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Huge marijuana farms busted in southern Utah

Sampson... | 12:48 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

...so, apparently marijuana is easy to grow in the desert? Weird.

lame | 1:14 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

lame

Construction slowdown.... | 1:30 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

With the slowdown in construction, what else are all of the move in workers going to do for money?? Answer: Same thing they did before coming to this area, crime and illegal activity.

Comments continue below

Not again | 1:45 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

now the price is gonna go through the roof.

Anonymous | 2:03 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

Hello, Pine Valley is not the desert.

Another reason | 2:10 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

Another reason to follow the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits the ownership of land by the Federal Government except for certain specified purposes.
If the land were privately owned, we would either know who was responsible for the crops and could take care of that legally much more easily, or trespassers would be watched for by the land owners and evicted. Either way, we would have accountability.

Anonymous | 2:12 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

I thought of doing this as an Eagle Scout project.

bummer | 2:23 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

What a shame!

steve | 2:39 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

you can arrest people, fill up our jails then you can arrest more people and make certain jails are operating to capacity then you can apprehend even more people and build new jails to fill over and over again. Our politicians can't seem to get a better handle on these problems. It's the same thing followed by the same thing over and over again. The message is not getting anywhere. What's being done is not working. Any suggestions?

Anonymous | 2:52 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

Wow, we must get this dangerous PLANT off the street. (sarcasm)

Mary Jane | 3:07 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

I have a suggestion - legalize it!

samhill | 3:14 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

YAaaaWHOOOO!!

Burn it ALL!! EVERYWHERE!!

And put the creeps who grow it and smoke it IN JAIL!

metamoracoug | 3:15 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

Steve:

you know, if we shot or hung up growers, pushers, and dopers, I'm betting fewer people would be involved in the trade.

Anonymous:

were you growing as an eagle project or breaking up illegal farms?

update | 3:30 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

This just is, the united states of america is covered in a landscape of fast food eateries, law enforcement can do nothing about this rapidly growing sector of obese crime.

Anonymous | 3:39 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

Who did it?

Joe | 3:44 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

Make it legal and watch the price fall and the supply go to nothing. This would have solved the problem years ago.

CITIZEN | 3:47 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

RE:Steve Just think what would happen if all of a sudden all the crooked lawyer/politicians were thrown into the slammer for their misdeads against the citizens of this U.S.A.?All the jails in this country could not hold them.They would have too be farmed out to foriegn jails.

Legalize it | 3:54 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

don't critisize it

Matthew | 4:20 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

To Another Reason:
I won't even get into your strange twisting of what is actually in the U.S. Consitution. The point is that people grow pot on private land that isn't their own all the time all over this nation. Keeping people off one's land isn't as easy as you seem to think it is.
Legalization hasn't worked for alcohol, why does anyone think it would work for pot? If you think it has worked for alcohol then you aren't paying attention. How many people do drunk drivers kill every year? The list of social ills goes on and on and on. I'd rather be chasing them in the woods than cleaning up the carnage on the streets any day.

Dave in Midvale | 4:23 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

The same overly lame excuse over and over again. . .

Legalize it! Because booze is legal. Neither should be!

Legalize "it"??? you mean using of course? The illegal fields would be illegal even if the pot were.

so. utahn | 4:28 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

It is a shame that these people can't be nabbed before they shut the operation down. why not stake the place out and watch them come out of the woodwork?

RangerGordon | 4:39 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

It's curious how "Another Reason" gets all freaked out at the thought of Big Government overstepping its bounds by managing BLM land--but sees nothing wrong with Big Government interfering in the rights of farmers to choose which cash crops to grow.

Kevin | 4:39 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

Matthew,

Answer: Drunk drivers kill about 1/3 of the 40,000 people who die (including themselves). Although with the gas prices, I'm hearing deaths may be below 37,000 for the first time since 1961.

Jeffrey | 5:19 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

My feeling is that if these people are breaking the law, then they should be held accountable under that law. Claiming moral superiority, no matter how valid, is no excuse for knowingly breaking the law.

However, marijuana should not be illegal, and so that law needs to be changed.

Most of the societal damage from drug use stems from the fact that it is illegal, not the drugs themselves. Drug dealers, organized crime, and the like, are the dangers to society, and they would not exist without the illegality of the drugs they sell.

Red | 5:47 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

Sampson... 12:48 pm: "... marijuana is easy to grow in the desert? Weird."

They don't call it "weed" for nothing.

Tobacco requires the best, richest farmland available and gobs of fertilizers, etc. (Don't know about insecticides -- I understand nicotine's a pretty good one).

