News & Columns > G.T. Houts > Statewide Marijuana Eradication Efforts Top $15 Billion

Statewide Marijuana Eradication Efforts Top $15 Billion

San Bernardino National Forest Raids Valued Over $600 Million

By G.T. Houts
Saturday, November 29, 2008

Sacramento, CA – Seizure of marijuana plants, from public and private lands in California during the just completed enforcement period, netted 5.2 million plants, with a street value of $15.8 billion. This number includes over $600 million in plants confiscated from the San Bernardino National Forest during over 30 raids.

Nearly 70 percent of the confiscated plants were growing on state or federal land, according to drug enforcement officers who announced the record haul during a media advisory held in Sacramento. The marijuana plants were seized, and destroyed, after a raid in 40 of the state's 58 counties.

Campaign Against Marijuana Planting agents confiscated 9,285 marijuana plants valued in excess of two million dollars during a raid September 15 in the San Bernardino National Forest. (Photo by G. T. Houts.)

U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott told media representatives the discovery of a record number of plants was the result of a collaborative effort by federal, state and local agencies.

"Our enforcement effort," Scott reported, "outstrips any other state."

Scott explained that Mexican drug cartels are increasingly choosing to grow their marijuana plants in California "because of its vast amounts of rural public land, including the national forests, its temperate climate, and a culture of acceptance of marijuana in certain parts of the state."

Scott provided a detailed outline of how the marijuana grows also wreaks havoc on public lands, by causing extensive environmental damage.

"The people who plant and hope to cultivate the marijuana grows, divert steams and clear-cut forests," Scott explained, "while watersheds, soil and groundwater are poisoned by fertilizers and pesticides."

In fact, officials pointed out the fact that the type of pesticides used by many of the cartels has to be imported from Mexico, because it is not available in the United States, due to its harmful effects on humans, animals and plant life.

Counties with the highest number of confiscated plants in 2008 were Lake with 499.508, Tulare with 395,489 and Shasta with 394,375.

About a dozen people were arrested during the season in San Bernardino County, according to a US Forest Service Special Agent.

Statewide, more than 220 individuals were placed under arrest, and 244 weapons were confiscated during the eradication season, which began in July and continued through October. All of the arrests were Mexican nationals in the United States, illegally, according to authorities.