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The site, which has already been cleared of some 9,139 illegal marijuana plants, was located on a 30-acre avocado orchard northeast of Orosi on the 14800 block of Johnson Drive, Orosi. Officers discovered a large-scale processing station there, including drying fans, heaters and ventilation equipment to “aid in the drying process,” deputies reported.

Equipment designed to grow marijuana indoors was also discovered at the Orosi site. Officials of electricity provider Southern California Edison revealed that power was being diverted illegally to the site.

The seized plants’ estimated street value was estimated by police to be $37.3 million. Previously dried marijuana amounting to around 500 pounds valued at $2 million was also seized and destroyed.

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PORTERVILLE, Calif. (AP) — National forests and parks — long popular with Mexican marijuana-growing cartels — have become home to some of the most polluted pockets of wilderness in America because of the toxic chemicals needed to eke lucrative harvests from rocky mountainsides, federal officials said.

The grow sites have taken hold from the West Coast’s Cascade Mountains, as well as on federal lands in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Seven hundred grow sites were discovered on U.S. Forest Service land in California alone in 2007 and 2008 — and authorities say the 1,800-square-mile Sequoia National Forest is the hardest hit.

Weed and bug sprays, some long banned in the U.S., have been smuggled to the marijuana farms. Plant growth hormones have been dumped into streams, and the water has then been diverted for miles in PVC pipes.

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Full article.

Just another problem legalization would solve. Leave any comments you have below.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department has uncovered a mult-million dollar indoor pot operation which has been growing marijuana in a warehouse for three years.

Deputies raided the building at 911 41st Street North in Birmingham Thursday night after a two month investigation.

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Full article.

The article states that between 400 and 500 plants were confiscated. I’m a little skeptical over the assessed value of the pot, but I think it has been pretty well established by now that our government vastly overinflates the value of street drug seizures. The part of the article about the pot being able to cause “LSD-like hallucinations” would be humorous if it weren’t for the large contingent of ignorant folk who believe statements like this.

Leave your thoughts below.

Article here.

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MEXICO CITY (AP) Mexican authorities say they have found and destroyed 97 tons of marijuana in a field in the northern border state of Sonora.

The Public Safety Department says the plants were spotted in a 13-acre field during an aerial search over the town of Nacori Chico in Sonora state, across the border from Arizona.

The department says the plants were pulled out and incinerated.

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I don’t know about you guys, but where I come from, 97 tons is a lot of pot. That’s like, 97 pounds times 2000. Yeah. A lot. Jesus. It was almost certainly all brickweed, though, so I don’t feel quite as sad about the loss here as I might if it were fine dank weed that I could potentially be smoking.

From the article:

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Local, state and federal agents broke up the operation and seized nearly 9,600 plants. Five illegal aliens were detained nearby during the operation, and while suspected of involvement were not arrested.

The work that went into the grow was enormous. About 5 acres was cleared of dense brush — most of it done by hand — and large areas were terraced and planted. A trail network connected the five distinct sites and the “hooch,” the camp built survival-style with raised beds made of tanoak poles and ferns.

”This is where they like to put them,” said park Supervising Ranger Corky Farley of illegal grows on public land, “where no one will go.”

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Legalization would take away the incentive to grow in places like these. Leave your views below.

Article:

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THE CANADIAN PRESS
PEMBROKE, Ont.–Police in eastern Ontario believe they’ve busted one of the largest marijuana grow operations in Canadian history.

More than 40,000 plants were seized after provincial police raided a 40-plus-hectare farm in Laurentian Valley Township, just outside Pembroke, Ont., last Thursday.

Numerous officers were called in and worked through the weekend to help recover the plants as well as some farming equipment from what police say was an elaborate operation.

“There was an irrigation system, for one thing,” said provincial police spokeswoman Sgt. Kristine Rae.

“One of the things they used was an above-ground pool as well as a pond that was on the property with plastic piping that led out through the fields. The double car garage was set up for drying racks.”

In September 2005, police in New Brunswick raided three fields in three communities, netting more than 40,000 plants and five arrests. Those raids were linked to Asian organized crime groups.

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Well, this is a pretty hefty bust. I’m not Canadian, so I don’t know how this will affect their weed market in specific, but I don’t think the end user has anything to serious worry about as far as price increases or shortage goes. This bust is huge, but it’s a mere drop in the bucket as far as the big picture is concerned.

On the lighter side of things, I was compelled yesterday to seek out a particular video in which famous canadian author Pierre Burton demonstrates with expert skill how to roll a fine joint.

As always, comment below.