Cumberland BC: The Cumberlander Articles Section
Uncategorized · 27th August 2007
Editor, with permission.
19 WING COMOX is supporting a grow-op eradication program on Vancouver Island by giving police aerial access with Sea King helicopters to remote areas where marijuana plants are growing.
By Jules S. Xavier
Record Staff
Aug 24 2007
With a quick slash of a machete, a five-foot high marijuana plant growing among ferns and young coniferous trees just off Highway 19 is left to die.
A team of Mounties, with support from military based at 19 Wing Comox, were in the woods Wednesday morning just south of the Comox Valley overpass.
“It’s harvesting season,” said Cpl. Greg Cox, strategic communications NCO for the Island District. “You want to do this when the plant are more mature, but not in pre-bud stage. This is the time of the year we like to take care of it. The plants are more visible.”
He added, “It’s best to hit when the plants are not economically viable for the criminal element.”
An integrated team of police officers from the Island District RCMP, Saanich and Victoria police departments is again taking to the skies of Vancouver Island with the assistance of the Canadian Forces.
“DND has provided up with three Sea King helicopters,” said Cox during a media scrum held in front of a parked RCMP chopper near the site of at least five small illicit grow-ops on Crown land. “The military have the expertise getting into remote areas.”
While the Wednesday location was accessible on the ground thanks to well-worn trails used by unknown pot farmers, Cox acknowledged some outdoor operations are accessible only by air because of rugged terrain or swampy conditions.
The goal of the annual marijuana eradication project is to locate and destroy pot being grown outdoors, often on Crown land, said Cox. Last summer, the eradication team found and destroyed 16,500 plants from more than 200 sites.
“The location of these outdoor marijuana grow operations poses unique challenges for our officers. Through our partnership with the Canadian military, we are able to utilize their expertise and equipment to gain access to these difficult locations.”
Cox pointed out the production of marijuana is directly tied to organized crime groups and funds their operations through street-level sales in our communities.
“The RCMP and our law enforcement partners are committed to combating organized crime and the activities which fund them,” he said.
Outdoor marijuana production, as seen by officers in the past, poses a significant environmental risk. Streams are diverted, growth-enhancing chemicals and pesticides are introduced to pristine land and garbage is strewn about post-production sites. The Courtenay site was littered with more than 40 empty plastic planters, plus a number of large unused fertilizer packages.
On Tuesday, near Campbell River, more than 2,100 pot plants were destroyed. During a five-minute span south of Courtenay, two officers slashed down about 100 plants, with more to do as they negotiated the thick forest underbrush.
The eradication of marijuana and its impact on organized crime has begun, said Cox.
“It’s important that we use our police and military resources to take care of the grow-ops now, and keep the marijuana off the streets,” said Cox.
How did the eradication team discover the nearby outdoor grow-ops? Cox said spotters in RCMP helicopters are trained and can distinguish between normal forest growth and pot plants.
As one Mountie pointed out, Mother Nature does not plant crops in rows. Cox said the colour of pot plants is noticeable from the air.
“Once you know what you’re looking for helps,” said Cox, adding marijuana is not indigenous to Vancouver Island and B.C. forests.
Cox had advice for hikers who enjoy venturing out into the Comox Valley hinterland.
“If you come across a grow-op, get out of the area so as not to endanger yourself, and contact (the police),” he said.
By Jules S. Xavier
Record Staff
Aug 24 2007
With a quick slash of a machete, a five-foot high marijuana plant growing among ferns and young coniferous trees just off Highway 19 is left to die.
A team of Mounties, with support from military based at 19 Wing Comox, were in the woods Wednesday morning just south of the Comox Valley overpass.
“It’s harvesting season,” said Cpl. Greg Cox, strategic communications NCO for the Island District. “You want to do this when the plant are more mature, but not in pre-bud stage. This is the time of the year we like to take care of it. The plants are more visible.”
He added, “It’s best to hit when the plants are not economically viable for the criminal element.”
An integrated team of police officers from the Island District RCMP, Saanich and Victoria police departments is again taking to the skies of Vancouver Island with the assistance of the Canadian Forces.
“DND has provided up with three Sea King helicopters,” said Cox during a media scrum held in front of a parked RCMP chopper near the site of at least five small illicit grow-ops on Crown land. “The military have the expertise getting into remote areas.”
While the Wednesday location was accessible on the ground thanks to well-worn trails used by unknown pot farmers, Cox acknowledged some outdoor operations are accessible only by air because of rugged terrain or swampy conditions.
The goal of the annual marijuana eradication project is to locate and destroy pot being grown outdoors, often on Crown land, said Cox. Last summer, the eradication team found and destroyed 16,500 plants from more than 200 sites.
“The location of these outdoor marijuana grow operations poses unique challenges for our officers. Through our partnership with the Canadian military, we are able to utilize their expertise and equipment to gain access to these difficult locations.”
