Date:         Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:53:03 -0700
Reply-To:     Peter DiFalco <peter.difalco@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Peter DiFalco <peter.difalco@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: It's Phinally Phriedae,
              and Drug prohibition created the drug lords. (was (ironically)
              Re: HIJACKED - update)
In-Reply-To:  <j2h38e334641004161017jddd9e13dq791722c9f961c46a@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

Regulated pot growing in California has many upside potentials in my
opinion, and some downsides, but one major issue we need to resolve is the
illegal cultivation of the plants on public land. There are many people,
including Mexican gangs and their associates, who are cultivating pot on
National Park and BLM land in California. They use harmful pesticides which
are terrible for the environment and for the end consumer, or so I've heard,
and divert local watershed runoff for their operations. Further, they tend
to guard these grows with weapons and make it unsafe for Vanagon campers and
other outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy their forestry visitation rights.
 Northern Mexico may be a warzone, but they're exporting more than drugs to
our country - they're exporting violence and environmental hazards to our
most pristine natural treasures.

I don't suggest that legalization or regulation will completely solve this
but it creates the opportunity for competition to drop the floor out of a
market which currently encourages illegal cultivation in difficult spots.

And that's my two ounces on the subject, with some VC.

-Peter

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:17 AM, Roland <syncronicity1@gmail.com> wrote:

> A great quantity of Marijuana is grown right here in the US.  It is
> essentially a regular cash crop in Humboldt County in California.  It is so
> open a subject that the residents have come forward and are worried that
> the
> potential legalization of marijuana in CA will impact their finances and
> way
> of life.
>
> Humboldt County worries about life after legal pot
> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35991506/
>
> "EUREKA, Calif. - Marijuana growing has long been a way of life in Humboldt
> County, especially in recent years as timber and fishing jobs have
> disappeared along California's North Coast.
>
> Now some residents worry that their way of life is being threatened — not
> by
> law enforcement, but by efforts to legalize marijuana in the state.
> "
>
> The US war on drugs is a miserable failure year after year, everyone knows
> it.  As with so many other government actions it has digressed into a slush
> fund for various government agencies and private companies to grab money to
> "save jobs", sell stuff to the government, save power positions in
> Washington, etc.  One more government failure that uses our tax money for
> no
> fruitful purpose.
>
> Roland
>