In case you haven’t seen them, check these photos Kym posted.
Does the money get spent locally?
Recent Comments
 | That Other Anonymous on Online Petition to the Board o… |
| That Other Anonymous on Online Petition to the Board o… |
| That Other Anonymous on Online Petition to the Board o… |
| That Other Anonymous on Online Petition to the Board o… |
 | Eric Kirk on Online Petition to the Board o… |
| That Other Anonymous on Online Petition to the Board o… |
| That Other Anonymous on Online Petition to the Board o… |
| That Other Anonymous on Online Petition to the Board o… |
| That Other Anonymous on Online Petition to the Board o… |
| Eric Kirk on Online Petition to the Board o… |
 | suzy blah blah on North Coast Environmental Cent… |
| suzy blah blah on North Coast Environmental Cent… |
| That Other Anonymous on Online Petition to the Board o… |
 | Narration on North Coast Environmental Cent… |
| suzy blah blah on North Coast Environmental Cent… |
39 comments
Comments feed for this article
August 2, 2012 at 9:52 am
Anonymous
Mommy, what’s a “soils locator”?
August 2, 2012 at 12:38 pm
WalMart Employee
Ha ha ha you suck Eureka. Get with the modern times or whine and complain till you end your miserable lives.
August 2, 2012 at 4:43 pm
eddenson
You realize that there is nothing to indicate these presumed marijuana grows are illegal. There is no limit on the number of patients who may “associate” to cultivate medical marijuana. Large, they certainly appear to be, which is not good news for Mom and Pop, but illegal is another issue.
August 2, 2012 at 6:52 pm
unanonymous
not Walmart sized, but definately EPIC growing operations!
August 2, 2012 at 7:44 pm
Jim
Good question, but at least some of it must be. Perhaps they go out to the major retailers in the cities, but doubt they go so far for supplies as the bay or valley. I doubt most of the profits stay local though, either via vacations and other properties or direct transfer to those financing the operation.
August 2, 2012 at 8:14 pm
Eric Kirk
How much can one person smoke in a year? Assuming the stuff really is medicine, this looks like a project to manage an epidemic!
August 2, 2012 at 8:48 pm
somebody
Americans wants to smoke pot. And why shouldn’t they? The medical potential of the plant is fantastic as the cutting edge science is revealing.
But mostly people want it to get high and that is a legitimate reason in itself. We accept alcohol and its problems and the environmentally unfriendly manner in which it is commercially grown.. Pot should be legalized because it is in many instances a better, more peaceful intoxicant than alcohol and people know that and cops know that. I have asked a number of young men if they think that smoking pot takes the violent edge off of drunkenness at events and gatherings and the unanimous response is shit yeah!
Large scale pot grower economics: The answer to too much supply is more supply…. must be a lot of people across America smoking our weed Eric.
August 3, 2012 at 6:21 am
moviedad
Hey “Walmart Employee,” you forgot to say: “…go back to LA.”
This ain’t “Craigslist.”
August 3, 2012 at 7:23 am
Fred Mangels
How much can one person smoke in a year?
I recall a North Coast Journal article from years ago where then Arcata deadbeat and pot activist, Bobby Harris, was interviewed. He said he went through about an ounce of pot a week, if memory serves me.
I don’t get it. Back in the day when I smoked pot (and sometimes lots of it) I remember after the high from smoking the first joint, smoking more didn’t do much. After a while I’d just get tired.
I remember working on a pot farm out in Maple Creek where I had a somewhat steady supply of the stuff and wishing in the back of my mind that I’d run out for a week or so. That way I could actually get high when I smoked pot again.
August 3, 2012 at 8:55 am
ED Denson
Eric, “smoking” is not the issue for some large scale users. Dr. Courtney, I believe following information from a US Government patent, for example wants patients to ditch the THC and up the CBD content of the medical marijuana they injest. Following his treatment plans can require 20-30 pounds, or more, per year. Unless you are very rich, growing it is the only practical way to do this. I don’t say these photos are of such grows, only that a patient’s medical requirements can be quite large if they can treat the marijuana so as to get rid of the THC.
