Stumbling across illegal plants.

[slopitch]

I think I stumble across an illegal fish. Imagine the things that went through my mind as I thought about;

who's watching, why is it here hiding under this cardboard in a ditch, should I touch it, should I report it, take a picture. I thought what a cool place to place a cache except the FTF may not like the geocache memo he finds in the belly and it would have probably been moved by the time I got to log the coords.

Any way, to some people, catching fish illegally is how they beat the system like people who grow pot...

except there isn't a big payout for illegally caught fish - nevermind.

I have heard that fish is pretty good too when you smoke it!! HAHA.

[ErinTheGreat]

-Take a waypoint

-Report it IMMEDIATELY to me

-I'll go smoke it all up so no one has to worry about it anymore

[Mag Magician]

<snip>.... But why the heck it's illegal I don't know.

 

If you want to study the war on drugs, it all started when Mexicans were bringing pot over the border for their own use in the late 40's, early 50's. Way back then, illegal immigration was a big concern to the U.S. government, and the importation of marijuana was being related to the migration. It was an easy target for the D.E.A. and quite readily accepted by the general population. Result? An overall war on anything related to Mexican immigration, legally or not.

 

JMHO, based on history lessons learned in school.

 

Oops, off topic, sorry!

Edited June 23, 2008 by Team Magic

[Mushtang]

<snip>.... But why the heck it's illegal I don't know.

 

If you want to study the war on drugs, it all started when Mexicans were bringing pot over the border for their own use in the late 40's, early 50's. Way back then, illegal immigration was a big concern to the U.S. government, and the importation of marijuana was being related to the migration. It was an easy target for the D.E.A. and quite readily accepted by the general population. Result? An overall war on anything related to Mexican immigration, legally or not.

 

JMHO, based on history lessons learned in school.

 

Oops, off topic, sorry!

 

It's too bad they don't also teach lessons on humor in school.

[+Radnord]

Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand...

Ah, yes, can't beat the wisdom of Neil Peart.

 

Back on topic... Run like hell, it's probably being guarded!

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

I know that in the past I have tended to pooh-pooh over-concern about the possibility of encountering marijuana farms in the middle of forests, and it is true that I have never encountered any such things during my caching outings nor during my research field trips, but this recent article (October 11, 2008) from the Associated Press, which I have just stumbled across, does illustrate that the problem seems to indeed be very real in certain national forests.

[+Clarkbowman]

This is getting to be an interesting debate between the "Letter of the law" faction, and the "Leave it be" faction. Let's not forget the "I used to get high" faction.

 

As for the OP, the question was, "What would you do?". Personally, I would gather a few and leave quietly.

 

Has anyone looked up the statistics on innocent people being killed or injured as a result of stumbling upon a growing op? ...........................I thought not.

 

Well, at least it's American made pot, and not imported. That foreign stuff hurts the economy. I'd hate to interfere with an ambitious start-up business like that.

.. And you never know how defensive (or offensive) a grower might be if he caught you around his plants. What would you do?

Offer them any munchies you may have. Trail food, chocolate bars and peanut butter cups works well.

 

Just found this thread, LOL most here seem to be taking the HIGH road. When most have probly been HIGH several times in thier lives. As for me "Personally, I would gather a few and leave quietly. " I would be temped to take a back pack full dry it and make sure it was not ditch weed first. Then I would decide what to do., well maybe after another trip

You all should face the truth and spill the real beans, rather then take the low road and tell a story.

[+Star*Hopper]

JFTR, it's not a "War On Drugs" .... it's a war on personal freedoms.

(& I'm w/Erin.)

 

TJBM.

~*

[+stargazer21]

 

I have heard that fish is pretty good too when you smoke it!! HAHA.

 

Yeah,but it's hard to keep them lit.

 

What would I do if I found a little farm? Probably mark a waypoint, then eventually make my way home to log the cache with a FTF (Forgot to Find).

 

(PSA...Kids, don't do drugs...)

[+BuxCamper]

A few tips I've received in my training as a park volunteer.

 

1. Don't touch anything and leave the area quickly by retracing the route you used to enter the area. You never know if the growers may have set traps or tripwires and you happened to miss them on the way in.

2. Take a fast waypoint if you can.

3. Once someplace safe, notify the law enforcement agency responsible for the area. Tell them what you saw and the coords. You can make the report anonymously if you want but I wouldn't worry about being a suspect. How many criminals report their own activity to the cops?

 

Ignoring the situation or pretending you didn't see it is a cop out. It's my public land as well and I shouldn't be afraid to use certain parts of it.

 

Even without reading this, it is exactly what I did when I found a pot plant on the way to a cache. Though I did meet with a state trooper and lead him back to the plant. He confiscated it but admitted there was little they could do to find the culprit.

 

If we do nothing, the criminals win.

[jhorus]

This may have been mentioned, but up where I grew up in Nebraska, often times you'd find what's called "ditch weed". No one's growing it, and you can't even get high off of it. (I've tried, you just get an annoying head-ache...)

 

You're supposed to call the County Extension Office if you find it and they'll send out a sheriff deputy to destroy it. If it's on your property you're supposed to destroy it yourself, but if it's growing in a part of your property you never visit (say some inaccessible part of a river or something), sometimes it's easily missed.

[+Coyote's Girl]

The reason they call it "weed" is it's a weed. Unless it was growing in rows with trestles or tomato cages I wouldn't worry to hard on it. It grows wild all around here. I even got a picture of some while I was out with my geology class way back in high school. S'no big deal. Probably not enough thc in the lot to do anyone much harm.

[+Vinny & Sue Team]

The reason they call it "weed" is it's a weed. Unless it was growing in rows with trestles or tomato cages I wouldn't worry to hard on it. It grows wild all around here. I even got a picture of some while I was out with my geology class way back in high school. S'no big deal. Probably not enough thc in the lot to do anyone much harm.

I agree. The purpose of my recent post was simply to draw attention to the fact that there are very large-scale growing farms -- which also use lots of dangerous toxic chemicals which pollute the wilderness -- located inside some national forests, and that these are operated by large Mexican drug cartels. If I encountered one of these, I would report its location in a heartbeat, for a number of very good reasons.