Massive Cannabis field in Afghanistan

Walking through a massive marijuana field in Afghanistan

marijuana as far as the eye can see...

some of my helmet cam footage from my most recent deployment to the Kandahar region of Afghanistan. Post originally on Feb 12 2011

Weed in Afghanistan

Giant Afghanistan marijuana field


And in stark contrast to the massive cannabis fields in Afghanistan the US allows the existence of such operations to continue, but in the US it is a completely different story. It seems to me that this duality is set up for the Government to dispense their grow supplies and eradicate the internal grow ops, I call this elimination of competition and suppression of the people. The cost of this can of operation must be enormous.


Pot Eradication Continues
Tagged with: Cannabis Busts Hawaii Police Propaganda
Raids Net 1,821 Plants on Windward Big Island
Helicopters took to the skies Monday through Thursday for marijuana eradication, police said.
“Monday, we seized and eradicated a total of 1,302 plants from seedlings to 5 feet in height from Fern Acres, Hawaiian Acres and Orchidland,” said Lt.  Richard Sherlock of Hilo Vice Section.  “( Tuesday ), it was just a morning mission.  It was a total of 519 marijuana plants from seedlings to 10 feet, mostly from lower Puna and some out in Honokaa and Papaaloa.” The total for the eradication mission Monday and Tuesday was 1,821 marijuana plants.
Sherlock said Honolulu and Maui police, plus the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the Hawaii National Guard and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park rangers assisted Big Island police in East Hawaii.  Lt.  Miles Chong of Kona Vice Section said the same agencies, except for park rangers, provided support in West Hawaii.
“We seized or recovered 1,171 plants ( Wednesday and Thursday ) with efforts concentrated in the Ka’u and South Kona districts,” Chong said.
There were no arrests or incidents reported on either side of the island.
More precise plot locations, including numbers of plants uprooted from each site and whether plants were on public or private property, will be available in a required report by police to the County Council within 30 days.
Meanwhile, figures in a report from Police Chief Harry Kubojiri to Council Chairman J Yoshimoto dated Sept.  3 reveal that uprooting done in August included four pulls of fewer than 24 plants from patches on private property.
The latest “Counter Cannabis” operation is the third since voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative in November making adult personal use of marijuana on private property the lowest law enforcement priority.  It’s second multiday eradication effort of the fiscal year that started July 1.
The so-called “Peaceful Sky” law defines adult personal use of marijuana on private property as possession of 24 or fewer plants or 24 ounces or less of dried marijuana.
A caller from Ocean View told the Tribune-Herald that police confiscated fewer than 24 plants from his private property during the operation this week.  The man said that he is considering filing a complaint against the police.
A report on East Hawaii eradication that took place Aug.  17 and 18 states that all plants pulled up were on private property.  Plots uprooted include 16 plants from one location and 10 from another in Eden Roc subdivision, while seven plants were removed from private property in Kalapana Black Sands subdivision.  A West Hawaii pull on Aug.  19 netted 15 plants from private property in Honomalino.
No arrests were made.
“The ordinance doesn’t say it’s illegal; it just says it’s the lowest priority,” Sherlock said.  “If ( officers ) drop into a patch and it happens to be ( 24 or fewer ) plants, we can’t just get out.  We can’t walk away from it, unless it’s medical.  And on that chance, on every mission, we have a direct line to state narcotics enforcement.  We call them to verify if there’s a medical marijuana permit.  And on every mission, we do run into that, where people have medical marijuana permits.  And when that happens, we do verify it and we do walk away.”
Daniel Wolf Braun, president of the Peaceful Sky Alliance, sent a letter to the council Sept.  9, protesting the use “leftover money that was secured prior to …  the ‘lowest priority’ initiative” for eradication.  He stated that police department time and resources for eradication “appear unaccounted for or inappropriately directed.” Police have said that money for the most recent missions was from the Big Island’s $159,000 portion of a federal grant to the state for eradication that was budgeted in the fiscal year that ended June 30.
The Tribune-Herald has asked Kubojiri, the mayor’s office and Council Chairman J Yoshimoto about “rolling over” funds from the previous fiscal year.
Assistant Police Chief Marshall Kanehailua said Friday that police are in discussions with county Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida on a number of issues related to marijuana eradication, and an answer is forthcoming.
“There are some other issues raised regarding the Peaceful Sky Initiative that we’re trying to answer, and in answering ( those issues ) it will answer your question,” Kanehailua said.  He said that in addition to money, those issues include help by other police departments in eradication efforts.  In a Sept.  4 letter, the Peaceful Sky Alliance protested the participation of other counties’ police and the National Guard in helicopter surveillance and marijuana eradication on the Big Island.
Kanehailua said police are also using money from the DEA’s Domestic Cannabis Eradication and Suppression Program.  The DEA program gave the state Department of Land and Natural Resources $475,000 this year.
A Thursday call to the Peaceful Sky Alliance was not returned, but a voice message on the marijuana advocacy group’s phone said: “Peaceful Sky Alliance is currently filing complaints regarding the continuing nuisance of police helicopter over-flights.”
County Prosecutor Jay Kimura has said as recently as May that he considers the Peaceful Sky ordinance problematic, and that he is awaiting an opinion from state Attorney General Mark Bennett on the law’s validity.  A call to Kimura’s office Wednesday to ask if he has received that opinion was not returned.
Source: Hawaii Tribune Herald (Hilo, HI)
Copyright: 2009 Hawaii Tribune Herald
Contact: http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/share/letters/
Website: http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/
Author: John Burnett