County since April, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which takes the lead in pot seizures in the county.Recent seizures in Los Angeles County have astonished even veterans of the state's long drug war. On a single Friday in late June, law-enforcement agents destroyed 19,000 plants with a street value of $39 million, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials said.Most of the county's marijuana plants are grown in the Angeles National Forest, a rugged wilderness stretching over 650,000 acres east of Los Angeles, according to U.S. Forest Service records. Forest Service and Sheriff's Department officials recently warned hikers about the presence of pot farms in the forest—along with the armed guards and booby traps that come with them.Not even last year's Station Fire—the forest's largest inferno ever recorded—slowed harvesting. "We thought the fire would really curtail this and it didn't," said Ralph Ornelas, captain of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's narcotics bureau. "We came up with seizures at the end of the season that really surprised us. It's amazing. This tells you the abundance of outdoor grows that are here."Some in law enforcement believe that tightened security along the Mexican border has curtailed drug smuggling and forced growers to cultivate their pot closer to their U.S. market.Another possible reason: Angeles National Forest has become attractive to Mexican drug cartels because it offers remote open space, a perfect growing climate, little competition and a base close to home.Law enforcement is working to get a better handle on the ownership of the Southern California crops. There is some recent evidence that Mexican cartels are running some of the U.S. farms, according to officials, but a lot of the plantations are operated by American gangs, some with ties to the cartels.Much of the recent violence in Mexico is among cartels battling for planting territory, said Michelle Gregory, a special agent with the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement. "They realized they can come to California and have a lot of open space, and they don't have to fight with anybody for it," she said.While most of California's pot is exported to other states, the black market here could change drastically if residents vote in favor of a November state ballot measure to legalize marijuana. The measure would allow residents to cultivate and posses small amounts of pot. A recent analysis by The Rand Corporation think tank said the price of pot could drop to as low as $38 an ounce, compared to $375 per ounce today, if it passes.Meanwhile, drug agents continue to hunt for pot plantations. The work involves hours of hiking to remote sites in the forest. When agents spot a growing area, they often find full camp sites, complete with irrigation and acres of marijuana fields and armed guards.Most of the time, the guards flee, and agents destroy the plants. But a disturbing trend has emerged this year: "We're finding they're more apt to stick around and defend, than take off and run," Ms. Gregory said.Source: Wall Street Journal (US)Author: Tamara AudiPublished: July 21, 2010Copyright: 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.Contact: wsj.ltrs wsj.comWebsite: http://www.wsj.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/cHeKyvibCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #12 posted by Hope on July 27, 2010 at 17:09:42 PT
"Servant to all"...
Storm Crow is a perfect example of that... and to my mind... she is to be greatly honored for that.I do appreciate her work on behalf of us all. By "All", I mean all people.http://bible.cc/mark/9-35.htm
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on July 27, 2010 at 04:06:17 PT
Storm Crow
Thank you for all the work you do for all of us.
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Comment #10 posted by Hope on July 26, 2010 at 21:07:10 PT
Comment 9
Thank you, Storm Crow.You're doing such amazing good things!
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Comment #9 posted by Storm Crow on July 23, 2010 at 10:23:59 PT
My July 2010 List-
I get about 10-12 entries per page depending on how many section titles and just how long the URLs are. Most studies are posted more than once- by the conditions and by the cannabinoid(s) used in the study. I actually have no idea how many actual studies there are, but well over 1,000. If you'd like a sneak preview of the 420 pager - go here-https://www.greenpassion.org/index.php?/topic/23575-new-420-page-grannys-mmj-list-july-2010/I posted it there just to see if anyone could catch any errors before I start sending it out. There are some real doozies in there this year! I took a few of the studies and whomped together this- http://www.salem-news.com/articles/june272010/marijuana-infants-sc.php?message=1#comments (I was sorely tempted to title that "Oh! Think of the Children!" but felt that would have been too "over the top".) I'll be writing other pieces on some of the "little gems" I've found in the last 6 months of searching. In the meantime, I'm enjoying a day or two off before starting on the huge project of sending out the updated list to several 100 people one person at a time! (I do have some help this year, thank goodness!)
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Comment #8 posted by ekim on July 22, 2010 at 17:01:43 PT
more apt to stick around and defend, than take off
and they don't have to fight with anybody for it,"The Rand Corporation think tank said the price of pot could drop to as low as $38 an ounce,Law-enforcement agents seized more than 734,000 pot plants in Los Angeles County last yearCA. is broke how much is it costing the taxpayers to keep cannabis prohibition, when the people are calling for jobs, new products and to be treated with respect.
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Comment #7 posted by Sinsemilla Jones on July 22, 2010 at 16:01:50 PT
Pot Patch
So, this isn't a new product to absorb THC subdermally?
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on July 22, 2010 at 09:50:49 PT
Four hundred twenty pages...
Amazing. And I realize that's just the length of the list of titles of the studies. Four hundred twenty pages of just the names of the studies. Amazing.I wonder if that's enough yet for the prohibitionists that like to say, "We need more studies"?Any idea how many studies on that list, Storm Crow?
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Comment #5 posted by Storm Crow on July 22, 2010 at 09:22:52 PT
dongenero....
Even FOX "news" is now posting up the occasional pro-cannabis article! lol I think I have all of 3 FOX news articles in my new 420 page "Granny's List" (due out the end of this month). I think we may have a "mole" in their organization- the articles were quite good (and accurate) for FOX!
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Comment #4 posted by dongenero on July 21, 2010 at 11:52:58 PT
Wall Street Journal
The WSJ is dead. It's just another brand in the Murdoch empire now. Fox news posing as legitimate business news.
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Comment #3 posted by EAH on July 21, 2010 at 10:03:48 PT:
Done right
The black market will only get eliminated if they do it right. Legal licensed production is going to have to be large scale. Production totally unlimited
in a way that makes "store bought" legal pot so cheap including any tax that nobody sees any reason or profit in trying to do any black market stuff.Prop 19 does not really insure that will happen. There are many players whose interest was attracted by "legally" profiting from the black market pricing.
Indoor growing only works out financially if prices are at black market levels.
If retail oz prices don't drop below $50 or less, the black market will linger.
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on July 21, 2010 at 08:32:52 PT
WSJ, amazing
>>>>While most of California's pot is exported to other states, the black market here could change drastically if residents vote in favor of a November state ballot measure to legalize marijuana.This is so funny....the WSJ just cannot bring themselves to say the truth!!! Prop. 19 will ELIMINATE the black market, not "change" it!!!But we love our mafia here in the US, don't we? We love crime, or at least we're supposed too, the corporate networks make half the shows about crime and police.
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Comment #1 posted by mydnytmover on July 21, 2010 at 07:36:34 PT
D.E.A.
D.E.A.th = NAZI
I hope they have to pay for there crimes someday
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