Jump to content

Marijauna plants


Recommended Posts

I definately would call the cops but I would also recomend that the cache be archived or moved. Whoever planted those plants could be dangerous and geocaching being a family sport, It could be dangerous for cachers to be going in there. Maybe I've seen too many movies. I know I and my young son wouldnt hunt for a cache in an area with drug activity.

 

icon_geocachingwa.gif

Link to comment

Of course, I would attempt to withdraw from the area in a safe manner. Slow and quiet if I had not been seen. Quickly if I have been seen. But, and this is where it gets sticky... who is with me and what is their condition? This would be one of those times I was glad I was licensed to and do carry a defensive weapon. Escape if you can, but defend yourself and those with you if you must.

 

As to notifying the cache owner, that would depend on how close it was to his cache, and how likely someone else would be to follow my route. Of course, safety first, but if the cache was 3 miles away, probably not. I do a lot more hiking than I do geocaching, so I do stumble on a lot of other things too.

 

Mike. Desert_Warrior (aka KD9KC).

El Paso, Texas.

 

Citizens of this land may own guns. Not to threaten their neighbors, but to ensure themselves of liberty and freedom.

 

They are not assault weapons anymore... they are HOMELAND DEFENSE WEAPONS!

Link to comment

I stumbled across several of these while caching the other day (along with a can of starter fluid):

GC7314a.jpg

I had my trusty Palm and PalmPix camera with me, so I snapped a few pictures, called a friend of mine who is a cop and he confirmed that it was definitely meth related materials. I emailed the pics to the cache owner and he took them to the cops the next morning. They had him lead them out to the cache site so they could investigate and he could pull his cache (he was very concerned about cachers and meth makers meeting up some night).

 

The cache was within 20 feet of the equipment. Either it was too dark when they were working or they were too stoned to notice the cache.

 

Keep your eyes open out there!

 

Bret

 

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.

When a man found it, he hid it again." Mt. 13:44

Link to comment

quote:
(he was very concerned about cachers and meth makers meeting up some night).

 

The cache was within 20 feet of the equipment. Either it was too dark when they were working or they were too stoned to notice the cache.

 

Keep your eyes open out there!

 

Bret

 


 

That is very scary and a situation I wouldn't even want to be near...good job on contacting the right people! You used to just have to worry about wild animals in the woods but not any more!

 

Darkmoon icon_eek.gif

 

All you have to do to fly is throw yourself at the ground and miss!

Link to comment

Is there anything to eat near the plants?

 

It really is one of those things that is up to the person. If you have a problem with it then report it. I would just leave it alone. Who knows what is around any cache? Just because you don't see it does not mean it is not there. In the end it is just not any of my business.

Link to comment

MYSELF ONLY, I BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE FOR AMERICA OR AGAINST AMERICA...As part of our County clean-up Committee,we come across meth lab dumps,and other type things as well,we are to use gloves to clean anything up,and report it so the right teams can do a Bio-Hazard clean up,this is getting way out of hand out here,they now have mobil labs and grow rooms.Take coordinates of the area and report them.

 

WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS *GEOTRYAGAIN* http://www.msnusers.com/MissouriTrails

Link to comment

MYSELF ONLY, I BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE FOR AMERICA OR AGAINST AMERICA...As part of our County clean-up Committee,we come across meth lab dumps,and other type things as well,we are to use gloves to clean anything up,and report it so the right teams can do a Bio-Hazard clean up,this is getting way out of hand out here,they now have mobil labs and grow rooms.Take coordinates of the area and report them.

 

WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS *GEOTRYAGAIN* http://www.msnusers.com/MissouriTrailsOOOOHHHH my gooooshhh what happened!!!!!!!!!!!!

Link to comment

If they looked like they were cultivated I would keep a very sharp eye out for booby traps and then get the heck out of there -- FAST!

 

And, no, I wouldn't report it. The drug war -- at least when applied to pot use -- does far more harm than the drugs themselves and I will have no part of it.

Link to comment

It seems to me that it shouldn't be horribly difficult for the OpenTopic software to perform a simple check when a post is submitted, to see if the last post in the thread exactly matches the post currently being submitted... simple.. fast... and would prevent duplicates.

 

Too bad I live on Mars, it'll take forever for this information to reach those who can make use of it.

Link to comment

Lyra can't even talk about the subject without it making his clicker finger twitchy, thus resulting in multiple posts. icon_wink.gif

 

Cache you later,

Planet

 

"You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will

give you a look that says, 'My God, you're right! I never would've thought of that!'" - Dave Barry

Link to comment

If you see marijuana plants, BE VERY DAMNED CAREFUL!

