Just legalize it!!

I'm reminded of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers' motto from my (obviously misspent) youth. Web Link

So, what do we do, NOW?

What a colossal waste of time and resources, I am sooo tired of funding this whole "War on drugs, Incorporated"...I wonder how much this operation cost us taxpayers. Legalization is long overdue.

Listen to the people and save our money! Legalize weed. Admit defeat, you have won battles, but never the war!

A huge, major, drug ring, is being run in our county park, an illegal alien is arrested as being part of the ring, and all the bloggers so far think this is a non-issue? What if our families and children were hiking in the park and accidently came upon these criminals? Don't you think this had the potential to be a very serious crime scene? With over $250,000 worth of illegal drugs, don't you think the criminals would have considered violence to protect their crop? Am I honestly the only one who feels this way? Am I missing something here? We are not talking about a cancer patient smoking pot in the privacy of his home, we are talking about a huge, drug cartel, in our county park. Personally, I am glad that resources are being used to fight these large drug cartels, before they lead to violence and other assorted crimes.

American (Like me BTW) let me make a few points to respond to you
1) If you read the article the pot was grown in a very remote area not visible from any established trails so you and your kids would not have stumbled upon it as you hike along the trails.
2) "Huge Cartels"....guess what, these go away if legalization of marijuana occurs. The profit motive is removed if the illicit status is changed. As I studied the era of alcohol prohibition the government loved the job opportunities for the "Revenue Agents" to roam the woods on the taxpayer's dime to root out illegal stills, but ultimately it was deemed to be expensive efforts in vain as the majority of Americans wanted the law reversed. As for the cartels specifically, if there was no prohibition there would have been no Al Capone and his corruptive influence in various police forces in the midwest. Same goes for Mexico, a Police Chief down there gets gunned down every week it seems. It is time for a different approach.

JRM: Thanks for responding,and for clarifying your opinions. I respectfully disagree with your opinions. My dog, like many, does not always stay on the designated trails, so being off the trails does not mean no families could ever stumble upon their crops. I am also assuming the people running the drugs have to use the designated trails to get back and forth to their crop, so the potential to have families and the drug runners come in contact is a real possibility. I think what bothered me the most about you and your bloggers opinions was not that you wanted pot legalized, as I am faimiliar with all the arguments, both pro and con for pot legalization, and there are good arguments on both sides. What bothered me is bloggers thinking it is a non-issue for a drug cartel to be operating in our local parks, and complaining about the cost of park rangers and local police in arresting the criminals, rather than outrage at the criminals operating in our local parks, and the real threat of violence and other crimes associated with their $250,000 crop.

American....you seem reasonable. My point is this...if they (us) had this under surveillance for weeks as the article indicated, at what cost I can only imagine, why not simply hover in a helicopter for 2 consecutive days, announce in Spanish "we have found this and we are coming thursday at 10:00 A.M. to clear it out, game over" and we send in 10 gardeners with weed wackers with a couple of sheriffs as posse? Instead we alert 4 law enforcement agencies, the boys suit up and get to play Army for 24 hours on our dime and go in and cut weeds. Of course the Sheriff and the rest want this to go on....
I say no more...this is an era of finite resources and the salaries of these fine county servants is not getting any cheaper.

And by the way....your dog should be on a leash in Las Trampas, amigo. I hate it when dudes like you think the leash laws don't apply to folks like you. I hike the Chamoise Trail a lot and I do not like it when a hyped up dog approaches me 40 yards ahead of their owner. I tolerate it because I am a dog lover and obey leash laws.

American-

You hit the nail on the head brother! Your perspective is right on.

Do they know the estimated street value of the marijuana plants they confiscated? Or how long the operation had been there?

Danville resident: The article said the estimated street value was $250,000.
JRM: You have no problem with an illegal alien running a major drug cartel in our local county park, but you have a problem with my old golden retriever walking next to me without a lease on a remote trail in the park? Really? I realize you and I probably disagree about 95% of the time on the issues on this blog, but I have to admit I am still surprised that you would feel that way.

MAKE CIGARETTS ILLEAGLE AND LEAGALIZE POT!!!!

I know the name if the guy who got away - it is "Juan" ;-)

American - yes, it is concerning that an illegal operation of this size is going on right in our back yard, so, congratulations to the eagle-eyed police spotter, or or to the designer of the sensitive sensor (?) involved. It is one thing to be putting in an operation of this scale out in the boonies but the brazenness involved with putting it this close to a populated area, even a high school, is worrying. A family friend disappeared while hiking in Oregon, a number of years ago, and there was speculation that he might have stumbled across an illegal operation like this. But as jrm and others have pointed out, remove the profit and the motive goes away.

