Pubdate: Mon, 30 Jul 2012
Source: East Bay Express (CA)
Copyright: 2012 East Bay Express
Contact: http://posting.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/SubmitLetter/Page
Website: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1131

HUMBOLDT COUNTY SWARMING WITH FEDERAL AGENTS THIS WEEK

This just in from the North Coast Journal: "Over the last couple of
weeks, Humboldt County has been virtually crawling with federal law
enforcement agents on the prowl for big-time weed dealers."

"Clearly the county's black market marijuana industry is booming, and
while local law enforcement didn't want to say much about the recent
raids, referring all questions to equally tight-lipped federal
agencies, Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey said the backup is
welcome. As a matter of fact, he said, 'I'm the one, I hope, who
initiated it.' A large, greenhouse full of growing marijuana

A large, greenhouse full of growing marijuana

The story details how Sheriff Downey has asked multiple branches of
the federal government for help with illegal marijuana grows, because
the state no longer has funds for the Sisyphean task of weeding
millions of square miles of national forest each year.

"The inter-governmental Campaign Against Marijuana Planting [CAMP],
which once struck fear in the hearts of outdoor growers throughout the
Emerald Triangle, is now a shadow of what it used to be," Downey said.
"Everything's been downsized. Those programs have been decimated."

Critics of current drug policy like Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition say a regulated and legal weed market would cut the legs
off forest farmers. After all, cartels aren't making bootleg whiskey
out in the Emerald Triangle.
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MAP posted-by: Matt