 

Growers who set up marijuana fields on public land almost ALWAYS booby-trap the surrounding area. Some of the popular tricks:

 

* Fish hooks hung from overhanging brush and leaves, that will catch foreheads, eyes, and ears.

 

* Razor blades embedded in small saplings and branches. Grab the branch and you're bleeding.

 

* Burmese tiger pits -- big holes, sharpened sticks in the bottom.

 

* Roofing nails, set upright so you'll run them into your foot.

 

* Trip wires at or near ground level. Sometimes they set off noisemakers, sometimes they trip traps.

 

* Shotguns with trip-wire triggers.

 

* Bear traps with sharpened jaws.

 

I have personally seen all of these in the Jefferson National Forest and the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Luckily I was with a State Police investigator each time, because if I hadn't known what to look for, most of them would have gotten me.

 

If you see marijuana plants, you're already inside the grower's "perimeter". The best thing to do is to retrace your EXACT footsteps, slowly and carefully, until you're out of the area. Then call the authorities at your first opporunity.

 

Most people have no idea how serious growers are about protecting their investments and avoiding the law. Some will kill, and make no mistake -- out in the middle of nowhere, you can simply disappear. Be alert. To be forewarned is to be forearmed, and now you're both. icon_smile.gif

 

--

Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

Link to comment

It's fun to joke about the finding of such plants and what we'd do, but I have to inject a short bit of reality. Such locations, if being cultivated on purpose, are usually highly booby trapped. You might think they might be so to keep law enforcement out but the most usual reason is to keep competitors and chance individuals from encroaching on their territory.

 

The booby traps are many and varied, anything the human imagination can come up with. During the hazardous devices technician course in Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama a few years ago, they set up a scenario where we had to approach just such a location and defeat any booby traps that were on site. This class was made up of city police officers, county sheriff's deputies, state police officers, FBI agents and ATF agents, all of whom were to be assigned to work in various bomb squads throughout the nation. We hailed from Texas, New York City, California, you name it, even Puerto Rico. This was a very competent and dedicated group.

 

The scenario was very trying and we were extremely careful as we went through it. It was a huge wooded area and the scenario had the added element that we were to also rescue a hostage that was being held by those cultivating the dope. We were able to make it all the way through the scenario without a single casualty, finding the "dope" and the location where the hostage was being held. We made it all the way till the instructors said we had completed the scenario and immediately the very next step taken by one of my fellow students set off a booby trap we had not found.

 

Of course, the booby traps they had made simply set off an explosion of a small peice of detonation cord suspended in a 50 gal drum nearby thus making a really loud noise, some concussion but no real damage done. We were quite surprised as we had let our guard down after being told we had gotten it right and then embarrased at having done so.

 

These were professionals working with knowledge given us by some of the most expert instructors available in the field. We still managed to mess up and in a simulated situation prove the point that anyone can get hurt in such an area. If you find yourself in a situation where you find illicit materials, whether a meth lab or some plants, back out the exact way you came in and get to a safe area. Report it immeidiately to get it taken care of so others who might stumble upon the area won't get hurt.

 

I know some of you will say that I'm being overly cautious but I must insist you should be the same. Our little sport is far too much fun to let it become tragic. I just want everyone to realize what can really be out there as I've run into it on operations several times since my training and used everything I knew to make sure my fellow officers were not harmed while simply doing their job. It IS out there, please be careful.

 

So far I have not run into such problems while Geocaching but with the number of caches, and the number of cache hunters, it will inevitably happen. Let's be careul out there. icon_smile.gif

 

"Trade up, trade even, or don't trade!!!" My philosophy of life.

Link to comment

I work extensively in Californias emerald triangle and Southern Oregon so I have found quite a few.

 

If you see it it's too late like others have mentioned. I have not found any Booby Trapped...yet.

 

There are two kinds of growers, Mexican Nationals and Locals. The locals will not grow on public lands, federal offense, if caught they would rather deal with the state. The locals have all but given up growing outdoors so I find far fewer than even five years ago. Too many pests 2,4 and 6 legged to deal with.

 

Mexican Nationals grow anywhere, and shoot first. So if stumble into one you may never know it, cause your dead. They are about the only ones left growing outdoors and so far I have never found any of thier plantations yet.

 

My view on it is leave it alone, if its a local grower they probably already have seen me and know where I am staying in town. I don't want to have my truck spontaniously combust or get sugar in the gas tank from turning them in. I'm trying to make a buck and so are they so we try to ignore each other. So far that works pretty well, they will even tell me if there could be any Booby Traps around and who to contact about them.

 

The Mexicans are bad news, they just shoot and I don't speak Spanish so it would be hard to negotiate.