On the lighter side, think about where it was located - near SRVHS. maybe it is part of a plot by Monte Vista to down-grade SRVHS's sporting and academic performance? Should SRVHS respond by
planting an area in the Mount Diablo foothills?

Wait, look at Chase from Alamo's comments - it is already there.
DOOD, U GOTTA GET A SPEL CHECKA, U R NOT HLPING THE CAUSE!
(for legalization).

PS - Wait, when they make pot legal, are these guys going to start planting poppies? Wait, isn't the California poppy a protected plant? The Park police wouldn't even be able to pull it up?
We are doomed!

There are no comments from "chase" as Pedal Power suggests...this issue will be interesting...of course David Harmer's folks will chime in....wow... I googled him today and got the whole picture on his position on a lot of things.....does he really think the Mormons are going to save us from the US Constitution being shredded? Like we need Joseph Smith to save us? Harmer thinks so...he is the "Warrior of Moroni" to save us heathens.....I guess we should thank God for the Mormons...all the rest of our religions are not really relevent....

JRM: Sorry, I must not be as bright as you, why do you mention David Harmon and feel the need to rip the Mormon faith, regarding this particular blog regarding a major pot bust in our local parks? I do not understand the connection? For what it is worth, although I am Catholic, I have respect for my Mormon brothers, and their religious faith. JRM, although I clearly disagree with your opinions about 95% of the time, I always use to respect your opinions, but this particular rant ripping the Mormon faith, makes me question your credibility. What gives? You are better than your recent rip on the Mormon faith.

jrm: There are no comments from "chase" as Pedal Power suggests??

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Posted by Chase, a resident of the Alamo neighborhood, 13 hours ago

MAKE CIGARETTS ILLEAGLE AND LEAGALIZE POT!!!!
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Perhaps proving that literacy is not a prerequisite for common sense.

I'm not going to make any friends with these comments!

Come on, I seriously doubt this was a 'huge' drug cartel. 250K worth of plants removed. A shame in our own backyards. I'd suggest paying your hired help more! 250K would barely payoff anyone's mortgage over here! Pay attention, people need money, I'd hate to think they would hurt anyone, I suppose anything is possible.

Next up-confiscate the one on Crow Canyon near Coldwater in Castro Valley. It reeks of pot through there. Thought it was skunk first-but 4 weeks later-the smell is still there.

I don't know how legalization will rid of the cartels. That's rather naive. They move to bigger things? Coke? Meth? Is pot illegal in Mexico? I am not a pot aficionado. I am bothered that JRM is more concerned over dog off leash than Mex druggie in Las Trampas. Seriously? Typical liberal.

Barbara-it's not that you aren't going to make friends-it's that you trivialize criminal activity. That shows a sign of ignorance or misunderstanding.

Signing off from Wonderland....

I am one of the extremely few people that hike off trail for considerable distances. I do a ton of local "back country" hikes and bikes, with many outdoor people of similar. And virtually no one walks off the established trail. That said, American, I find it highly doubtful, that a 50 foot off trail excursion, is really off trail exploring. Finding these things requires aggresive off trail hiking, where you don't care about the poison oak or the tons of obnoxious grass burrs that cut and destroy socks and shoe laces. Families are not making it a practice of hiking off trail. Heck I have taken my kids on many an off trail backcountry trip in the Sierra Nevada, where it is relative pleasant (read no poison oak and burrs) to do so, And here I have NEVER taken them off trail.

But that said, said, I find it disconcerting that they got in there. It will make me think twice about hiking off trail, but I typically only do it in the winter months after the rain has knocked down the thistles and obnoxious grasses.

My solution for sure is LEGALIZE MARIJUANA! But we are in such a hypocritical, religion fueled rightous society that they theistic blinded masses can't see practical solutions, only preachy moralistic bullkonkywonky!!!!!!

Barbara is correct...something is wrong with the math. 1,740 plants worth $250,000...hey folks that's only $144.00 per plant. A nice rose bush can cost you that much. At $1,300/oz they better do more math. Maybe the law removed 174 plants not 1,740 plants. OH well...Danville is finally getting into the the modern day. I wonder what those self appointed politician's plan to do now...

Julia from Alamo

Uhh not 1400 an ounce like 200 for mids 400 for tops. And I highly doubt they were growing tops outside...... Old people are so dumb why not just legalize it. I defy anyone to give me 2 good reasons that cannot be easily refuted.

Duuuuude!

First, there's the bad longterm effects on ur memory, and then second, there's, uh,....wait!....hunh....

Oh, yeah! Third is it makes you utter idiotic inter-generational generalizations like "Old people are so dumb..."