Mexican traffickers grow pot in U.S. national forests

Marijuana farms linked to Mexico have been found in 67 national forests across 20 U.S. states

Topics: The Fix, Mexico, marijuana, Drugs, California,

Mexican traffickers grow pot in U.S. national forests (Credit: Reuters/Cliff DesPeaux)
This article originally appeared on The Fix.

the fixMexico’s drug traffickers are continuing to expand their marijuana operations, by stepping up cultivation of the plant in national forests across the US. According to a report by USA Today‘s Judy Keen, traffickers are increasingly planting illicit crops on public land, at the detriment of the natural habitat, while creating risks for hunters and other parkgoers. The practice has been documented as far back as the mid-1990s, but it has now spread to 67 national forests in 20 states. David Ferrell, the Forest Service’s law enforcement and investigations director, says that undocumented immigrants tended 1,607 cultivation sites in national forests between 2005-2010. “It’s a growing problem—literally,” says Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen. “They’re finding that it’s easier and easier…to grow within this country.” Federal officials are now starting to crack down on the problem. Last August, Operation Mountain Sweep targeted public lands in seven Western states including California, eradicating 578,000 marijuana plants with a street value of $1 billion. Benjamin Wagner, the US attorney for the Eastern District of California, confirms that most of those arrested were “illegal aliens from Mexico or people here of Mexican extraction.” The problem isn’t confined to the green West coast: a raid this past August of Wisconsin’s Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest resulted in the seizure of more than 8,000 marijuana plants and seven arrests, at least six of which were tied to Mexico. Mass seizures of marijuana plants in national forests have also been reported in Ohio and Michigan.

Next Article

Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
    Reuters/Jason Reed

  • Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
    AP/A.M. Ahad

  • Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
    AP/Elise Amendola

  • Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
    AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani

  • Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
    AP/Manish Swarup

  • Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
    AP/Jeff Roberson

  • Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
    AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel

  • Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
    AP/Liu Yinghua

  • On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
    AP/Rogelio V. Solis

  • The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
    AP/David J. Phillip

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Comments

8 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>