{"id":602,"date":"2012-08-23T07:16:19","date_gmt":"2012-08-23T07:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/?p=19656"},"modified":"2012-08-23T07:16:19","modified_gmt":"2012-08-23T07:16:19","slug":"us-government-burns-through-more-than-one-billion-dollars-in-recent-marijuana-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/us-government-burns-through-more-than-one-billion-dollars-in-recent-marijuana-crackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"US Government Burns Through More Than One Billion Dollars in Recent Marijuana Crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/us-government-burns-through-more-than-one-billion-dollars-in-recent-marijuana-crackdown\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"468\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/government-burning-marijuana.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"government burning marijuana\" title=\"government burning marijuana\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-19657\" href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/news-and-articles\/us-government-burns-through-more-than-one-billion-dollars-in-recent-marijuana-crackdown\/attachment\/government-burning-marijuana\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-19657\" title=\"government burning marijuana\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/government-burning-marijuana-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>Over the past year, the federal government has intensified its anti-marijuana crusade.\u00a0 Analysts are unsure of the exact reasons, especially as it seemed tolerance was in the air when <a href=\"http:\/\/www.barackobama.com\/obama-for-america-2012-campaign?source=om2012_LB_G_hd-NewYork-search_president-obama-exact_&amp;omtype=ovf&amp;subsource=mkwid|J1ISM8lk|kw|president%20obama|matchtype|e|pcrid|24477486451|pl||&amp;gclid=CPuD--GJ_LECFYFo4AoduQkAdg\" target=\"_blank\">President Obama<\/a> was elected.\u00a0 Starting last fall, federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries were carried out in several states including California, Montana, and Colorado.\u00a0 However, burning through marijuana this way may just show how out of touch our elected officials with the wishes of the average American.<\/p>\n<p>However, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.justice.gov\/dea\/\" target=\"_blank\">DEA<\/a> reported this week that they have destroyed well over 1 billion dollars worth of marijuana since launching an intense effort on July 1<sup>st<\/sup>.\u00a0 The popular news site <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rawstory.com\/rs\/2012\/08\/21\/dea-uproots-over-578000-cannabis-plants-in-national-parks\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cThe Raw Story\u201d<\/a> said that, according to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.justice.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\">Justice Department<\/a> \u201cFederal, state and local law enforcement in the seven states have eradicated more than 578,000 marijuana plants from public lands. The DEA estimates the value of this marijuana to be well over $1 billion.\u201d\u00a0 Over 80% of the plants destroyed by the government were located in California.<\/p>\n<p>Sending out huge teams to search, locate, and terminate the plants does not come without cost.\u00a0 No one has confirmed just how much the recent effort is costing taxpayers.\u00a0 There are understandable reasons as to why the government would go after the grows (other than just pursuing their outdated policies on marijuana).\u00a0 The Department of Justice said they removed \u201cHuge amounts of trash, miles of irrigation line, and many pounds of fertilizer and pesticides were removed from grow sites on public lands.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0All of this only further highlights the need for a regulated system.\u00a0 Under a more defined system,<\/p>\n<p>As the American public calls for both medical and recreational legalization of cannabis, how long can we expect federal agencies to keep these efforts up?\u00a0 Though they frame their actions as a way of helping the public, no one wants to lose their job.\u00a0 Recently, heads turned when <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/08\/20\/us\/politics\/todd-akin-provokes-ire-with-legitimate-rape-comment.html\" target=\"_blank\">Todd Akin showed just how disconnected he was <\/a>with his comments on \u201clegitimate rape\u201d and women\u2019s health.\u00a0 Both major political parties stand to lose considerable power as the people will continue to bypass ineffective leaders with ballot initiatives to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana as a way to fix both our healthcare and economic system.\u00a0 Instead of destroying 1 billion in cannabis (plus the cost of sending out agents) jobs, tax revenues, and preserving the natural beauty of America could be our focus instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"468\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/government-burning-marijuana.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"government burning marijuana\" title=\"government burning marijuana\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-19657\" href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/news-and-articles\/us-government-burns-through-more-than-one-billion-dollars-in-recent-marijuana-crackdown\/attachment\/government-burning-marijuana\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-19657\" title=\"government burning marijuana\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/government-burning-marijuana-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>Over the past year, the federal government has intensified its anti-marijuana crusade.\u00a0 Analysts are unsure of the exact reasons, especially as it seemed tolerance was in the air when <a href=\"http:\/\/www.barackobama.com\/obama-for-america-2012-campaign?source=om2012_LB_G_hd-NewYork-search_president-obama-exact_&amp;omtype=ovf&amp;subsource=mkwid|J1ISM8lk|kw|president%20obama|matchtype|e|pcrid|24477486451|pl||&amp;gclid=CPuD--GJ_LECFYFo4AoduQkAdg\" target=\"_blank\">President Obama<\/a> was elected.\u00a0 Starting last fall, federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries were carried out in several states including California, Montana, and Colorado.\u00a0 However, burning through marijuana this way may just show how out of touch our elected officials with the wishes of the average American.<\/p>\n<p>However, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.justice.gov\/dea\/\" target=\"_blank\">DEA<\/a> reported this week that they have destroyed well over 1 billion dollars worth of marijuana since launching an intense effort on July 1<sup>st<\/sup>.\u00a0 The popular news site <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rawstory.com\/rs\/2012\/08\/21\/dea-uproots-over-578000-cannabis-plants-in-national-parks\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cThe Raw Story\u201d<\/a> said that, according to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.justice.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\">Justice Department<\/a> \u201cFederal, state and local law enforcement in the seven states have eradicated more than 578,000 marijuana plants from public lands. The DEA estimates the value of this marijuana to be well over $1 billion.\u201d\u00a0 Over 80% of the plants destroyed by the government were located in California.<\/p>\n<p>Sending out huge teams to search, locate, and terminate the plants does not come without cost.\u00a0 No one has confirmed just how much the recent effort is costing taxpayers.\u00a0 There are understandable reasons as to why the government would go after the grows (other than just pursuing their outdated policies on marijuana).\u00a0 The Department of Justice said they removed \u201cHuge amounts of trash, miles of irrigation line, and many pounds of fertilizer and pesticides were removed from grow sites on public lands.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0All of this only further highlights the need for a regulated system.\u00a0 Under a more defined system,<\/p>\n<p>As the American public calls for both medical and recreational legalization of cannabis, how long can we expect federal agencies to keep these efforts up?\u00a0 Though they frame their actions as a way of helping the public, no one wants to lose their job.\u00a0 Recently, heads turned when <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/08\/20\/us\/politics\/todd-akin-provokes-ire-with-legitimate-rape-comment.html\" target=\"_blank\">Todd Akin showed just how disconnected he was <\/a>with his comments on \u201clegitimate rape\u201d and women\u2019s health.\u00a0 Both major political parties stand to lose considerable power as the people will continue to bypass ineffective leaders with ballot initiatives to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana as a way to fix both our healthcare and economic system.\u00a0 Instead of destroying 1 billion in cannabis (plus the cost of sending out agents) jobs, tax revenues, and preserving the natural beauty of America could be our focus instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[370,210,45,52,166,98,371,65,56,9,372,51,70,1,3,373,61],"tags":[2948,2788,2628,2632,2744,2676,2949,2644,2636,2950,2631,5,2951,6],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}