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A recent article from the East Coast described a passive arrest made of a mild mannered college student who was growing a handful of plants in a federally controlled park land. The story described how a single wild life researcher came across the plants while radio tracking a turtle during a routine research project. The turtle tracker called the authorities and an arrest was soon made. The arrested young man was “very cooperative” and some what frightened.

photo from VoterPower.org

My warning to you, and the reason for this article is, that this mild arrest was quite the anomaly. Usually, there are large quantities of guns, drugs and very determined individuals who would rather kill you and drag your body into the ocean than run away unseen. They have thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars at stake, and won’t think twice about shooting an innocent hiker who happened upon their illegal stash by accident.

To them, the entire world is their enemy and you’re one of them.

The summer months bring even more opportunity to accidentally run across a patch of marijuana plants as the larger part of the millions of visitors per year turn out to fill the hiking paths. So, here’s the way to avoid all of that death and destruction stuff. Simply do what the signs say and STAY ON THE PATH when hiking in our national and state parks.

Being from the west coast of these United States, and growing up tramping through the backwoods of Southern Oregon as well as the rivers and ocean beaches, I have heard tell of many a large stash of the cannabis plant being cultivated deliberately and in rather large quantities. The Southern Oregon and Northern California Region was at one time the well-known hub of “grass” source throughout the northern hemisphere. Dude!

Many of my high school friends were in that culture, and even though I never got hooked into it, one could not go through six years of Medford, Oregon’s high school system without being affected by it.

Even today, there are substantial arrests being made over marijuana fields in the west;
- Baker County Oregon, August 2007, 1,500 plants destroyed, value $3 million. Four arrests.

- Eugene, Oregon, November 2007, 80 plants, Gangs from Los Angeles, Oregon and Detroit involved. PCP, cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin also involved. At least 15 arrests.

- Willits, California, July 2008, 6,772 plants, 800 lbs of seeds, several Mexican drug cartel members arrested.

- FBI and inter-agency task forces finding almost a 100% increase in drug cartel trafficking from Asia and Mexican illegals moving into Southern Oregon.

According to a report in an article in The Oregonian, Jackson County Oregon (where I was born and raised) led the pack in 2007 arrests and seizures of the controlled shrub.

When traipsing through our verdant national parks on hiking trails, whether in Smoky Mountains National Park, or just some hiking trail in Colorado, protected and rich in growing things, remember that our park systems are grossly under managed. When the US government, largely led by presidents long gone, started mandating land by the thousands of acres as national ownership, they forgot to hire enough staff to care for those acres. This is why privately operated preserves always manage land better than public concerns. Therefore, when on public properties, follow directions like “STAY ON THE PATH”. It may just save your life.

This is absolutely true.  I'm a volunteer with a Search and Rescue team in Northern California.  A couple of years ago we were searching for a lost hunter.  He had wandered into one of these gardens, and unfortunately never wandered out (as you noted above, some of these plots of land are guarded by armed and determined people).

As a person fairly accustomed to "boonie crashing" and wandering off trail, this caused me to re-evaluate some of my habits... especially when out with the rest of the family.  I'm not an advocate of paranoia, but unfortunately this is a risk that needs to be evaluated with all of the other risks that we take when we engage in outdoor recreation.

Thanks for the post and links.

mcb

Your welcome, MCB and thanks for the reply and the underscore. WHen I was younger and growing up in Southern Oregon/Northern California, I wouldn't think twice about crashing through the underbrush to take a short cut to the river or beach, even if it was private property.

As foolish as that was thirty years ago, it is even more so today where one has a dangerous chance of running into illegal aliens operating a million dollar cash crop of cannibas.

This is unacceptable. We can no longer go in our own national forests. What you didn't mention, but has been in other articles, is that these illegal growers are using tons of dangerous and illegal chemicals to get a nice, healthy crop of weed at the expense of all plant and animal life in the area and downstream. Smoking marijuana is not green!

You're right on the money, Anonymous. And there are more than one angle and other issues to this story. The least grievous of which is the damage being done to the environment for the greedy, shameful, illegal gain of illegal aliens on our own soil.

For the most part, everyone who writes with authority as main stream press representatives like The AP, is afraid to approach this issue from the stand point of who exactly is being arrested literally every single time a large crop of MJ is involved in our national parks. It is a story just begging to be told as a major news event but because there has purposely been confused terminology where "illegal alien" is twisted to attack a specific race instead of just meaning illegal aliens, the press has painted themselves into a corner and can't write the story straight forward.

I would think that Mexicans crossing our borders illegally with the intent of fouling our water and killing our trees and shrubs in order to grow and harvest an illegal crop would be a major news story. But every time there is an arrest when giant crops are discovered, the story never makes it out of the local media.

If we want something to change, we need the information disseminated honestly.

Editor.

I would like to point out that these problems are symptomatic of prohibition - the same issues 'cropped up' during the days of alcohol prohibition, as well.  Guns and violence travel in the same circle as prohibition because prohibition is what causes the unnatural spike in the prices of a commodity - whatever commodity it is.

A more common-sense approach to protect people and the environment is to decriminalize marijuana, slap a 50% tax on it, and use the money to educate people so that they can make safe, appropriate decisions as to its use.

Eric

Leveraging the income to be made from any commodity, harmful or otherwise, certainly changes the dynamics of a situation.

do I need to be a member to post

Not at all. Post away. Glad to have you.