That aside, growing marijuana is not practical in the cities for many people, hence we see large scale gardening here in the countryside where it is practical. If the Supervisors ever gave it any thought,, they would encourage such large scale cultivation, as well as wide-spread cultivation in the county
August 3, 2012 at 10:58 am
Anonymous
Of course none of these grows are very large compared to some of the massive grows that have been found out in the National Forests and on timber lands. Some of those grows consisted of hundreds of thousands of plants.
Some of the grows shown in this slideshow clearly have more than 100 plants, and maybe one or two might have as many as a thousand. But quite a few of them look like less than 100 plants.
The person with the Airstream isn’t getting rich quick…in fact they’re not getting rich at all. That grow looks like about 40 plants, and there are several photos of grows with what looks like fewer than 30 plants.
I’m not sure how the more modest-sized grows fit under the heading “WalMart Growing Operations.” In fact I’m sure they don’t. Heck, they’re not even the K-Mart of growing operations.
August 3, 2012 at 11:24 am
suzy blah blah
this looks like a project to manage an epidemic!
-the project is an epidemic itself.
August 3, 2012 at 12:32 pm
Dave Kirby
Regardless of how one feels about cultivation these photos are all about greed. Many of these photos show a total disregard for the environment.Even if pot was legal these sites are illegal. I would bet none of them submitted a grading plan for approval by the county nor bothered to get permits for the structures. How many are diverting water courses and where does all that loose soil go in the rainy season? Its pathetic that there are some who still make excuses for these greedheads.
August 3, 2012 at 12:39 pm
Anonymous
Ed you were into pot long before there was any issue about medical marijuana. Who are you trying to snow?
August 3, 2012 at 12:41 pm
Anonymous
And everybody doesn’t like to smoke pot. A lot do, but alot don’t.
Pot, the pot culture, and the people attracted to the pot culture have ruined Humbolt County !
August 3, 2012 at 12:41 pm
Eric Kirk
Dave, I have to agree with the one point. It’s the excavations that jump out at me in the photos even more than the buildings.
August 3, 2012 at 2:10 pm
tra
Some of those photos show significant grading, which I’m assuming is unpermitted, and in some cases the grading looks kind of amateurish, due either to ignorance or to lack of concern, coupled with greed.
But several of the photos just show a small agricultural operation in an existing clearing, with a small house or trailer nearby. The one with the Airstream…I’m not seeing what the “problem” is there, other than the fact that all cannabis cultivation is illegal according to federal law. I’m not saying there isn’t some kind of substantial negative impact from that scene, maybe there is – but I don’t see any evidence for it from that photo.
If, instead of the cannabis garden in that picture, that space was occupied by a corral, and the area surrounding it was grazed by livestock, would the ecological impact be any less? I have my doubts about that.
August 3, 2012 at 2:25 pm
tra
Just to be clear, the photo I’m referring to is labeled as “Bell Springs, 2009.” It has the Airstream trailer, and three rows of plants, about a dozen or so in each row.
It actually looks like a pretty tidy little scene. Definitely doesn’t fit with the “WalMart” comparison. Not even close.
August 3, 2012 at 2:30 pm
Anonymous
Humboldt County people who aren’t shocked by these photographs and are even defending these people are wayyyy out of touch with the real world. You wonder why you have such a bad reputation?
August 3, 2012 at 2:37 pm
Anonymous
Yep.
On another bad reputation, the shaded parcels the county is now dealing with. Guess who the Briceland Corporation is. None other than Bob McKee. Another sub-division he did illegally. And people are now paying the piper because of him. Yet another Tooby Ranch.
August 3, 2012 at 2:43 pm
Eric Kirk
Yes, an anonymous poster takes the opportunity to take a swipe at Bob McKee, prompting George Steinbrenner to fire Billy Martin.