 

The tip off for plantations in the area is the irrigation systems, they use black "funny pipe" to bring water out of a spring or creek sometimes 1000' or more. So if you find any fresh stuff there will be a plantation in the area. I picked up a good digital irrigation timer following some pipe already this winter, heh heh heh.

Link to comment

quote:
Originally posted by ScottJ:

Growers who set up marijuana fields on public land almost ALWAYS booby-trap the surrounding area. Some of the popular tricks:

 

* Fish hooks

 

* Razor blades

 

* Burmese tiger pits

 

* Roofing nails

 

* Trip wires

 

* Shotguns

 

* Bear traps


Er... This just sounds like a myth to me. How come I've never heard of anyone being mysteriously shot while out in the woods, where the authorities later traced it to a trip wire hooked to the trigger? And I don't think I've ever seen a story about a guy who had fallen into pit full of spikes.

 

Maybe these tactics have been used, but I would hardly say "ALWAYS."

 

Me.. I wouldn't even know a marijuana plant if I saw it. icon_eek.gif I imagine marijuana just grows naturally anyway, right? I mean, someone didn't invent it.

 

Jamie

Link to comment

I've seen plants in the woods, not once have I ever run across any kind of traps!"I'm sure there out there" I have never run to the offcials ethier, personally its not my buisness! I don't smoke it , but i'm not against it ethier, hey if they would let these people grow at home, we wouldn't have to worry, now would we?

 

See you in the woods!

Natureboy1376

Link to comment

quote:
Originally posted by Jamie Z:

Me.. I wouldn't even know a marijuana plant if I saw it. icon_eek.gif I imagine marijuana just grows naturally anyway, right? I mean, someone didn't _invent_ it.


 

Actually, marijuana was created by the DuPont Corporation in 1904, and was legal until William Randolph Hurst (newspaper and lumber tycoon) successfully lobbied congress to act.

Link to comment

quote:
Originally posted by Jamie Z:

Er... This just sounds like a myth to me. How come I've never heard of anyone being mysteriously _shot_ while out in the woods, where the authorities later traced it to a trip wire hooked to the trigger? And I don't think I've ever seen a story about a guy who had fallen into pit full of spikes.


 

I don't post myths. As I have said, I've seen these things, during trips with a state police investigator, checking out these fields after they were spotted by helicopter.

 

The fact that you haven't seen them, or heard about them, is no reason not to mention them, and to urge folks to use caution in such situations.

 

Some useful, non-mythical links:

 

http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs2/2580/marijuan.htm

 

http://www.onlinepoliceacademy.org/Pages_from_boobytrapsm.pdf

 

http://pub69.ezboard.com/fmichigansoutdoorforumsfrm24.showMessage?topicID=14.topic

 

--

Scott Johnson (ScottJ)

Link to comment

>>>>>If they appear to be planted, yes, report them.

 

But here in Nebraska, it would be very common to come across marijuana growing wild. I suppose technically, the wild stuff could be reported, but I bet that if it wasn't right by the side of the road or something that it would be ignored.>>>

 

Hmm. This is a curious view.

IS weed a bed thing? If so, then growing wild is as bad as planted. That needs to be reported also, wouldn't you think? Otherwise it looks like you might just want to get someone in trouble because they planted it.

 

This has what we have become in this war on drugs, which has been lost now for a long time.

You might want to ask the same thing about geocaches, as it seems some poeple have a view of reporting them if they run across them. Many places they are illegal.

Marijuana patches and geocaches are perhaps more similiar than we'd like to admit.

Link to comment

quote:
Originally posted by Mr. Snazz:

Actually, marijuana was created by the DuPont Corporation in 1904, and was legal until William Randolph Hurst (newspaper and lumber tycoon) successfully lobbied congress to act.


 

Do you have a link to anymore info on that? I've never heard that.

 

The great question...which I have not been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is "What does a woman want?" --Freud

Link to comment

I guess my point was simply that here if someone called to say they found a bunch of ditch weed growing wild, the police would likely politely thank them and never bother with it or maybe would get around to going out and burning it sometime later. It would depend on how busy they were. The stuff simply grows all over the place out here. Part of the limited concern is also that the wild kind doesn't have the potency of the cultivated kind. Thus, you don't see people trying to harvest the ditch weed much here (although occasionally some idiot tries that and gets arrested).

 

So, if it is cultivated, I view it as bad since a clearly illegal activity is going on. If it is wild, I probably wouldn't bother. Although I did pull it up and throw it out the one time it popped up in my yard!

 

pokeanim3.gif

Link to comment

quote:
Originally posted by carleenp:

If they appear to be planted, yes, report them.