We may be edging toward a world like the one in a science fiction story (sorry, I don't remember the title or author). It's a future of food scarcity, and tobacco is highly illegal because of the resources its cultivation requires. In this world, marijuana is OK because it doesn't compete with food crops for good farmland.

Proud Guy | 5:58 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

Weez usta fed ourn hogs merryajuna and a them to love ed it ala time. Cheep ta gro and fun.

Jethro in Cedar City

Idaho too | 6:15 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

There are also fields in idaho outside of Sun Valley about 20 miles west.
Follow the dirt road (Trail Creek Rd) to he North fork Big Fork River Rd. head north until it ends.

we were watched when we were explorig this place. They have little traps set to see if anyone has crossed into their area.

Legalize It | 6:48 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

I am not advocating the legalization of it, however, if the government does do that and then proceeds to create as much red tape as we have for oil and gas production it will be 10-20 years before we could get it to the end user. At least that is what the Dems keep telling me about why we shouldn't drill her / drill now. Government Red Tape is what we need.

Anonymous | 8:11 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

Joe: You would pay the same amount or more because the government would tax it. Then the government would be making all the money on it.

As harmless as you THINK it might be to use it, it is still against the law.

Legalize? | 8:32 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

If you look at the parts of the world where marijuana is an accepted part of the culture and has been historically, you will find there ARE problems with consistent use of marijuana.
I don't think legalization is the answer.

natural | 9:18 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

It is a plant...not a drug.

IF you legalize it.... | 9:28 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

there would be government controls. The price would be higher than it is now and the "users" would start committing more crime to support their "habit". We're better off keeping it illegal and under the control of mexican drug lords.

Dave | 9:42 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

Funny to see people criticize a plant God made, and support a war against it. Marijuana has no lethal dose, and is so harmless compared to booze and tobacco. The war on marijuana is all about money, as well as government intrusion into private behavior. When you make a plant illegal, and it sells for $400 an ounce as a result, I guess it figures that some folks will grow it for profit.

Weeeed~~~ | 10:19 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

haha. thats a lot of plants. pretty trippy that someone could grow that much marijuana without anyone knowing, obviously, for a while. o, and DONT SMOKE MARY JANE YOUR CRACK HEADS!

deh | 11:31 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

I have wondered what they see when they have a fly over. Trees and bushes look the same to me.

I'm smelling rationalization | 11:50 p.m. Aug. 27, 2008

Impeccable logic, Dave and "natural." God made it and it's "natural," so that means it's not a drug. God also made opium poppies, tobacco plants, hemlock, and if you want to carry this argument to its logical conclusion, the bubonic plague. That does not mean that any of the above are good for you, and it certainly does not make any basis for arguing that it should be legal.

Stoner Logic | 1:21 a.m. Aug. 28, 2008

God also made lead, brass, saltpeter, sulpher, and iron. As those items are used make firearms and ammunition...how can they not be dangerous? Oh, and uranium. That's a natural substance too. And mercury. And asbestos. And mold. And liberals. And Teachers unions. All harmless because they are natural.

SCGUY | 7:16 a.m. Aug. 28, 2008

What the story failed to mention is that those arrested were Mexican Nationals (aka illegal aliens) as was reported in The Spectrum today.

With the increase in gang and drug activity and harmful influence that illegal immigration and the Mexican drug cartel is having on our communities, omitting this information would appear to be irresponsible. At best just poor journalism.

Why Cant We All Get Along | 10:40 a.m. Aug. 29, 2008

SIOP the blame game! Alcohol is legal and not made buy God, and assists in the deaths of many! Check the problem with drugs, gangs, corruption, & so on, in Amsterdam, it is so much smaller than here in the States. You know when your a child your parents tell you not to do something, what is the first thing you do? Yea, I thought so, do it! Even the most conservative. I don't smoke it nor do I want to. If it were legal just think we would have a much smaller population in the prison system, they would have to find a job! I would much rather have a Stoner for a friend than a "Methhead" You know a "Stoner" would not have any pot left & just say "dang I'm out & have no cash, well I'll just chill & have a twinkie. But a "Methhead" would lie, cheat, steal, or kill someone for just one more hit! Yeah, look into it, & if you have ever had a "Stoner" for a friend you would know what I am talking about, they are loving & laid back. They just want the world to get along!

worse things out there | 3:49 p.m. Sept. 23, 2009

why don't we worry more about meth/herion dealers killing kids instead of spending so much time worrying about a drug that has never killed anyone before

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