Only in Missoula, Montana

RockyDog- There's been a problem in the Bitteroot for many years before medical marijuana was ever around. I know quite a few people who went to stevi and hamilton. Two quit school because of the drug use and bullying by other students and started home school. Their parents decided since they couldn't change the "school culture", they would change the school their kids went to. The problem has little to do with medical marijuana and a lot to do with parents not being involved. I personally voted against the medical marijuana law as I believe there were other alternatives that were just as good. However, I don't blame that law for kids smoking pot at school...
 
Maybe our justice system is telling us something. Either shit or get off the pot! Legalize it or tighten up enforcement. I could care less.
 
Sad state of affairs in this country and in my home state of Montana, when the potential jurors are excused because it was "just a little pot" and they couldn't convict for that. It wasn't legal, it's just that simple.
 
Archive for Tuesday, October 19, 2010
$10M in marijuana plants destroyed
By Alexis Bechman

October 19, 2010
If only Gila County could sell the marijuana it seizes at illegal Payson-area pot patches to California dispensaries, the nearly $10 million worth of marijuana destroyed in the last month could have helped our state budget woes.

In the past year, the Gila County Sheriff’s Office Drug, Gang and Violent Crimes Task Force, in connection with the U.S. Forest Service, has destroyed more than $23 million in marijuana plants at eight marijuana farms.

The grow sites were discovered and reported solely by concerned citizens, said a detective with the task force, who asked to remain anonymous given the sensitivity of his work.

Police conducted the most recent raids on Sept. 17, Sept. 29 and Oct. 7, in remote areas surrounding Payson. An estimated 7,748 plants weighing 11,622 pounds were destroyed, and three illegal immigrants were taken into custody. An investigation remains ongoing.


Photo courtesy of Gila County Task Force

Campsites like this one are commonly found at marijuana farms. This one was found near Globe in mid-August. Gila County has more grow sites than any other area in Arizona, according to detectives with the task force.
“The grow sites ranged from the Mogollon Rim to the Mazatzal Rim, the Mt. Ord area to the Sierra Anchas,” the detective said.

As in past years, all of the sites were grown and harvested by illegal immigrants working for drug cartels in Mexico. Investigators believe the weed was grown for distribution in and around the country.

The most recent raid, on Oct. 7, hit a 1,677- plant site in Deer Creek.

The detective said the garden was in such a remote area of the Rim that only an extreme hiker could reach it.

Unfortunately, no one was at the site when officers arrived. Often the sites are deserted before officers can move in. Other times, sites are reopened after investigators have come in and destroyed everything.

The detective said it is hard to tell where the next grow site will sprout, since some are miles into the woods while others sit just off the road.

“They are typically in remote, rugged areas,” he said.
 
I don't think the original question was whether pot should be legal or not, but the response of the prospective jurors who were willing to ignore the law and find the defendant not guilty simply because they don't agree with the law.

A few years back now, the wife and I went to Montana to shop for a vacation home in the Lewistown area. We made a pit stop in Missoula. Now, my wife went to college at the Univ. of Oregon in Eugene. Eugene is a major liberal, hippie, anything goes type town. So, here we are driving around the main drag of Missoula looking for a place to eat or an art gallery or something to give us an opportunity to get out and stretch. After observing the goings on for a few minutes the wife remarked, "We aren't in Montana, we're in Eugene". She was right. Not a cowboy hat in sight. Hmmm. We try not to stop in Missoula any more.
 
Back
Top