August 3, 2012 at 3:47 pm
tra
Well I’m not “shocked” by any of these photographs, in the sense that I am not surprised by them. I am concerned by some of them. But if this represents the Sheriff’s Dept’s collection of “the worst of the worst” grows on private lands in Humboldt over the past 3 or 4 years, then I’m still a lot more concerned about the giant grows consisting of tens of thousands of plants — and sometimes hundreds of thousands of plants — that authorities have found on remote National Forest and timber company lands.
August 4, 2012 at 7:14 am
ED Denson
Anonymous 12:39. It’s true, I have a libertarian view of victimless crimes and have favored legalization of pot all of my life. Logic, economics, and compassion all support this position. Glad someone has been following my thoughts for so many years. Thanks for the interest,
August 4, 2012 at 8:51 am
Anonymous
But certainly Ed, you don’t have a libertarian view of tearing up the countryside for profit?
August 4, 2012 at 9:29 am
ED Denson
I don’t support destruction of the environment, if that’s what you mean by “tearing up the countryside.” But, short of zero population growth, I don’t see how it is avoidable in reality. Your views would be appreciated, certainly.
August 4, 2012 at 6:09 pm
Stephen
ED, you need to take a trip to Europe, especially Germany. Not that I’m any world traveler but one of the things I did notice on my first trip to the Holy Land was the amazing planning that went on in German cities, towns, and countryside. You don’t see the endless sprawl of unregulated development that you see when you fly over American countryside. You see a town center with farms and farmlands radiating outward from the town center, then forests and greenbelts. This pattern is repeated over and over again. And it shows how it is possible to plan ahead and not let unregulated developers ruin our countryside with their greed for money and severe lack of environmental training, e.g. all the McKee subdivisions. No one’s demanding that developers take college courses in environmental planned community development. No one’s demanding homesteaders take courses in ecological living on rural lands filled with wildlife. So we get political arguments over what we do have in the way of unplanned rural homestead community developments. Maybe the whole Humboldt Planning Dept. should take the trip to Germany..
August 4, 2012 at 8:40 pm
Anonymous
Stop Bob McKee, and a lot of the “tearing up the countryside.” will be stopped.
Whitethorn Construction has turned into a Marijuana Growing Mecca.
August 5, 2012 at 6:24 am
Farmer John
MONTPELIER, Vt. – Working in a stout former bank building with windows closed and air conditioners humming, Orleans County sheriff’s deputies didn’t know what was happening in their parking lot until a neighbor called 911.
A man on a big farm tractor, angry about his recent arrest for resisting arrest and marijuana possession, was rolling across their vehicles — five marked cruisers, one unmarked car and a transport van.
By the time they ran outside, the tractor was down the driveway and out onto the road.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/02/recently-arrested-vermont-farmer-crushed-cop-cars-with-tractor-police-say/?test=latestnews#ixzz22gKHs0QN
No one was hurt.
August 5, 2012 at 11:20 am
suzy blah blah
-love it! Too bad there’s no video.
August 5, 2012 at 11:49 am
Ernie Branscomb
Reefer madness…
August 5, 2012 at 4:44 pm
moviedad
He is unbelievability lucky he wasn’t shot to death.
August 5, 2012 at 5:28 pm
moviedad
Ok, try: “unbelievably.” I type faster than I think. As one might deduce from some of my comments.
