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Civil Liberties

Feds Destroy $1 Billion in Pot to Celebrate Final Season of Weeds!

Nick Gillespie | 8.22.2012 2:00 PM

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Well, not exactly. I mean, there's no Weeds tie-in.

Under the watchful eye of a president who once mastered the mystic art of "Total Absorption" (deep breathing while smoking dope), federal agents have recently completed the godawfully named Operation Mountain Sweep.

Take it away, CNN:

More than $1 billion worth of marijuana has been uprooted from federal lands during a two-month operation targeting illegal pot farms, federal authorities announced Tuesday.

Operation Mountain Sweep has resulted in the destruction of  578,000 marijuana plants, Benjamin B. Wagner, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, said in a press release.

The operation, involving agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as well as local agencies,  targeted growing sites on public lands in seven Western states –Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington.

Operation Mountain Sweep? Was Operation Wacky-Tobacky already taken? It's bad enough that this sort of shit happens, but can't the government at least put a little thought into the stupid names it uses? A whopping 14 people in California have been indicted which is like, wow, man, a really sharp use of scarce tax dollars.

But you know, it's not just about the reefer, CNN reminds us. There are other casualties when folks grow pot in state and federal parks:

Besides producing an illegal crop, the pot farms can do long-term damage to public lands by destroying trees and vegetation, introducing chemicals and pesticides, diverting water sources, and generating large amounts of trash.

Whole thing here, courtesy of Twitter feed of Roland Martin.

Now more than ever, legalize pot - a.k.a. "the Hula Hoop of the Jet Generation"! - already. Click below for details and a background track that will send your spirits soaring.

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NEXT: Bath Salts Face Off

Nick Gillespie is an editor at large at Reason and host of The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie.

Civil LibertiesCultureWar on DrugsMarijuanaPoliceDrug PolicyDrugs
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