MARIJUANA ON PUBLIC LANDS

Herger Urges Feds to Devise a Strategy

Saying federal agencies aren't doing enough to stop Mexican drug
cartels from growing marijuana illegally on public lands, U.S. Rep.
Wally Herger has drafted a resolution urging Congress to create a
long-term solution to permanently dismantle the traffickers' operations.

"It's important that Congress becomes aware how serious a problem it
is in our national forests," Herger said from Washington, D.C. "It's
going to take a unified effort and a dedicated effort in coming up
with a strategy that can permanently dismantle Mexican drug
trafficking on federal lands. This is a federal responsibly."

Last week, the Chico Republican introduced House Resolution 1540,
sponsored by six House Republicans from California, Texas and Utah.

The resolution says that although federal agencies' partnerships with
local authorities to raid marijuana growing sites "have brought forth
significant, but short-lived successes in combating marijuana
production on public lands," the Office of National Drug Control
Policy needs to "develop a comprehensive and coordinated strategy" to
fight drug trafficking.

The resolution must first be introduced and approved by the House
Judiciary Committee before moving on for a full congressional vote.

Herger said he decided to draft the resolution after meeting in
January with leaders of six federal agencies who manage public lands.

Herger said they offered little in the way of solutions to stop
growers on public lands and they didn't "indicate they needed more
money" to fight marijuana growers.

"I think they don't have any strategy ," Herger said.

John Heil, a spokesman for the Pacific Southwest Region of the U.S.
Forest Service, which includes the north state, said that in 2008,
the Forest Service spent $15.1 million -- about 11.5 percent -- of
its $131.9 million law enforcement budget to combat illegal marijuana growing.

In the years that followed, more officers have been assigned to help
local and state agencies, he said.

"I would say we have been emphasizing and increasing our law
enforcement presence and capabilities through funding and training
and highly successful federal and state partnerships," Heil said.

In California, the Forest Service has 20 special agents dedicated to
drug investigations as well as three special agents assigned to the
Drug Enforcement Agency.

Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said it's not been nearly enough to
help his county combat the growers flooding local public lands.

"It does not seem to be priority" for the federal government, Bosenko said.

Although most of the growing sites his agents have raided have been
on federal land, this is the first year an agent from the U.S. Bureau
of Land Management and another from the Forest Service have been
assigned to help his deputies go after the growers full-time, Bosenko said.

Herger's resolution comes in what local law enforcement officials say
is surely another record year for marijuana growing in Shasta County.

More than 300,000 illegal marijuana plants have been pulled in Shasta
County this month.

Some 630,000 plants were pulled in Shasta County last year, a record
haul almost six times greater than what agents destroyed in 2005.

So far this year, a record 36 people have been arrested in connection
with the grows, and all but 10 of them were Mexican citizens working
for drug cartels, Bosenko said.

Herger said that even if California voters approve a ballot measure
legalizing marijuana in November -- a proposition he doesn't support
- -- the growers will continue to exploit the forests.

The state's tax on marijuana would only encourage illegal growers,
who would sell pot tax-free on the black market, he said.

Herger said that he believes the issues raised in his resolution
should stretch across party lines.

He said the growers clear-cut forest land, the chemicals they use in
their marijuana farms pollute waterways, they've shot at cops and
killed civilians, and the money from the grows is used to fuel human
trafficking and assassinations along the Mexican-American border.

"This is a national problem," Herger said. "It's a lose-lose-lose for
our nation and for the north state."

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Documents

* HR 1540 http://media.redding.com/media/static/HR1540.pdf