Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jul 2013
Source: Chico News & Review, The (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsreview.com/chico/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/559

DO NO HARM

The DA Should Throw the Book at Pot Growers WHO Do Environmental
Damage

We're glad to see the Butte County Sheriff's Office and District
Attorney Mike Ramsey going after the pot growers who are destroying
the foothills landscape (see Downstroke, page 8).

For far too long, growers have been cutting down trees and other
vegetation, and illegally grading wilderness properties in preparation
for their growing operations. They've done so without consequence, as
law-enforcement officials concentrated their oversight on the
operations' compliance with the Compassionate Use Act.

But there are too many of these growers in the foothills, and the
destruction they've reaped in the region can no longer be ignored.
It's simply too obvious. Illegal grading and excavation have numerous
negative consequences, including pesticide and fertilizer runoff into
watersheds.

Ramsey has gone after other property owners who have conducted
large-scale grading without the proper permits, mostly for
construction projects. The district attorney should seek the maximum
penalty against those who break the state's environmental laws.

California residents have every right to grow medical marijuana, but
they also have the obligation-legally and morally-to do so without
harming the environment.
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MAP posted-by: Matt