 

But here in Nebraska, it would be very common to come across marijuana growing wild. I suppose technically, the wild stuff could be reported, but I bet that if it wasn't right by the side of the road or something that it would be ignored.

 

http://outbreakcorp.hypermart.net/animation/pokemon/pokeanim3.gif


Yup. Seen a number of plants along the path to some caches and on other hikes.

 

By appointment to the Court of HRM Queen Mikki I.

Link to comment

quote:
Originally posted by carleenp:

Part of the limited concern is also that the wild kind doesn't have the potency of the cultivated kind. Thus, you don't see people trying to harvest the ditch weed much here (although occasionally some idiot tries that and gets arrested).


 

Now stop that! In these tough budget times, we want non-natives to come to the pot fields and pick, we need the fines. Many a small high school have band uniforms and computer labs paid for by drug dealers trying to pick the ditch weed.

 

Read the "Nebraskans Talking to Strangers" memo (page 12A), when talking to national audiences, we are supposed to say that ditch weed is super potent, you can get high just by looking at it. Pick as much as you can...

 

(THIS IS A JOKE....in case you couldn't figure it out.)

 

By appointment to the Court of HRM Queen Mikki I.

Link to comment

 

Actually, marijuana was created by the DuPont Corporation in 1904, and was legal until William Randolph Hurst (newspaper and lumber tycoon) successfully lobbied congress to act.

 

Marijuana was certainly not invented!... maybe you were joking? DuPont and Hearst had interest in keeping trees (pulp and paper) in business. Hemp was about to overtake paper so they lobbied to get it banned.

 

Marijuana has been written about in many languages for thousands of years.

 

Marijuana is only dangerous because it is illegal- and people are taking risks to grow it. If you stumble across it you become another "risk" to them. Still, I wouldn't report it unless there were lots of plants and they were near to the actual cache.

 

I did find a crack pipe at a cache once but found it is a place already well known to the police.

Link to comment

quote:
Originally posted by sherk:

Marijuana was certainly not invented!... maybe you were joking? DuPont and Hearst had interest in keeping trees (pulp and paper) in business. Hemp was about to overtake paper so they lobbied to get it banned.


 

That's exactly what LaRouche and his Duck Club would like to have you believe! The truth is that hemp didn't exist until DuPont created it. To avoid massive lawsuits, DuPont and its Secret Chief board of directors have rewritten history books over the past 80 years.

Link to comment

quote:
Now stop that! In these tough budget times, we want non-natives to come to the pot fields and pick, we need the fines. Many a small high school have band uniforms and computer labs paid for by drug dealers trying to pick the ditch weed.

 

Read the "Nebraskans Talking to Strangers" memo (page 12A), when talking to national audiences, we are supposed to say that ditch weed is super potent, you can get high just by looking at it. Pick as much as you can...


 

Oh yeah.... I forgot about that memo!

 

pokeanim3.gif

Link to comment

Ditchweed is common throughout the Midwest. It is basically a form of wild hemp plant. It has so little THC (the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana) you would have to smoke a few acres to even get a buzz.

 

Cannabis is native to the Middle East, but has been hybridized and cross-bred over the centuries to enhance potency. The current varieties grown illegally in North America have about double the THC content as the stuff on the street in the 1970's. An increasing amount is showing up genetically modified. It seems Dupont is not the only ones creating GMO's (...Frankendope?...).

 

Regardless about how feels about the issue, illegal gardens are major environmental problems. Growers poison wildlife around the garden (deer love to nibble on buds) and use massive quantities of herbicides and pesticides. The runoff just goes downhill into the local stream. In California illegal gardens have been linked to suspicious localized fish dieoffs in streams. Some garden seizures have contained so much pesticide absorbed into the plant they were could not be burned in incinerators (the usual method of disposal). They had to be hauled to a hazardous waste facility. Booby traps seem to be less common as they once were as growers adapted to increasing law enforcement pressure. Large mega-gardens have been replaced by numerous small plots and many small plots are too difficult and not worth the effort to booby trap.

 

The old Hearst rumor has been floating around the pro-marijuana web sites for some time. It is just an old urban legend. Hearst owned hemp plantations himself and lost money when made illegal. Anyway, current marijuana varieties have so much resin they are unsuitable as a fiber source. Commercial quality hemp must have low resin content to be turned into fiber. Hemp has been researched as a fiber source for many years. It has some uses but will not replace wood fiber in most modern applications.

 

========================================

Friends don't let Friends geocache drunk.

