More Pot Than Ever! Hooray!

California's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) has torn up a record 1 million plants this year, some 400,000 more than the previous record, set last year. Attorney General Bill Lockyer celebrated the milestone as evidence of "outstanding interagency cooperation." It might also be evidence that marijuana gardens are getting bigger: With only a few months to go in the year, CAMP's 2005 catch so far includes 405 sites, compared to last year's total of 757. If grow operations are expanding in size, that's not exactly a sign of an industry on the run. And CAMP offers no evidence that its efforts have had an impact on retail prices, which presumably is the whole idea.

[Thanks to California NORML's Dale Gieringer for the tip.]

Comments

[thoreau]

A friend of mine from the UK said that there are interesting discrepancies when you compare numbers reported by different layers of the law enforcement bureaucracy. The amount initially reported seized always seems to be larger than the amount admitted into evidence, and the amount admitted into evidence always turns out to be larger than the amount finally destroyed.

No doubt it's simply a matter of faulty scales and bad accounting. No way could the pipeline be leaky. No sirree.

[thoreau]

BTW, some might wonder why I'm discounting the possibility of incompetence and inaccuracy: If incompetence and inaccuracy were the primary factors here, you'd expect some numbers to be erroneously high and other numbers to be erroneously low. But apparently the numbers always err in the same direction.

[ed]

Or it could be, in the case of marijuana, that as it dries it has less water and therefore less weight.

[thoreau]

So far this year, CAMP agents have eradicated 405 gardens, made 22 arrests and seized 58 weapons

405 gardens and only 22 employees found on-site at the time of the raids? And only 58 weapons between the on-site employees and weapons left behind by people who punched out? Highly expensive and illicit merchandise with hardly any armed guards?

A paranoid person might think that growers were paying insiders to tip them off in advance. But I'm sure it's simply a matter of black marketeers being the naive sort who leave their merchandise unguarded.

[Shelby]

It could also be Vietnam Body-Count Syndrome -- the closer you get to actually having bodies to count (presenting evidence, etc.) the more you find people up the chain have been "rounding up" to make their accomplishments more impressive.

[saw-whet]

For a long time many police agencies counted each plant siezed as a full grown female plant. Ten 8" high plants then becomes 2.5-5# of bud instead of some tiny fraction of an ounce. I wonder if they still do that. Crimethink?

[thoreau]

ed-

Good point. Worth pondering.

Shelby-

Whether it's a leaky pipeline or a fabricated report, it hardly speaks well of the authorities.

[SR]

No disrespect, thoreau, but that sounds way too much like an urban legend.

[thoreau]

SR-

I'll ask my friend for the source.

[thoreau]

I suggest that I shut up and read the original source before I embarass myself any further.

[Hakluyt]

SR,

Well, bureaucrats have been known to cook the books from time to time.

[Erik]

Price seems pretty much unaffected here in Hollywood. If anything, the Raich decision led to a lot of "rescues" from the collectives wherein private individuals are growing some relatively powerful hydroponic stuff that used to be used for chronic pain sufferers, lowering the price with a glut of higher-end goods.

Or so I hear.

[ChrisO]

Well I know that I, for one, feel safer knowing the evil dope-growers are in prison...

[It seemed funnier before I wro]

I eagerly await the point at which all this drug seizing and destruction raise the street price. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's those lousy poor folk getting stoned. They're already hella lazy even without the ganj.

[keith]

I thought marijuana was grown in the fertile fields and rolling green hills of the Middle East, and that purchasing it funded al Quaeda.

[scape]

In the 22-year history of the CAMP program leading up to this season, agents have eradicated over four million plants with an estimated wholesale value of more than $16 billion.

A 23-year "campaign"? I guess longevity is proof that it's working.

[Tymothi]

Well, San Diego prices have actually dropped slightly in the last 5 years, due to competition, I'm guessing. 1/8th of chronic is going for $50, as opposed to the $60 it was a few years ago.

Or so I have read.

[smacky]

Wow..this thread has "pot" in the title. The thread below it has "brownie" in the title. All we need now is a thread containing the words "cool ranch doritos" and we're good to go.

[smacky]

All we need now is a thread title containing the words "cool ranch doritos"

My bad. I'm tired and confused. And no, I haven't smoked or ingested any substances recently.

[SR]

"I suggest that I shut up and read the original source before I embarass myself any further."

Was that a preemptive strike against Hakluyt???

[bonez jonez]

This is gonna cause me to make s'mores in my toaster oven once I get home.

[Larry A]

And CAMP offers no evidence that its efforts have had an impact on retail prices, which presumably is the whole idea.

Actually the whole idea is to generate scary statistics to guarantee continued funding to provide stable employment for the valiant heros fighting the war on drugs for the children.

In the 22-year history of the CAMP program leading up to this season, agents have eradicated over four million plants with an estimated wholesale value of more than $16 billion.

Yea verily. CAMP is going to solve the problem of illegal MJ cultivation Any Day Now.

And are marijuana plants really worth $4,000.00 apiece wholesale? No wonder there's a steady supply.

[saw-whet]

Larry A - You beat me to it. $4000. Bullroar!

[saw-whet]

Actualy, that references a thread four posts up...
I'll just go back to, $4000/lb! Bullshit!

[Mr. Nice Guy]

When I get home every day after a long commute, it's almost always 4:20. Weird.

[Drug Czar John P. Walters]

Boo-yah! These numbers rock! Who wants to meet up after work for a celebratory cold one? We can talk about my plans for a new ad campaign warning youngsters about how pot-smoking causes meth mouth.

[Lowdog]

When the cops or whoever make a drug bust and say it was worth $5,000,000, what they're saying is if you sold all of it in dime bags (for instance, it depends on the drug), it would end up being worth $5,000,000.

[Cliff]

"In the 22-year history of the CAMP program leading up to this season, agents have eradicated over four million plants with an estimated wholesale value of more than $16 billion."

$16 billion, almost equals one year of funding for the prohibitionists.

[poco]

pot-smoking causes meth mouth

Well, it can dry out the mouth, which is not good for oral health (so drink water). But if it makes you grind your teeth, you got some bad shit.

[sage]

Folks, let's please keep something important in mind: It's NOT a war on drugs. It's a war on personal freedom. Fighting drugs is just a means to an end.