Huge California Wildfire Caused By Marijuana Farm; Suspects At Large In Forest

Los Angeles Times:

A fire that has burned more than 75,000 acres in Santa Barbara County over the last week was started in an illegal marijuana growing area operated by a Mexican drug organization, authorities said.

Authorities said they confirmed that the blaze, which is burning out of control, started in a cooking area of the pot farm. They believe those responsible are still in the forest area trying leave the forest by foot.

Read the whole story: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[cegrover]

10:55 AM on 08/19/2009

The "war on drugs" caused this fire - plain and simple. More power to those who conveniently blame cartels when legalization is getting attention. Their plan for backfire.

[proudloudlib]

10:16 PM on 08/17/2009

If it was legal we could put the Mexican drug cartels out of business, or close to it. No more sneaking around the forests! Know who wants to keep it illegal? Drug dealers, DEA, narcs and prosecutors!

[abouttime]

10:02 PM on 08/17/2009

Pure propaganda!

[dumbosrus]

09:55 PM on 08/17/2009

Why is it that every single year we hear about California's forests burning down?

What's the fascination with fire out there?

[rf dude]

10:22 PM on 08/17/2009

It's what we do between Earthquakes to punish Mother Earth...
--

[dumbosrus]

09:50 PM on 08/17/2009

This is almost too funny to stop laughing.

Sorry all you 'legalizing pot is a moral obligation' crowd. This approach isn't going to work either.

I can see it now; Legalize Pot, save the rain fore.........er, I mean our forests.

Just go hunt the people down that are responsible and get on with life.......

[FRobert]

01:18 AM on 08/18/2009

You assume, of course, that law enforcement officers and agents haven't been hunting "the people down" for forty years.

[research]

07:08 PM on 08/24/2009

The DEA burns pot fields....

[DontJustFollow]

09:07 PM on 08/17/2009

another problem caused by open boarders - - -

[FRobert]

01:07 AM on 08/18/2009

Actually, it was tighter border controls that made this situation worse. It became too expensive to smuggle marijuana from Mexico into the United States so the cartels started planting on a large scale in the Sierras and the Coastal Range.

[CitizenIndie]

08:58 PM on 08/17/2009

Huge fire started by marijuana farm...

...JUST about the time legalization is getting serious consideration.

Such a wonderful coincidence to show how dangerous it "really is".


"Not only does it lower your sperm count; marijuana causes forest fires!" -Republican advertisement.

[KSloan]

08:49 PM on 08/17/2009

If you are going to burn the 'kind'...don't burn it like that.

Legalize it~

[FRobert]

08:31 PM on 08/17/2009

The people who work in the illegal grow sites use propane stoves often supplied by 5-gallon or larger tanks. The cooking area is almost always concealed by branches laid overhead to make it harder to spot from the air. Any flareup in a pot on the stove can lead to fire. The grow sites are usually on steep terrain and the fire quickly spreads up the mountain. The firefighters have an amazingly tough job.

[yankeetwo]

09:26 PM on 08/17/2009

Right, then they should support legalization, so that growers won't be obliged to plant out in the wilderness. If pot were legal, this would not have happened. Prohibition was the real cause of this fire. Legalize pot so that growers can operate legally, in the open! This is a lifestyle, and a freedom issue! Legalize it, and most of the problems will vanish like smoke on the wind.

[iblogleft]

09:53 PM on 08/17/2009

Bingo, we have a winner. The real cause was prohibition.

[FRobert]

12:44 AM on 08/18/2009

I agree.

[AZAFVET]

08:24 PM on 08/17/2009

I just want to hang around it an inhale!!!

[FRobert]

08:41 PM on 08/17/2009

The marijuana burned in these fires is not cured. The smoke from the plant will also be overwhelmed by the other products of the fire. In addition, plastics and chemicals and garbage from the sites will add nasty chemicals to the overall smoke cloud. So, don't inhale.

[DontJustFollow]

09:08 PM on 08/17/2009

make like President Clinton

[lletaa]

08:21 PM on 08/17/2009

Oh yes, another danger of the devil weed. Its not only a gateway drug, and so much stronger today that just one puff will turn you into a zombie, but now it can be linked to pyromania. I can see the headlines now, POT SMOKING LINKED TO SPONTANEOUS HUMAN COMBUSTION.

[GeoNorth]

07:49 PM on 08/17/2009

It's not the pot that started this fire. It was people who were attempting to work a lucrative black market caused by a ridiculous prohibitionAs far back as the 60's, I heard some say that So'n'so was arrested for pot. He's ruined his life. No, it wasn't the pot, it was the laws.

If Cannibis were legal, illegal aliens would not find a market to grow in hiding in this country. They would grow at home and compete with the American market for the sacred herb. Legalize now.

[pissedmichael]

07:38 PM on 08/17/2009

Great. Another 'benefit' derived from the touted 'War on Drugs.' Legalize pot already. If it was, this would never have happened and a precious resource could have been saved. Don't forget the millions the state and Fed is spending to put this fire out.

[martinchill]

07:15 PM on 08/17/2009

it's called 'marijuana' because Du Pont and William Randolph Hearst demonized cannabis. Hearst hated Mexicans and wanted a legal cause for deporting them back to Mexico, and Du Pont... well, look into the story of Plastic sometime.

hemp was happening after Du Pont.

anyway - call it cannabis, folks.

[martinchill]

07:34 PM on 08/17/2009

^hemp was NOT happening after Du Pont^

[lletaa]

08:24 PM on 08/17/2009

Your correct about Mr Hearst and Du Pont. Its a classic case of super rich people with nothing to do.

[ranch111]

07:05 PM on 08/17/2009

If it were legal, this would not have happened.

[dennisrs]

08:05 PM on 08/17/2009

Ii still could some Stonner smokes to much while camping fall over with a lit joint then poof another forest fire.

[martinchill]

10:13 PM on 08/17/2009

"Ii still could some Stonner smokes to much while camping fall over with a lit joint then poof another forest fire."

stoned, drunk - or stone cold sober? takes all kinds.