Reefer sadness

pandabear · #1 08-17-2007, 01:23 PM

Submitted photo/Courtesy of the Humboldt County Sheriff's OfficeAlmost half a billion dollars of marijuana in an outdoor grow was found by aerial surveillance efforts conducted by Campaign Against Marijuana Planting personnel from the California Department of Justice.

Reefer sadness
by Heather Muller , 8/10/2007

Federal, state and local law enforcement officials said adios this week to almost half a billion dollars worth of marijuana found growing on public and private timberlands along the county’s sparsely populated eastern edge.

A news release issued by the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office stated the outdoor growing operation contained 134,082 plants, ranging in height from 1 to 3 feet, with an estimated street value at harvest of $469 million — making it “by far,” according to Sheriff’s Sgt. Wayne Hanson, the single largest pot bust in the county’s history.

No arrests were made

but officials believed the grow was operated by a Mexican drug cartel.

“We know that just by the magnitude of it and the growing style,” Hanson said. “They literally clear-cut portions of the forest to plant these massive amounts of marijuana, with no effort at all to hide it. It’s blatant.”

Six agencies participated in eradication efforts, which began after Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Peterson spotted the plants growing in dozens of groves, located roughly between Dinsmore and Burnt Ranch, during a routine reconnaissance flight two weeks ago.

“It was certainly the largest one of these I’ve seen in my career,” said Hanson, who has been with the Sheriff’s Office for 24 years.

The announcement came on the heels of four days of eradication efforts by 20 personnel from the state Department of Justice’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, the Sheriff’s Office, the Humboldt County Drug Task Force, the Eureka Police Department, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Hanson said the plants were cut, and those with usable bud were airlifted to an undisclosed location and destroyed. Stalks and leaves were destroyed where they lay.

Photos included with the release showed enormous piles of trash left behind by growers as they beat a hasty retreat.

Hanson said he didn’t know if the garbage would ever be removed because the dump site is located more than a mile from the nearest road.

But the environmental impacts aside, Hanson said the cartel growers are just plain dangerous.

“There are people armed with SKS rifles running around our national forests growing massive amounts of marijuana, at $3,500 a pound,” he said.

“You can argue all you want about whether marijuana is a dangerous drug, but pray to God some forester or land surveyor or mom and dad out with the kids on U.S. Forest Service property doesn’t bump into one of these growers and end up dead.”

An aerial view of the area shows groves of marijuana plants in areas Humboldt County Sheriff's officials say were clear-cut by growers. Submitted photo/Courtesy of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office

Marijuana plants grow in and around timber on public and private lands north of Dinsmore. Submitted photo/Courtesy of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office

More than 130,000 plants with an estimated street value at harvest of almost half a billion dollars were eradicated from a single outdoor growing operation near the Humboldt-Trinity county line. Submitted photo/Courtesy of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office

A helicopter landing zone near the massive growing operation is fringed with pot plants. The grow was discovered by Humboldt County Sheriff's Deputy Mark Peterson. Submitted photo/Courtesy of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office

Piles of garbage were left behind by growers more than a mile from the nearest road. Law enforcement officials believe the grow was operated by a Mexican drug cartel. Submitted photo/Courtesy of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office