Cox pointed out the production of marijuana is directly tied to organized crime groups and funds their operations through street-level sales in our communities.
“The RCMP and our law enforcement partners are committed to combating organized crime and the activities which fund them,” he said.
Outdoor marijuana production, as seen by officers in the past, poses a significant environmental risk. Streams are diverted, growth-enhancing chemicals and pesticides are introduced to pristine land and garbage is strewn about post-production sites. The Courtenay site was littered with more than 40 empty plastic planters, plus a number of large unused fertilizer packages.
On Tuesday, near Campbell River, more than 2,100 pot plants were destroyed. During a five-minute span south of Courtenay, two officers slashed down about 100 plants, with more to do as they negotiated the thick forest underbrush.
The eradication of marijuana and its impact on organized crime has begun, said Cox.
“It’s important that we use our police and military resources to take care of the grow-ops now, and keep the marijuana off the streets,” said Cox.
How did the eradication team discover the nearby outdoor grow-ops? Cox said spotters in RCMP helicopters are trained and can distinguish between normal forest growth and pot plants.
As one Mountie pointed out, Mother Nature does not plant crops in rows. Cox said the colour of pot plants is noticeable from the air.
“Once you know what you’re looking for helps,” said Cox, adding marijuana is not indigenous to Vancouver Island and B.C. forests.
Cox had advice for hikers who enjoy venturing out into the Comox Valley hinterland.
“If you come across a grow-op, get out of the area so as not to endanger yourself, and contact (the police),” he said.
Good bye untaxed local economy
Comment by Neighborhood Spiderman on 8th November 2007
It's interesting that officers cite environmental dangers as a reason to combat Marijuanna. It's funny how when its slim pickings for a reason to wage a war on something that only produces stoners, environmentalism will do. But when it's time to stop illegal corporate practices that poison children, alter our DNA, put warlords in power, outsource slavery, sell weapons to terrorists, and usurp our rights, environmentalism takes a back seat to the economy, an economy that time after time has been shown to be the real supporter of criminal activity.
Marijuanna is the most harmless alternative social drug mankind has ever seen. It's illegality is directly related to racism, predudism of youth, political ideology, and an mentality that free unrestricted markets are the biggest threat to a slave driven powercondencing economy since giving women the right to vote. (Economists were very vocal about the dangerous effects women would have on the economy).
Although the police do have one real concern. Gone are the days of colledge kids growing pot to cover their tuition, or a friendly old man growing for his Compassion Society. Now because of the American-style War on Freedom, I mean Drugs, Growshows are bank rolled by crooked real estate agents (as if there are any other kind) escort agencys, and every other corrupt business person who wants a viable return on their investments, including hiring outside, gun toting muscle to protect their operations.
I don't expect anyone to listen, and I don't expect anyone to do anything about it. I don't even expect people to learn, or think or evolve, when confronted with the fact that what was once a social expression of freedom, supported by seeds and soil, will become through the proper nurturing, a business of exploitation, increasing addiction and imprisonment supported by blood money and controlled by the same people that controll narcotics, illegal weapons, child prostitution and religious mania. This is just another post that no one listened to describing exactly what happened before it happened.
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."
-Abraham Lincoln, 1864
If only more people had heard about this Lincoln fellow.
It's interesting that officers cite environmental dangers as a reason to combat Marijuanna. It's funny how when its slim pickings for a reason to wage a war on something that only produces stoners, environmentalism will do. But when it's time to stop illegal corporate practices that poison children, alter our DNA, put warlords in power, outsource slavery, sell weapons to terrorists, and usurp our rights, environmentalism takes a back seat to the economy, an economy that time after time has been shown to be the real supporter of criminal activity.
Marijuanna is the most harmless alternative social drug mankind has ever seen. It's illegality is directly related to racism, predudism of youth, political ideology, and an mentality that free unrestricted markets are the biggest threat to a slave driven powercondencing economy since giving women the right to vote. (Economists were very vocal about the dangerous effects women would have on the economy).
Although the police do have one real concern. Gone are the days of colledge kids growing pot to cover their tuition, or a friendly old man growing for his Compassion Society. Now because of the American-style War on Freedom, I mean Drugs, Growshows are bank rolled by crooked real estate agents (as if there are any other kind) escort agencys, and every other corrupt business person who wants a viable return on their investments, including hiring outside, gun toting muscle to protect their operations.
I don't expect anyone to listen, and I don't expect anyone to do anything about it. I don't even expect people to learn, or think or evolve, when confronted with the fact that what was once a social expression of freedom, supported by seeds and soil, will become through the proper nurturing, a business of exploitation, increasing addiction and imprisonment supported by blood money and controlled by the same people that controll narcotics, illegal weapons, child prostitution and religious mania. This is just another post that no one listened to describing exactly what happened before it happened.
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."
-Abraham Lincoln, 1864
If only more people had heard about this Lincoln fellow.