Weed Growers are "terrorists"...

[tokinsplinter]

California -- The nation's top anti-drug official said people need to overcome their "reefer blindness" and see that illicit marijuana gardens are a terrorist threat to the public's health and safety, as well as to the environment.

John P. Walters, President Bush's drug czar, said the people who plant and tend the gardens are terrorists who wouldn't hesitate to help other terrorists get into the country with the aim of causing mass casualties. Walters made the comments at a Thursday press conference that provided an update on the "Operation Alesia" marijuana-eradication effort.

"Don't buy drugs. They fund violence and terror," he said.

After touring gardens raided this week in Shasta County, Walters said the officers who are destroying the gardens are performing hard, dangerous work in rough terrain. He said growers have been known to have weapons, including assault rifles.

"These people are armed; they're dangerous," he said. He called them "violent criminal terrorists."

Walters, whose official title is director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said too many people write off marijuana as harmless. "We have kind of a reefer blindness,' " he said.

No arrests have been made so far in the four days of raids, the opening leg of what Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko has promised will be at least two straight weeks of daily raids.

He said suspects have been hard to find because their familiarity with their terrain makes it easy for them to flee quickly.

Although crews doing the raids are using Black Hawk and other helicopters to drop in on some of the gardens, Bosenko said they don't want to give the growers any warning of a raid.

"We try to move in under stealth," he said.

As of Thursday morning, Operation Alesia raids had resulted in the yanking of 68,237 young marijuana plants from public lands in Shasta County. Raids already have been conducted in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, as well as on land managed by the U.S. Forest Service north of Lake Shasta and other public land near Manton.

The operation is being led by the sheriff's office and has involved 17 agencies, including the California National Guard and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. It's believed to be the largest campaign of its kind in the state, Bosenko said.

The operation is named after the last major battle between the Roman Empire and the Gauls in 52 B.C. That battle was won by the Romans.

With the blitz of marijuana gardens around Shasta County, Bosenko said officials hope to not only get rid of the pot, but also win back the land for the public that owns it.

"These organizations are destroying our lands and wildlife," he said.

Bernie Weingardt, regional forester for the Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Region, said the 28,000 acres believed to house illegal marijuana grows on national forest land throughout the state would cost more than $300 million to revive.

"These lands must be cleaned and restored," he said.

His estimate is based on a National Park Service study that found it costs $11,000 per acre to pull the plants, clear irrigation systems, reshape any terracing and replant native vegetation, said Mike Odle, Forest Service spokesman.

While Walters didn't give specific goals for Operation Alesia, he said anti-drug agencies aim to cripple the organized crime groups that he said are behind the marijuana cultivation.

"This business we intend to put into recession, depression and put its leaders into jail," Walters said.


I couldnt help but laugh when i read the first part about cultivators being terrorists. Second part about them pulling plants is a lil tear shedding cause i probally woulda ended up smokin some of those buds.

tokinsplinter Reviewed by tokinsplinter on 07-14-2007. Weed Growers are "terrorists"... California -- The nation's top anti-drug official said people need to overcome their "reefer blindness" and see that illicit marijuana gardens are a terrorist threat to the public's health and safety, as well as to the environment. John P. Walters, President Bush's drug czar, said the people who plant and tend the gardens are terrorists who wouldn't hesitate to help other terrorists get into the country with the aim of causing mass casualties. Walters made the comments at a Thursday press Rating: 5

[Alive]

makes me wanna get a gun and shoot that fuck in the face, im sorry but thats just nuts even comparing a marijuana cultivator to full blown terrorism this guy needs to get slapped in the face and a bong shoved down his throat, i know im not giving a good image of a stoner but this just made me royally pissed -.-

[NOX1447]

kinda crazy.... $11,000 an acre to remove it. It's funny when you sit back and think it's just a naturally growing plant that was here before we were. sometimes I will look at my weed and just laugh cause people flip out about a stupid plant. SOMETHING THAT GROWS IN THE DIRT NATURALLY! I wish they wouldnt make it legal but decriminalize it everywhere. I kinda like the "hunt" to get my weed and seeing diffrent strains go through town at diffrent times ya know. Walking to the store on the corner and buying marijuana would be a bore for me and take half of the joy of smoking away...just my opinion

[diddy1605]

This shit is crazy. They want to call people who grow a plant a terrorist but as soon as we point fingers at our officials for lies, trying to scare the nation, and other things such as the missing Iraqi war funds we get called a terrorist by George Bush. I saw a piece on Fox News today on indoor growing operations and I was so pissed. They first said that this is dangerous to have in your neighborhood and also they said the weed grown indoors is far more powerful and even deadly. It just makes me mad on how some people feel about just a plant. If Fox News really wants to run a report on harmful substances being made why dont they go to our cigarette factories. They have proven to kill people and we also put all sorts of dangerous shit in those nowadays.

[NOX1447]

or the meth labs that blow up houses and smell up the air......
far more deadly then growing a plant

[diddy1605]

I dont know what your talking about, hunting for weed is never really fun. It would be nice to know exactly what your getting and what price and also the strain. Which is what can be done if it gets legalized and also made commercial.

[NOX1447]

nah man i think commercialization would ruin it. Somehow when it become commercialized is when it looses it's naturalness. Does that make sense. I dont want marlbro touching my weed man I dont want corporate america touching such a natural product. I want an old farmer to pick it cure it and put it in a bag just for me. I dont want it going through "treatments" and "cure factorys" and all this shit man. Hunting for weed in itself is not fun but, you know that feeling after you just scored? I dont want that taken away. I dont know how old you are but, depending on your age you may or may not understand.

[Grover Cleveland]

I've never seen a pothead toting a gun..... nor have I ever seen someone who's baked with a violent bone in his/her body.

To call these people dangerous is the biggest joke I've ever heard. A baked stoner is about the least dangerous person on the planet. Unless you consider them eating you out of house and home dangerous...

[AR15]

Yeah it is just a plant, and it should be legal, but the fact of the matter is that marijuana is illegal (with some med execptions of course). With that said, keep in mind there are people who grow marijuana and sell it to make a profit because it is illegal (markup on the black market), and some of those people do carry assault rifles and will kill to eliminate threats to their profit.

So yeah, they do face possible threats. Some places are boobie trapped. And if they're going into a raid, they don't know whether it is trapped or not, or whether the people growing are armed and willing to fight or if they're peaceful growers just enjoying what God gave us.

I'm not trying to say I agree with them, most of what they say is crap, but keep in mind there is some truth behind that statement. It's the few bad apples that ruin the name for the good ones. Some growers you can consider terrorists for the way they go about it, most you can't. But that's politics, one poor mistake from some shithead(s) affects the rest of us...

You're right they should focus more on meth labs and shit. Meth is one of the worst problems we have. They should focus on heroin too. Focus on the hard drugs that are really fucking up things. And FUCK fox news, I don't trust anything coming from fox.

[Grover Cleveland]

the thing that kills me is that you can go to the corner store and buy a pack of smokes and a bottle of liquor.... but you can't buy weed legally.

Last I checked, alcohol and cigarettes are killing a lot more people than herb.

I wouldn't be upset in the least if they legalized weed and made alcohol and cigarrettes illegal.

legalize it, tax the crap out of it and give me a way to get it anytime I want it and I will be one happy camper.