California's cash crop

From the Los Angeles Times:

Pot farms wreaking havoc on Northern California environment
EUREKA, Calif. � State scientists, grappling with an explosion of marijuana growing on the North Coast, recently studied aerial imagery of a small tributary of the Eel River, spawning grounds for endangered coho salmon and other threatened fish.

In the remote, 37-square-mile patch of forest, they counted 281 outdoor pot farms and 286 greenhouses, containing an estimated 20,000 plants � mostly fed by water diverted from creeks or a fork of the Eel. The scientists determined the farms were siphoning roughly 18 million gallons from the watershed every year, largely at the time when the salmon most need it.

More:

A study led by researchers at UC Davis found that a rare forest carnivore called a fisher was being poisoned in Humboldt County and near Yosemite in the Sierra Nevada.

The team concluded in its July report that the weasel-like animals were probably eating rodenticides that marijuana growers employ to keep animals from gnawing on their plants, or they were preying on smaller rodents that had consumed the deadly bait. Forty-six of 58 fisher carcasses the team analyzed had rat poison in their systems.

Mark Higley, a wildlife biologist on the Hoopa Indian Reservation in eastern Humboldt who worked on the study, is incredulous over the poisons that growers are bringing in.

"Carbofuran," he said. "It seems like they're using that to kill bears and things like that that raid their camps. So they mix it up with tuna or sardine, and the bears eat that and die."

The insecticide is lethal to humans in small doses, requires a special permit from the EPA and is banned in other countries. Authorities are now regularly finding it at large-scale operations in some of California's most sensitive ecosystems.

And the people doing this?

"I started talking to this guy, and he says he used to be an Earth First! tree-sitter, saving the trees," Bauer said. "I told him everything he was doing here negates everything he did as an environmentalist."

From brain-dead ninny to brain-dead ninny. Not surprised. More and more people are getting involved with growing so the price is dropping so growers have to plant more just to keep the cash coming in. Some of the grow-ops are large enough to be visible on Google Earth. People will rent houses for growing too -- an interesting bit of information:

A study in the journal Energy Policy calculated that indoor marijuana cultivation could be responsible for 9% of California's household electricity use.

I would be very surprised at 9% but would not be at 1% or 2%. A perfect case for legalization. Do it at the Federal level, and then let the states individually tax and regulate it. 10th Amendment style...