Pot growers portrayed as terror threat WashingtonPost / Jeff Stein / 11,17,2010 What were they smoking? Federal, state and local officials carrying out a counter-terrorism drill in Northern California Wednesday played out a scenario in which local marijuana growers set off bombs and took over the Shasta Dam, the nation's second largest, to free an imprisoned comrade. According to an account in the Redding (Calif.) Record Searchlight, the 12-hour drill was part of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Critical Infrastructure Crisis Response Exercise Program, begun in 2003. “More than 250 people from more than 20 agencies took part,†said Sheri Harral, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Reclamation, according to the paper. Harral said the drill took 18 months to plan and cost the bureau alone $500,000. The other agencies covered their own costs. The paper made only passing reference to the scenario's designation of pot growers as terrorist villians. In the otherwise realistic mock-terror scenario, the marijuana growers' “red cell†set off bus and car bombs as distractions, took over the dam with three hostages, and then “threatened to flood the Sacramento River by rolling open the drum gates atop the dam,†according to the paper. No matter how worthwhile a drill, said marijuana legalization advocates, envisioning pot growers as a terrorist threat in laid-back Northern California was ridiculous. "That was so stupid," said Dale Gieringer, head of the California chapter of NORML, the decades-old National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "I don't know what inspired it,†Gieringer told the Drug War Chronicle. “I can see the need to do better pat downs for air travelers to make sure they're not holding joints in their underpants, but this? It sounds like something some yahoo redneck county sheriff would dream up." Harral did not return the Chronicle's call for comment and could not be immediately reached by SpyTalk. In a confidential catalogue of terrorist threats, uncovered by Congressional Quarterly in 2005, the Department of Homeland Security did not include the region's marijuana growers. In August, however, the Big Valley News in Madera, Calif reported that the federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program "has been studying the escalating violence associated with the growing of cannabis throughout California." It said, "The increasing involvement of highly organized drug trafficking organizations protecting their investment or competing for territory and market share has elevated the dangers surrounding cannabis growing from 'pot users merely growing their stash' to...a 'marijuana war.'" In order to make their soldiers fight the enemy they must first associate the targeted persons with dangerous and hated activities.
Cool - when does the movie come out? I hope they spice it up a bit, maybe add in some outlaw motorcycle thugs, the mexican cartel, asian gangs and of course some hot girls. Perhaps they could throw in a mutant carnivore strain of weed that grows 100' feet tall, gets out of control and takes over the world, sucking the blood out of anyone who gets near it. Since our tax dollars paid for this, do we get discounted tickets?
This is the same emerald triangle that voted no on 19, right? Yea, let me pause to feel reaaaaaaaaal bad for them.
As they chop down their crops of course. It's a double edged sword, those profits that growers and dispensary owners fought for in November (and won on their behalf). They should realize that their profits are liable to any small regime change, and then, they'll be complete outlaws.
lol this is what i imagined as a new headline "today angry pot grower blows up home depot becasue the fertilizer they sold him killed his plants" what the fuck is a grower going to blow something up for....
"18 months" and "$500,000" the year before my graduation my high school cut almost 20 teachers. now at sdsu i face tuition hikes. what a fucking waste of money and resources.
Thats our Government spending nearly $700 Billion annually on Defense.... but we cut school programs and social benefits for the poor and old....
I can understand the purpose behind this drill... Except it sounds like it's to target drug cartels... The media rarely says drug cartels though, it is always "pot growers" Are they afraid to mention the drug cartels? Or really want to lump everyone together?
thats the part i hate about it ive been told all my life that my vote makes a difference and in a way it still does but my voice isnt wide reaching enough yet influence those around me into doing the right thing it makes me sad
lol you think thats a waste 500,000 is piddly shit compared to millions wasted DAILY in Afghanistan/Iraq
This is true, but in a micro-sense that is a lot of money. What could you do with 500 grand? A shit ton. They're both appalling wastes of resources on different scales. The veil of politics makes me physically ill sometimes that people believe these things are good, in their best interest. These are ways for the gov't. to control the people. I can't wait until they fuck up and people start pushing back.
I know, and the nonviolent/medical movement is growing, but the thing that has me concerned is that when the cannabis community is finally at the point of legalization will it end in violence or a turn in federal law? I very much hope for the latter, ASAP.
It's horseshit fear propaganda... Maple trees grow freely... Just let the plant be already.... Marijuana is not a drug....it is not meth, ecstasy, heroine, etc.... Tired of this BULLSHIT against this plant...its uses go back Millenia!