Plant eradication season begins in California

Like the swallows in Capistrano, the agents from the California Department of Justice's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting arrive in Humboldt county in California every year, as they have since 1983, to wage their war against innocent plants. Okay so these grows aren't authorized under Prop 215 but still, these eradication missions are a ridiculous waste of the taxpayers money.
As af Wednesday the weed whacking prohibitionists have seized 122,905 plants statewide. That's really not that many considering the cost of the operations. Once again they conduct their search and destroy missions with the aid of very expensive helicopter surveilliance.

Humboldt County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Wayne Hanson said he spends the weeks before CAMP's arrival flying over the county spotting suspected pot gardens from the air. When CAMP arrives, they know exactly where to go. Some gardens are found while Hanson is on his way to a grow that's already been discovered. Tuesday, while flying to one of the confirmed gardens, Hanson spotted another garden a short distance away.

These plots they're eradicating are not huge commercial grows. More likely they are the work of a few horticulturals who prefer to grow their own cannabis for personal use rather than have to participate in dangerous black market transactions.

The growers usually plant in small patches in various locations. In a grow that was eradicated Tuesday off a remote road past Kneeland, seven different gardens were found on one parcel of property. The gardens ranged from about 300 plants to under 10. CAMP agents and deputies also look out for signs of trails leading to patches of sunlight in the woods. One deputy hiked up a small hill off a dirt road, well away from the other gardens, and returned with one plant.

Do you have any idea how much it cost to have that guy eradicate one plant? I don't either but I would bet it's a lot more than it's worth in terms of it's cash value and in terms of public safety it's laughable. Your law enforcement officers must have better ways to spend their time and your tax dollars.

Of course, chasing down murderers, rapists, car thieves and the like is a little harder. You don't get to use your helicopter to find them and unlike the plants that patiently wait in one spot to get caught, real criminals keep moving around and require a lot more effort to find.