WAR ON MARIJUANA IS MISDIRECTED

America is being invaded.

Not by illegal immigrants as some claim. Nor by a world
superpower.

We are being invaded by Mexican drug cartels that are growing
marijuana from Humboldt County to Keokuk, Iowa. No state, or national
forest, is exempt from this invasion. The cartels are so sophisticated
and well-funded that they don't just stop at growing massive amounts
of pot outdoors.

They have been setting up indoor grows from coast to coast that
produce prodigious amounts of the popular herb. Their methods are
simple. They buys houses, put some Mexican nationals in them posing as
normal families and "blow-up" all the rooms with indoor grow systems
that yield surprising amounts of that billion-dollar bud.

So what is our government doing about this invasion? How are we
responding to these armed individuals who live in tents while
protecting thousands of acres of marijuana for the drug cartels? The
answer varies according to who you talk to.

Local law enforcement has been responding to big grows ever since it
stumbled onto to one in the heyday of hippie pot plantations in the
'70s. The state of California has helped our local pot-seeking police
with a program called Campaign Against Marijuana Planting for decades
now.

Humboldt County Sheriff's Sgt.Wayne Hanson recently told local media
that this year CAMP has seen the biggest eradication effort yet in our
storied history. More than 300,000 plants have been destroyed thus
far, according to Hanson. This figure will surely grow as the
pot-searching season continues.

One has to understand, however, that the growers have changed since
the mid-'70s and are no longer just local boys who actually helped the
local economy by shopping and living in our county. The fact of the
matter is pot is still supporting our local economy, but I digress.

What has changed is who's growing the marijuana. For example, the
biggest pot bust in our local history happened this year and has been
attributed to those Mexican cartels. The grow, said to be 135,000
plants and valued at $469 million, took place in the county's eastern
edge.

The future promises more massive crops from the cartels, which may or
may not be busted. Think about this: Despite these busts, the cartels
continue to grow. Why? Because for every one found, there's another
that isn't. Maybe two, or even more. The profit stays despite the Drug
Enforcement Agency's thus far feeble efforts at curbing their growth
across our nation.

Local law enforcement readily admits that the increase in pot
plantations is attributable to the Mexican drug cartels. Statistics
coming out of California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office noted
a statewide seizure record for 2006 of more than a million plants.

These cartels do not help our local economy. They don't help anyone
but the drug lords in Mexico who are living like kings and laughing at
us stupid Americans. When we bust one of their numerous grows, the
most that can be expected to happen is we'll jail some poor Mexican
nationals who have thrown their lot in with them.

Meanwhile, as far as I can see, business is thriving in our national
parks and neighborhoods, and despite the DEA's scattered efforts from
New York to Los Angeles, there is no end in sight.

So does that mean we should just go on as we are and hope the cartels
will just go away someday? Are we doomed to forever throw taxpayers'
money into an unpopular war on marijuana that we aren't winning, to an
invasion we can't seem to stop?

It doesn't have to be that way. There is an answer to this invasion
and it's staring American lawmakers in the face! Legalize marijuana.
That's right. If you want these Mexican cartels to go home, take the
profit out of their plantations and they'll go away. To them it's a
business that thrives in an atmosphere of our own making.

If we want to take a chunk of crime out of the American landscape,
then we need to stop this invasion by making it available without
being a crime. That slashes profits, which the cartels crave. The only
reason the cartels have been able to gain such a strong foothold in
our country is this prohibition on pot and misdirected war on weed.

The price of pot would plummet if legalized, especially if every
American could grow their own. By ending the prohibition, we as a
country could move on to more important things like helping the
homeless, better health care for all and other social programs that
desperately need funding that our war on marijuana is siphoning off
right now.

Instead, we need to redirect our focus on marijuana and decriminalize
what a majority of Americans want. We need to take back our national
forests and neighborhoods. I propose we stop the so-called war on what
many Americans want -- as evidenced by the growing medical marijuana
laws being enacted by popular votes in states like California -- and
put a halt to the Mexican cartel's economic invasion of our country.

As it Stands, if you get to the root of a problem, it's much more
effective than just trimming the leaves in the hope it'll go away.