August 5, 2012 at 11:25 pm
spyrock
what is the stuff about the valley stealing your water. the only thing that brings water to the sacramento river from your area is gravity as it has done for thousands of years. the vast majority of the water for the valley comes from the sierras. and due to the vast canal system, the pesticides they do use don’t run off into the river like they would in hill country where mj grows are the norm. much of the valley’s water is diverted to southern california. otherwise, a huge amout of land could be culitvated that isn’t.
i don’t know why you guys are talking about gmo’s when you have your own gmgs creating most of your problems., down in fresno on tv they showed this 13 year old getting caught with a couple of seedlings a couple of days old and a two foot monster plant. that was a huge bust for fresno. and you guys are complaining because some growers are greedier than others.
greedy marijuana growers. maybe you should start a union and develope a grievance proceedure. and then you put down the cattle ranchers. my great grandfather owned 12,000 acres south of spyrock and his brother owned thousands of acres north of spyrock. one of the things that might be the cause for your problems up there is all that cowpatty seeping into your water supply causing everyone downstream to go insane. for that i am truely sorry. or you could try just diverting all the water from the eel to irrigate your plants like you already do and realize that the fertilizer in it is a freebee left over from another age and its not safe to drink. of course, when uncle howard got old, aunt ruth burnt him up in a trailer so the story goes and sold the land to a lumber company. greed seems to be the bane of the white peeps up there. maybe it’s an old indian curse. ya think.
August 5, 2012 at 11:37 pm
spyrock
sorry about that. it was aunt joy, aunt ruth’s sister that howard was married to. not that i believe this story. i always liked aunt joy. but she did sell the land which everyone wished she would have kept in the family.
August 6, 2012 at 6:18 am
Farmer John
Senators introduce Bipartisan Hemp Farming act AND, finally …. “A decade after the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC) filed its petition seeking to have marijuana moved from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, the federal courts will finally review the scientific evidence regarding the therapeutic efficacy of marijuana. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals announced late last week that it will hear oral arguments in October in a lawsuit filed by Americans for Safe Access (ASA) to force the government to act.”
August 6, 2012 at 11:05 am
Eric Kirk
I don’t find anything about the Vermont episode humorous. That will create a financial hardship on a small community, something they probably don’t need under current economic conditions. Hopefully they won’t get burned by their insurance carrier. Thankfully this guy, with a rich sense of entitlement, didn’t manage to hurt or kill anybody.
I suppose I could blame the incident on the drug war and all, but really I think it’s more about the lacking of effective mental health care in this country.
August 6, 2012 at 11:45 am
Labtech
Does the money get spent locally? In a word, no. And beyond basic property tax they don’t pay any taxes. However, they use all our services and tie up our law enforcement.
August 6, 2012 at 6:05 pm
Farmer John
When I took the tractor story to the local cop shop, they all had a long chuckle and genuinely enjoyed hearing about it. I felt it my civic duty to warn them to keep their ears open for the sound of a big John Deere tractor coming down the street as there would undoubtedly be some copycat crimes.
As a former bodyworker I might suggest a good deep tissue massage session for those tight shoulders I have seen walking around town. Rigid body armoring can lead to inflexible thinking and a general uptightness which might reduce the quality of your professional work.
August 8, 2012 at 10:24 pm
eddenson
All right, enough of this small garden crap. They just busted a 26,000 plant outdoor garden (well, 4 gardens) in Hoopa. Get a picture of that, and take down the shots of this little stuff.
One way to look at it is this: The raid was another job-killing, economy wrecking move by law enforcement. Imagine 100,000 pounds (thats just under 4# per plant) being trimmed. I don’t know what a trimmer can do in a day, but lets say 2 pounds. We get 50,000 trimmer days, or about 20 million dollars of income into the local economy. If they’ve got to trim in, say, 50 days, that’s 1000 trimmers working for 2 months (wiith weekends off) not to mention the workers in the garden, of whom there must have been a large number. How many people are unemployed in Humboldt County? What would our unemployment rate be if 1000 people were given 2 months work?
I’m being tongue in cheek, or am I? It’s time the supervisors wake up and smell the effect on our economy of the marijuana industry, and start supporting it (at least that part that is medical) instead of these raids. How much did it cost for this raid? How much did it cost to pay a cop to count those plants? (and they do count them). Now we not only don’t have the teachers, or firemen, or road repairs, or homeless shelters that the raid money could have been used for, but we also lose the economic benefits of the crop. This is stupid. Where are all the conservatives now that we need them?