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Town of Likely, B.C. Marijuana -'Number-One Crop'
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by Barry Artiste | May 21, 2008 at 07:19 am
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Barry Artiste, Now Public Contributor
Likely, British Columbia, like most small towns is remote and far from the beaten path in the interior of British Columbia, once a booming mining town, it too like many other towns fell on hard times.
But does that give it the excuse for townspeople and town councilors to welcome the Drug trade with open arms?
I say this, as I too am from a small town where absolutely everybody knows everybody’s business.
The town ofLikely, BC, went from economic bust as a small tourist industry to Boom town in what seems virtually every available vacant property for sale in town was bought up by an Vancouver-Richmond based Asian Criminal Drug Organization for the exclusive purpose of running a Marijuana Grow Ops Industry.
Many consider this a harmless enterprise, until one connects the dots to the spate of Drugs for Guns, Grow op related murders and targeted hits including the killing of innocent bystanders who were at the wrong place at the wrong time.
A Town, who turns a blind eye to businesses such as this, is part and parcel why the War on Drugs is a un -winnable War.
Miami, once suffering economically, noticed a economic boom of stratospheric proportions once Drug Money was infused into the economy and businesses, some surmise Vancouver, British Columbia and cities in the lower mainland are experiencing much the same Economic Boom in the last decade as well, perhaps even surpassing Miami.
Vancouver was recently confirmed by Macleans Magazine and Law Enforcement alike as the “World’s Super Criminal Headquarters” of Asian based Criminal Organizations.
Many feel the legalization of Marijuana is the answer, certainly have not done their homework when it comes to Organized Crime allowing it.
Grow-op bust topples small B.C. town's 'number-one crop'Darah Hansen, Vancouver SunPublished: Tuesday, May 20, 2008LIKELY - It hasn't always been easy attracting new folks to the tiny northern community of Likely, B.C.
The little gold rush town of about 250 residents - located about 100 kilometres east of Williams Lake - has seen more than its fair share of economic hard times in recent years with the collapse of the forest industry and a temporary shutdown in gold and copper mining.
"A few years ago, you couldn't sell a house in Likely for $80,000," said Rob Hood, a longtime Likely resident and president of the local Chamber of Commerce.Then along came the pot growers and things started looking up.Properties left vacant as work dried up were suddenly all bought up, and many locals found themselves employed putting in elaborate water systems and erecting huge windowless, barn-like structures on the land.Few questions were asked - even when locked gates were installed across driveways, making it abundantly clear the town's new occupants weren't interested in anybody dropping in for coffee unannounced.
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Barry Artiste
Vancouver, Canada
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at 07:30 on May 21st, 2008
I thought that cannabis was BC's #1 cash crop overall. It's reached the point at which Humboldt County, CA weed farmers are switching from production to distribution, since BC's bud is evidently more in demand... well, our roads may not be ready in time for the Olympics, but the world sure loves our weed!
(If cannabis were to be decriminalized or legalized, what would the profit angle be for organized crime?)
at 07:52 on May 21st, 2008
Gee I dunno, competition?
Increased cross border smuggling to the US (where marijuana is illegal) in exchange for smuggled Guns, money, or in exchange for cocaine and other drugs etc.
Organised crime do not like competition, any grower legally allowed to grow marijana on a large scale would certainly warrant a visit or Firebomb by criminal organizations, any grower illegally growing marijuana without giving the Government their cut would get a visit by Revenue Canada and RCMP.
Illegal cigarette smuggling has been going on for a decade or more with cross border smuggling back east by Montreal Crime Syndicates and others, certainly attests to that "Let's Legalise Marijuana theory), as cigarettes are a legal product, but smuggling to avoid taxes results in murder, kidnapping, extortion, firebombing by criminal groups. Do you really think legalising marijuana would be any different? Like I said Jordan, people need to see the big picture and do their homeowrk before stating, Lets Legalise Marijuana. Gambling is legal here as well, does that put organized crime out of business? Guess how may gang hits,crime, murders and kidnappings, as well as persons who disappeared due to gambling and debts occurred in the lower mainland. The same result will be for marijuana.
at 09:34 on May 21st, 2008
Perhaps this will in some small way explain why legalising drugs any drugs does nothing for the addicts
Granted this guy was a crack addict, but who is to say legalise marijuana will not soon give a free pass to crack or any other drugs.
