There's been alot of bud confiscated in Washington this year!

[Puff-Daddy]

<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1lace><st1:City>SPOKANE</st1:City>, <st1:State>Wash.</st1:State></st1lace> - Law enforcement officers harvested a dubious record last year ? enough marijuana plants to rank the illegal weed as <st1:State><st1lace>Washington</st1lace></st1:State> state's No. 8 agricultural commodity, edging out sweet cherries in value.

The 135,323 marijuana plants seized in 2005 were estimated to be worth $270 million ? a record amount that places the crop among the state's top 10 agricultural commodities, based on the most recent statistics available.

"We're struck by the amount of work they put into it," said Rich Wiley, who heads the Washington State Patrol narcotics program. "It's very labor intensive. They often run individual drip lines to each plant, and are out there fertilizing them."

The net results have a tremendous payoff to illegal growers, said Wiley, who coordinates pot busts with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and local law enforcement agencies. A single plant <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> can produce as much as a pound of processed marijuana, worth an estimated $2,000, he said.

The estimated $270 million value of the plants seized in 2005 ranked just above sweet cherries, which were valued at $242 million in 2004, and just below the $329 million the state's nurseries and greenhouses produced. Apples are the state's No. 1 agricultural commodity, bringing $962.5 million in 2004.

This is the seventh year in a row that record numbers of marijuana plants have been seized and destroyed statewide, the State Patrol said. The state's known pot harvest, based on seizures, went from 66,521 plants in 2003 to 132,941 in 2004, then to 135,323 last year.

Most of the growing operations were in eastern <st1:State><st1lace>Washington</st1lace></st1:State>, principally outdoors on federal or state land in remote locations near a source of water, the State Patrol said.

In recent years, marijuana crops have been larger and more sophisticated than in the past, law enforcement spokesmen said.

Douglas County sheriff's Chief Criminal Deputy Robbin Wagg said while some "mom and pop" crops of 500 or fewer plants are still being found, most are larger and more sophisticated, with as many as 10,000 plants being irrigated and tended.

Marijuana eradication efforts have been hampered by cutbacks in Air National Guard budgets and personnel have been assigned to tasks related to the <st1:country-region><st1lace>Iraq</st1lace></st1:country-region> war, Wagg said. National Guard helicopters are the most productive way to spot marijuana patches in the county's remote fields and draws, he said.

"We used to get three or four days of flying time. Now, it's one to 1 1/2 days," he said. "They do a great job for us."

Wiley said last year, three National Guard helicopters and three provided by the DEA flew for a month during the marijuana harvest season in late summer, before they were assigned to Hurricane Katrina duties. About 80 percent of the finds are made from the air, he said.

Facing their own budget restrictions, law enforcement agencies in north-central <st1:State><st1lace>Washington</st1lace></st1:State> estimate they find perhaps half of the pot being grown illegally.

"We get half if we're lucky and good," Wagg said.

[enfiladeDTS]

They think they're accomplishing something. When in reality, they're just wasting money that could be spent stopping harsh unsolved crimes that happen everyday. I have no respect for my government.

[TorontoCartel]

Originally Posted by enfiladeDTS

They think they're accomplishing something. When in reality, they're just wasting money that could be spent stopping harsh unsolved crimes that happen everyday. I have no respect for my government.

thats a shame

[CoLToNisPiMPiN]

Originally Posted by enfiladeDTS

They think they're accomplishing something. When in reality, they're just wasting money that could be spent stopping harsh unsolved crimes that happen everyday. I have no respect for my government.

quoted for truth

[wDonnel]

Originally Posted by enfiladeDTS

They think they're accomplishing something. When in reality, they're just wasting money that could be spent stopping harsh unsolved crimes that happen everyday. I have no respect for my government.

i totally agree with you

[dirtybongwater]

Originally Posted by enfiladeDTS

They think they're accomplishing something. When in reality, they're just wasting money that could be spent stopping harsh unsolved crimes that happen everyday. I have no respect for my government.

broken record.

[k ronic]

this makes me proud to live in washington

"#8 agricultural commodity"

[Lexus_Rolla]

Originally Posted by enfiladeDTS

They think they're accomplishing something. When in reality, they're just wasting money that could be spent stopping harsh unsolved crimes that happen everyday. I have no respect for my government.

Communist China is waiting for you.

[Lexus_Rolla]

Originally Posted by k ronic

this makes me proud to live in washington

"#8 agricultural commodity"

Heh, pot is TN's #1 cash crop.

[Joint]

Originally Posted by Lexus_Rolla

Communist China is waiting for you.

Just because someone doesn't respect an organization that spends billions destroying dope while letting murders go unsolved doesn't make someone a communist. Unsolved crime is a huge problem in Boston, I don't remember the numbers but basically, statistically, you could go up to anyone on a street, pull a knife, steal all their shit, and you'll never get caught because the pigs won't even bother looking unless you've actually hurt someone. Same goes with burgleries: the cops just plain don't care. Yet, YET, at the Boston Hempfest, hundreds of police, complete with binoculars watching over everyone and the full DEA shit were all over the dope users. Where are those cops on the beat? I've seen maybe 2 drive down my high-crime street in the entire time I've lived here. So no, I don't have respect for the DEA, the cops, or the government that is running them, and I don't believe that makes me unpatriotic or communist. Blind faith, in my opinion, is unpatriotic (not that you have that, I'm just saying a lot do).

[Burned Haze]

when he said cummunist china is comming, he meant when dea claimed teens are being brain washed smoking bpot by china, it was a trick back then cause people were so scared of cummunistism back then. its a joke now cause they claimed china was gonnea take over usa by sellin drugs to usa..lol

[Joint]

Originally Posted by Burned Haze

when he said cummunist china is comming, he meant when dea claimed teens are being brain washed smoking bpot by china, it was a trick back then cause people were so scared of cummunistism back then. its a joke now cause they claimed china was gonnea take over usa by sellin drugs to usa..lol

Sorry I'm baked. I thought he was responding to the 'no respect for gov't' line. Well either way my point was valid, although I guess it has nothing to do with this thread now

[Puff-Daddy]

But why is it that everytime someone say's that they dont respect this goverment or disagree's with something the goverment does they are always seen as "unamerican" I think thats total bs..

Originally Posted by Joint

Sorry I'm baked. I thought he was responding to the 'no respect for gov't' line. Well either way my point was valid, although I guess it has nothing to do with this thread now

ROFL!! lol i thought the same thing. I thought he was pissed that that guy hates his country and that he was telling him to move to communist china if he doesn't like the usa!!! lol, i'm baked too. rofl. omfg.

[Dave28]

Originally Posted by Puff-Daddy

But why is it that everytime someone say's that they dont respect this goverment or disagree's with something the goverment does they are always seen as "unamerican" I think thats total bs..

haha criticizing and not supporting certain policies of your government IS the defnition of American, thats how we got to being a country in the first place