Keeping us safe from dangerous elements: LA County Police seize 12,000 marijuana plants....

[marmar]

:eyes:



from the LA Times:



Police seize 12,000 pot plants
10:58 PM | March 28, 2009


Police this week seized more than 12,000 marijuana plants growing in an isolated plot of land in Schabarum Regional Park in the eastern San Gabriel Valley.

The marijuana plot was found by a hiker Thursday afternoon in the remote wilderness area on the southern side of the park, about a mile away from the nearest hiking trail. The plants were 3 to 12 inches tall, said Sgt. Jacqueline Gonzalez of Los Angeles County Police, a specialized law enforcement agency that patrols county parks.

Once the hiker returned with county police, authorities observed three men holding pellet rifles.

“They fled,” Gonzalez said. “They’re still at large.”

Police recovered three pellet rifles and uprooted the marijuana plants as evidence.

Schabarum Regional Park is sandwiched between Hacienda Heights and Rowland Heights.

-- Rong-Gong Lin II


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/03/police-this-wee.html

[rcrush]

1. That hiker is an asshole.

[scarletwoman]

3. Truly. Hope his karmic reward is swift. (nt)

[tridim]

5. He's probably lucky he didn't get shot

This sounds like one of the big cartel grows which should remain illegal IMO.

[lob1]

7. I don't know of any cartels that arm their troops with pellet guns.

[biopowertoday]

9. and that hiker was hiking off trail.

[Redneck Socialist]

11. Yeah, 'cause turning public wildlands into your private garden is so cool. n/t

[XemaSab]

13. Yeah, 'cause Mexican dope farmers with guns belong on public land

:eyes:

[Threedifferentones]

15. Yeah, clearly the three dudes with AIR POWERED PELLET GUNS

were hard-core gangsters who represented a danger to all our lives.

:eyes: yourself, eh?

[XemaSab]

16. And if you were walking along and a bunch of vatos pointed a gun at you

would you take the time to find out if it was a real gun or not?

Public land belongs to the public, not assholes with guns.

[Threedifferentones]

17. Public land belongs to the public

And the right to grow weed belongs to you and me. Of course, our awesome public decided to take that right away.

Sometimes in real life things are dirty, not black and white.

Obviously if I were hiking off trail and saw three dudes with rifles tending a weed crop I'd be scared shitless. Just because something scares me does not prove it is evil.

But, the fact that these dudes carried only pellet guns and ran at the first sign of trouble strongly suggests they were, in fact, basically harmless.

[XemaSab]

18. And if they knew you were going to rat them out

and they decided to shoot you instead of losing their crop or going to prison?

Lame.

[anigbrowl]

20. Yeah? Then so does the MJ grown on it, no?

Somehow I suspect that if you'd walked past, seen some fine marijuana, and helped yourself to a few buds, the guys who were growing it would have quickly beaten you up for 'stealing' even though they were growing on public property. The whole essence of public goods is that they are shared, rather than appropriated for private profit. Just because it's marijuana and marijuana is cool doesn't justify this.

[Threedifferentones]

22. You're missing the point

The public takes away my right to grow weed on my land, I take away the public's right to fully enjoy their land. This may not be "just," as my mommy told me two wrongs do not make a right, but I'm not losing any sleep over it.

In other words, if you do not want people growing weed in public forests, advocate for their right to grow it on their own property. The problem here is prohibition, not weed growers.

[anigbrowl]

19. No, the people using the public land to farm for free are assholes

I'm a staunch supporter of freedom to smoke, grow and trade marijuana, but that doesn't absolve you from social responsibilities. You wanna grow, use your own damn land, not the public park.

[sakabatou]

2. I wonder how many are going to take them home to use...

[panader0]

6. Too immature to smoke at 3 to 12 inches.............

[Ezlivin]

12. Not if they were doing a sea of green

Even though it's not likely, it's still a lovely picture....

[tridim]

14. Outdoors in March means the plants aren't flowering yet.

I can't wait to check out all the secret basement grows in my neighborhood when prohibition finally ends. :)

[newmac]

4. The Plant Police.

Jesus; thats pathetic...

[rucky]

8. What's more likely to result from this bust?

Marijuana demand will go down, or

Mexican cartels will get more business?

[anigbrowl]

21. Somewhat safer public parks, I hope

I like marijuana. I have grown it. I did so at home, no on the parkland I share with my neighbors.

[stillcool]

10. What's up with California?

I know California has a huge prison population...do they need to meet a quota or something?