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/crack-addict-daily-life-small-town
at 11:17 on May 21st, 2008
I think people almost think that making something legal makes it a de facto moral act. Because, as you point out, even if it could be proven that marijuana is not technically a gateway drug (although I absolutely believe it is) it is a way for drug lords to get money to push the harder stuff and to snuff out the competition with weapons.
And legalization would not change this. Criminal organizations still find a way to illegally make money from cigarettes, gambling, and just about everything (trash pickup for example). Legalization is an easy response to make us feel like we're doing something.
If you want to really cut down on these criminal organization we will need to pass laws that allow our governments to go after them more forcefully. In California, for example, we could (maybe we still can, I don't know) impound people's personal property if they are found breaking certain types of laws. And there's also the always fun RICO thingy.
Or we could just declare these crime syndicates terrorist organizations and arrest every last member we can find. Yeah, that will happen.
at 14:53 on May 21st, 2008
Thanks BigT for the comments and GS, though there is no concrete proof Town and Council were aware of all this criminal activity, as I said before a small town? Come on! People would have to be pretty stunned in the head not to know what is going on. As for RICO, we have something similar here in Canada, as for seizure of property of assets from the proceeds of crime, though lawyers fight for their clients tooth and nail to stop it. certainly speaks of my feelings towards Lawyers in general. Check out my story today on a Drug Addicts spiral into kidnapping and murder which happened last week.
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/crack-addict-daily-life-small-town
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mojoresin (not verified)at 17:50 on December 3rd, 2008
Misinformed people, lacking objective information, willing to follow orders from thoser who wish to control, did in fact empower Adolph Hitler and other Fascists to gain their status!!! The will of some to control others only operates due to the presumption that without controlling and governing, that all people will inherently do bad things. This implies that without the many being directed by the few, that all people will revert back to feudalism, or why not go all the way and say that in three damn weeks without a government, we'd all be back to cromags!!!
Some of the most brilliant people that have ever lived were casual marijuana users. Once considered the most intelligent person in the world, Carl Sagan was a big advocate. He Often asserted that it enhanced creativity and induced a deeper kind of thought process. Ever take a drink of wine yourself? No different !!
Not to sound ridiculous, but the type of pretzel logic I see above would also support the argument that milk is a gateway drug. After all, almost all drug users started off being hooked on milk!
Spend your efforts in life on productive things that achieve tangible results, not trying to tell other people how they should live and being unnecessarily critical of others. Use your time here in a positive way, not focused on the negative as so many are.
at 17:59 on May 21st, 2008
Marijuana is as much a gateway drug to harder drugs as beer is a gateway beverage to alcoholism, and it probably has the same capacity as beer for addiction. What we need to understand about addiction is that many mental patients, due to the stigma of mental illness, try to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol. I believe plenty of addicts actually suffer from depression or other mental health problems and turn to drugs and alcohol in an attempt to self-medicate.
According to Drug Sense, U.S. police arrested an estimated 829,625 persons for cannabis violations in 2006. The War on Drugs costs taxpayers about $600 per second, coming to over $19 billion in 2006. This year alone, 326,184 were arrested for cannabis violations in America, which means that these people have to be arrested, provided for during incarceration, and given public defenders if they request one and cannot provide their own. See: http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm. Those arrested will rack up trial costs, be sentenced in many cases, and eventually leave the prison with a record that will make it hard for them to find viable employment. Some will then turn to crime in earnest since it is difficult for even people with clean background checks to find employment during this recession, and they likely wouldn't pass the drug test, anyway. And despite all of this effort on the part of law enforcement and expense to taxpayers, marijuana remains almost as accessible to consumers as beer.
