Monday, April 25, 2011

Private lands are new frontier in California's pot wars

A little-spoken of war is taking place behind California's fences and property lines -- trespassing marijuana growers are setting booby traps, resorting to violence and vandalism, and spoiling the land by stealing water and spraying dangerous chemicals that leach into streams. As the federal government focuses on stopping illegal marijuana crops in public parklands and U.S. forests, local sheriff's and state drug enforcement officials including in Kern County face the persistent and potentially dangerous problem of pot growers commandeering private land for their crops. While some land owners fear violence, others face environmental havoc. Last year, the Mendocino County grand jury found that trespassing growers had clear cut trees and destroyed vegetation, diverted streams and littered the landscape with animal carcasses, garbage, human waste, herbicides and animal poisons. The report found toxic compounds used as fertilizer and pesticides were being mixed in dammed streambeds, and "toxins have devastated bird and aquatic life and pose a threat to human habitat."...more

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