Up in Smoke

[superjoint]

Press Democrat Editorial
Source: Press Democrat

In the popular lore of Mendocino and Humboldt counties, the typical marijuana grower is a refugee from the 1960s who simply
wants to do his own thing -- grow a little weed, live peaceably in the woods, drive the kids to school in a battered VW van with
peace symbols in the windows.

Reality isn't so groovy. Drug agents last week reported raids on elaborate shells, 11 of them, designed to look like houses, but
which were actually costly disguises for high-tech greenhouses -- complete with thousands of plants, diesel generators,
sophisticated security systems, guns and ammunition. Far out, man.

Welcome to for-profit ventures on a very large scale -- operations that have the potential to be dangerous.

Mom-and-pop growers may shrug their shoulders if a stranger stumbles on their pot gardens, but, with millions of dollars at stake, the heavies
employed by a big-time drug syndicate will not be so benign.

Marijuana laws often defy common sense. Partisans would happily debate from now until the end of time whether grass, an illegal drug, is more
harmful than the booze that fills supermarket shelves.

Still, until Americans figure out a more coherent approach to marijuana (and to all drugs), there remain reasons to discourage the drug bosses who
occupy the most remote corners of California's North Coast.

Note: Not all marijuana growers believe in peace, love and a Volkswagen van.

Source: Press Democrat, The (CA)
Published: March 11, 2001
Copyright: 2001 The Press Democrat
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[roach]

Note: Not all marijuana growers believe in peace, love and a Volkswagen van.

No ,but 'most' marijuana users do. Prohibition is what screws up the natural flow of things !