I think the battle has long been over as far as marijuana is concerned. It is too easy to grow and too many people use it for it to be feasible to ever erradicate its widespread usage. Legalizing marijuana is not a matter of right and wrong -- it is more a matter of feasibility. It makes as much sense to keep cannabis illegal as it would to make tobacco illegal. All that would happen is that our prisons would not hold 2.5 million people today, but probably the prison population would swell to 10 million or more -- and the first thing the ex-cons would reach for after release would be a cigarette. Reminds me of the little saying that ends: God grant me the sense to know the difference.
Tax money would be better spent on other things -- like treating the underlying depression and other mental problems that precipitated drug addictions in many Americans. Folks who willingly give up full control of their mental faculties to drug and alcohol usage, especially with it being illegal, likely ALREADY have a bad problem that neither the drugs nor Drug Enforcement can solve or control. Can we even afford all of these wars?
Mary
at 18:17 on May 21st, 2008
You almost had me going until you said we should spend the money we spend on the War on Drugs on helping people with mental illness.
at 18:24 on May 21st, 2008
Mary, we have to laws, and those laws must be protected and enforced, otherwise society goes to hell in a handbasket and Criminals who already snub their noses at the law, will even further flout the law if we show weakness as they feel since no one cares about lawlessness, why should they stop. Incarceration is the only answer severe time for crimes against citizens,. Better they are behind bars, than victimizing family members viewing their sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, behind a coroners glass wall. You cannot argue with that logic, now matter how you slice it.
at 02:37 on May 23rd, 2008
BigT, why not spend the money on health problems? Are you aware of how many mental hospitals are being closed across the nation, with many, if not most, of the former inpatients winding up in jail because they do not understand or lack the self control to keep within the law?
Barry Artiste, your logic is why we have 2.5 million people in prison today, and a HUGE percentage of whom are not locked away for any violent crime. If Americans decided to keep enforcing silly laws just because they were THE LAW, we'd still have prohibition -- or even worse, I'd likely be trying to escape slavery in Georgia instead of answering your post. What pot smoker ever went off the deep end and killed folks, anyway? They were on something else.
Mary
at 05:43 on May 23rd, 2008
Mary, there are exceptions to every rule of course, but you need to realize it is a different animal up here in NancyVille, British Columbia, Canada. This issue is not a Cheech and Chong Comedy Movie, though Tommy Chong hails from Vancouver. The issue at hand is a killing and murdering and corruption over a plant, a plant that is illegal, no one said the law was fair, but the law is the law. Many people do not like it, but if you flout one law, then what other law should be ignored. The Many, many post Drug Busts I attend, I see babies, actually infants living in this toxic environment when the parents have large scale grow operations. One babies room have a bronchial ventilator for the infant, as beside the crib Grow op vent pipes leaking went through the babies room. The other babies room had closets full of mould and pesticide containers. This is not an exception, this is reality I see many times. And as a footnote many Grow ops mix Methamphetamines to give that joint that added Boost in order to addict unaware users who reply. "Wow so this is BC bud, cool! So as many state, Marijuana is a harmless drug, never had to view children who live in such a toxic environment, or attend a coroners inquest why someones child died because of it.
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mrmojoresin (not verified)at 17:52 on December 3rd, 2008
right on!
at 05:52 on May 23rd, 2008
Mental health has nothing to do with Marijuana problems here, Money and Guns has everything to do with marijuana! Marijuana is a gateway drug to harder drugs, though not for everyone, the ones that move onto harder drugs are the ones who are causing the serious crimes because of it and the premise of this story and many other stories I have posted on this issue. If someone develops mental health problems because of drugs, elicits no sympathy from me, as they caused their own problems, if they refuse rehab treatment, then best to jail them to keep them from harming themselves and other. That is my logic, and the logic of victims of crimes caused by addicts. Do you seriously propose to let the addicts and Potheads to walk our streets, when they refuse treatment. so that can commit further crimes? Don't get me wrong, I am lumping pot smokers who like alcohol do not let their vices control their lives, but centered on the ones who let it rule their life.
anyways, DUO thanks for the insight and input into this story, it is truly appreciated.