Reformers Call For New Policy to Protect Forests From Marijuana Farms

[User]

Recent alarming reports of environmental damage caused by illegal marijuana farms in national forests and wilderness areas in California and elsewhere show that an entirely new approach is needed in order to solve the problem, officials of the Marijuana Policy Project said today.

“Year after year we hear from law enforcement and U.S. Forest Service officials about growing environmental damage caused by these criminal operations, even as law enforcement seizures of marijuana plants set new records every year,” said Bruce Mirken, MPP’s California-based director of communications. “What we’ve been doing is plainly not working and has actually caused the problem in the first place. It’s time to get off the treadmill and try a new approach.”

An Oct. 13 Associated Press story quoted Forest Service agent Ron Pugh describing the problem as “a crisis at every level.”

“California is a world-leading producer of two popular psychoactive drugs — marijuana and wine,” Mirken said. “California’s wine industry is a huge asset to our state’s economy and reputation, generating tax revenue, tourism and prestige, with no meaningful environmental problems. There is no reason marijuana should be different. They’re both agricultural products, and there is nothing inherently dangerous about marijuana cultivation. The difference is that wine is legally regulated, while we consign marijuana — the state’s leading cash crop, based on government figures — to the criminal underground where it is completely unregulated and untaxed, while all the profits go to criminals. In the process, we’ve effectively invited the violence from the Mexican drug trade over our borders. The problem isn’t marijuana, the problem is dumb policy.”

“Last year the number of Americans who have used marijuana reached an all-time record of over 100 million. It’s time to stop imagining that we can make this industry go away and time to start bringing it under responsible regulation just like our wine industry.”


News Hawk: User: http://www.420magazine.com/
Source: NewsLI.com
Copyright: 2008 Newsline Inc.
Contact: NewsLI.com - Long Island News, News Long Island
Website: Reformers Call For New Policy to Protect Forests From Marijuana Farms | NewsLI.com

[Weed420]

Any excuse they want to use to legalize it is fine with me. The negative effects of guerilla grows are being blown out of proportion but if they want to use that as an excuse to legalize and tax then go to it.

[User]

Originally Posted by KillerWeed420

.....if they want to use that as an excuse to legalize and tax then go to it.

thats my only reason for posting this.
its the laws that cause these problems.

[User]

Rat Poison and Stupidity

Once again the mass media are wringing their hands over damage to national forests and parks caused by clandestine marijuana farms, particularly in California. And yes, there are problems — damage caused by pesticides and rat poison used to keep animals away, not to mention the fact that the untaxed proceeds often go to some pretty unsavory characters.

But — and we’ve said this before, but it’s worth saying again — these problems have nothing to do with marijuana and everything to do with foolish laws that consign this very large industry to the criminal underground, guaranteeing that it is completely unregulated and untaxed. California, after all, is a leading producer of two psychoactive drugs, marijuana and wine. The legally regulated wine industry is a boon to the state, producing tax revenues, tourism, and prestige. The state is, in effect, running a controlled experiment comparing prohibition to regulation, and it’s not hard to see which system works better.


News Hawk: User: http://www.420magazine.com/
Source: Marijuana Policy Project
Author: Bruce Mirken
Copyright: 2008 Marijuana Policy Project Contact: Contact MPP
Website: Rat Poison and Stupidity