Link to comment

Er... This just sounds like a myth to me

 

Actually, it's not a myth. I have seen such devious type devices. I also had to once sit out in the middle of the woods for about 12 hours waiting for a crop's owner to come-by for a visit. He did come to check out his plants and then went to jail icon_smile.gif

 

Jeff

http://www.StarsFellOnAlabama.com

http://www.NotAChance.com

If you hide it, they will come....

Link to comment

None of this would happen if weed were decriminalized.

 

Yes, it would. There would still be those growers who would not want to pay the taxes that, most likely, would be imposed on legal marijuana. These growers would continue to set traps in their fields to hurt, maim or kill tax-agents or thiefs from getting their crops.

 

Jeff

http://www.StarsFellOnAlabama.com

http://www.NotAChance.com

If you hide it, they will come....

Link to comment

quote:
None of this would happen if weed were decriminalized.

 

Yes, it would. There would still be those growers who would not want to pay the taxes that, most likely, would be imposed on legal marijuana. These growers would continue to set traps in their fields to hurt, maim or kill tax-agents or thiefs from getting their crops.

 

Jeff

http://www.StarsFellOnAlabama.com

http://www.NotAChance.com

If you hide it, they will come....


 

As unfortunate as it is, there will always be criminals out there.

 

IMHO however, their numbers would drop dramatically with decriminalizing the stuff, don't you think? And that, in my book, would be a victory.

 

How often do you hear about rogue tobacco growers, rogue booze distilleries, etc... trying to evade taxes by setting booby traps?

 

I certainly never have. I believe that the same would apply to marijuana. In the large majority of cases, it would just be more profitable to work with the government than against it.

 

A cache a day keeps the blues away...

Link to comment

How often do you hear about rogue tobacco growers, rogue booze distilleries, etc... trying to evade taxes by setting booby traps?

 

In this part of the country, there are many rogue distilleries and many are guarded by some nasty folks with shotguns icon_smile.gif

 

Actually, even though I am against the legalization of marijuana, I will agree with a lot of what you have stated. However, I still feel that, if legalized, there would still be criminal growers who would gaurd their crops and wouldn't think twice about hurting or killing you to keep their crops from being destroyed.

 

I didn't want to debate the legal vs illegal aspects but rather just state my opinion that these crops could still be dangerous, even if the actual commodity was legalized. Happy caching!

 

Jeff

http://www.StarsFellOnAlabama.com

http://www.NotAChance.com

If you hide it, they will come....

Link to comment

quote:
Originally posted by Mr. Snazz:

That's exactly what LaRouche and his Duck Club would like to have you believe! The truth is that hemp didn't exist until DuPont created it. To avoid massive lawsuits, DuPont and its Secret Chief board of directors have rewritten history books over the past 80 years.


 

I do believe you are confused Mr. Snazz.. I guess you're another one of those hidden conspiracy believers.. Ya know.. reading that sort of stuff makes ya paranoid!

 

Marijuana was invented by GOD (Or whichever creator you believe in) not by Dupont. It is exactly what one of it's common nicknames is "Weed" It's been here since the beginning of time and will continue to grow wherever it's allowed.

 

Hemp is Pot, yes that is true but it is a hybrid. A like family member, but not the same. Like a Poodle and a Doberman. They are both dogs but obviously theres a differece. In fact if you smoke hemp, you're likely to cough your head off but smoke all you want you wont get high on real hemp. The toxins (THC) has been removed in the process of naturally becoming a hybrid. It was not used often for making paper it's fiber is too coarse, and besides it would take an entire crop of plants to make a few sheets. Hemp was however used for making rope, burlap type bags, and other woven textiles that needed a heavy and coarse fiber for strength. Several entrepreneurs through out history tried to ban hemp because it was a threat to their industry. But none of them invented it!

 

Usually hemp is also a lighter green than Marijuana, when it dries it dries brown. Pot is a dark green, almost a color of its own which is why crops are easily spotted from the air amongst other vegetation. It also dries dark green. Not to mention it requires allot of sunlight. Thus, growing it in an area with allot of overhead foliage it will not grow, if it does it will not develop properly.

 

I have never run across a crop of Mary Jane. Chances are if I did I'd start walking the other way and fast.

 

Oh B.T.W. If you own a bird, especialy a Parrot chances are you've got Marijuana seeds in your house right now! Part of a Parrot familys primary diet concists of Pot seeds.. Of course it's probably been baked, thus loosing its ability to germinate but its still there! Take a look at your bird seed.. Notice those bluish/grey ball bearing looking seeds.. Yup.. That's Pot..

 

Randall J. Berry

davros@mdgps.net

MicroLogo.jpg

 

www.mdgps.net

 

[This message was edited by Davros on February 11, 2003 at 02:00 AM.]

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...