California Marijuana Plant Seizures

Another good reason to end the prohibition of marijuana is to stop the insurgency of guerrilla growers, whether they be Mexican, as so often indicted by law enforcement, or homegrown. The very idea that people are moving into the National Parks to grow weed is almost as absurd as the amount of taxpayer money being spent to combat this pesky problem, since the experts have no idea what percentage of the bush grow operations have been eradicated. Legalize marijuana and the problem ends, or be prepared for a major troop-surge.

With a month to go in the growing season, California is shattering records for pot seizures stemming from raids on illicit marijuana gardens. And authorities blame intricate Mexican drug networks that seek remote growing sites, supply and arm workers, and harvest and traffic the product.

So far this year, the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting - a California task force of nine state and federal agencies - has seized about 4 million plants, a 1.1 million increase over last year's record haul.

"I think they're growing more and we're finding more," said Michelle Gregory, special agent for the state attorney general's Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement. "We would like to say that we find 50 percent of the grows, but honestly we don't know how much we miss."
Source: Sacramento Bee