5 Acre Marijuana Farm Found and Destroyed in Redwood National Park
On Wednesday a 5 acre marijuana farm located in Redwood National Park was raided by over 60 park rangers and other cooperating law enforcement officials. The farm was located less than six miles away from the world’s tallest tree. It is the first major marijuana growing operation to have been found in the well-known park.
The marijuana farm was located near an area known as Redwood Creek and contained an estimated 9,564 plants. They were immediately chopped down and removed by helicopter. A drug operation such as this one can be very hazardous to the environment as chemicals and fertilizers can significantly pollute park habitats. In a press release the National Park Service explained that “a graphic information system specialist went in with the raid teams for the first time in NPS history to perform an immediate evaluation of the impacts to natural resources during the raid. This documentation will be very beneficial for the restoration process.”
The plants growing on the illegal drug farm were estimated to be worth about $35 million dollars. The operation was first seen by an airplane flying above several weeks ago, and consequently the park’s staff was notified promptly. It is unclear for how long the farm had been operating.
Several Mexican citizens, 4 men and a woman, have been detained by law enforcement officials for questioning and are possibly connected to the operation. On the same day as the raid in the park, law enforcement officials also carried out several additional raids on growing operations nearby. Illegal drug operations are becoming increasingly more common in the U.S. inside and near national parks and forests. Raids are becoming a necessity.
An article published several days ago in USA Today quoted the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy as saying that 75%-80% of marijuana grown outdoors is on state or federal land. Mexican drug cartels are thought to be increasingly responsible for these illegal operations in national parks and on other protected lands. Smuggling drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border has become more challenging for them.
Other national parks where large marijuana farms have also recently been found and shut-down include North Cascades National Park in Washington and Sequoia National Park in California.
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Photo Credit: Michael Schweppe on Flickr under a Creative Commons license
Great Gazoo, I love you.
Ok. Marijuna does have side effects. Hate to tell you guys. But as an avid pothead I am happy to say they are mild compared to that of ciggarettes, alcohol, and other rightfully legal and dangerous drugs. Before you go and fight on either side, please, please, know the facts and stop looking like an asshole.
hey dan R,
do you like TV? music? why? because it’s entertaining? yeah? no shit. thats why we like pot.
Marihuana is only allowed in Holland.. And even the rules/laws created for this aren’t really usefull because the coffeeshop owners still cant buy it legally.
their is nothin wrong with smokin the bud i can drive 100 times better after smoking a blunt than i can after a couple of shots fuck the government i am not giving up pot for anything.
Your an artard
get your facts straight because you need to learn to think before you speak, or even research. For every fact you can find, I can find one proving it wrong by a lagitimate study
it’s a shame the feds have declared war on plants, especially cannabis, the world’s most prolific plant.
The ‘war on (some) drugs’ was declared after the north won the civil war and outlawed slavery, so the feds outlawed the *naturally growing substances* that minorities were using instead of the white man’s alcohol, so they could stuff their prisons with nonviolent minority offenders. To replace the lost slave labor with prison labor.
Read tinyurl.com/1mn and tinyurl.com/potconviction to see the history of nonmedicinal drug use in the US.
Marijuana is a weed. It grows everywhere. We all should see that it does
AKA, you need to do your research and stop believing the government. There have been studies proving marijuana is not bad for your brain (http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20030701/heavy-marijuana-use-doesnt-damage-brain)or your lungs (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729_pf.html)These are legitimate articles from web-md and the Washington Post. Also, there is proof that marijuana can help fight cancer (http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14451-marijuana-takes-on-colon-cancer.html?feedId=online-news_rss20) and can help cancer patients (http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Support/marijuana). Your conclusions are invalid because you cannot back them up with sources. Please do not try to pass off your misguided opinions as fact.
Just another waste of time, energy, and resources. Congratulations on accomplishing nothing.