This has been going on for decades. I remember back in the 70s coming across a wild pot farm in the cascades on a late summer recon for hunting season. When we realized where we were, we beat feet outta there.
I also recall my uncle telling me about farmers growing it in the corn fields.
That wildweed flower, it grows anywhere!!!
I think it is far too late for legalization to make any difference where it is being grown illegally, whether on public or private land. Even if the feds changed the posession/use legalities, you can be darned sure it would still be heavily regulated. There's still a lotta folks making 'shine these days, despite the fact that booze is legal to drink, but not legal to make for distribution unless you are licensed.
Ben,
I was glad you brought up the moonshine analogy because that is exactly the image that comes to my mind when I hear of folks growing their own "cash crop".
I agree if legalized, there would still be folks growing it where ever they could, but if it were legally available wouldn't that bring down the price hence the violence associated with defending one's crop plus the need to hide it in a national (inconvenient) forest?
I don't know the answer to that question but it's something that comes to mind.
It's probably too late for legalization at this point, for two reasons: First, there there is a huge bureaucracy grown around the "war on drugs," and bureacracies are always careful to avoid killing the goose that lays their golden eggs.
For example, there are now many police agencies who depend on "drug money" forfeitures and federal anti-drug money for the major share of their budgets and ALL of their extras and cool toys.
Second, the illegal drug industry is flush with cash, enough to buy politicians, prosecutors and judges, and they are the last people to want their profits destroyed by legalization. The drug producers and the anti-drug bureaucracy flourish in this symbiotic relationship, and both are committed to sustaining it perpetually.
Jeff
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