Wholesale pot prices plummet. Now there starting to get better

[Yes4Prop215]

My friends and I have seen virtually nothing this year in way NorCal in the I-5 corridor. Friends in the Chico hills area have seen virtually nothing this year either. Budgets have been slashed and some departments disbanded. They just don't have the money to support enforcement like they used to. Compared to a few years ago it's been quiet as a church mouse up above last year and this. Not saying that's the case everywhere. In my area haven't heard or seen of anything really happening on the ground either.

alot of busts went down in butte this year....forest ranch, chico, magalia, hurleton rd, palermo, hearing of compliance checks in oroville and chico in the more populated areas...only a small fraction of farms but they definately took a few people down this year..

 

[Nondual]

alot of busts went down in butte this year....forest ranch, chico, magalia, hurleton rd, palermo, hearing of compliance checks in oroville and chico in the more populated areas...only a small fraction of farms but they definately took a few people down this year..

A few or a lot? You said both. Not attempting to be nit picky. People always go down. My friend in the Chico area said virtually nothing happened through all the people he knows. A few people he deals with had compliance checks, they were over and nothing happened. Another place had like an acre covered in plants right next to a bus stop. I mean like on the other side of the fence pretty see through plastic mesh type fence.. They came in and told them they'd need to cut their count down next year even though they were in compliance. I drove by that place and just chuckled every time.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

yea ive been hearing most compliance checks have been smooth sailing as long as you dont have warrants and are under 100 plants....and mostly the grows in town have been geting checked, not up in the foothills, since they dont have warrants and would be hard to trespass on the mountain properties compared to urban areas... all of the busts that happened in the foothills were the result of the big DEA/BINTF raids that happened in late september and early october...its a small percentage of the total grows but enough to notice IMO..

 

[SCF]

Nitpick? Just google...

Nitpick? Just google...

A few or a lot? You said both. Not attempting to be nit picky. People always go down. My friend in the Chico area said virtually nothing happened through all the people he knows. A few people he deals with had compliance checks, they were over and nothing happened. Another place had like an acre covered in plants right next to a bus stop. I mean like on the other side of the fence pretty see through plastic mesh type fence.. They came in and told them they'd need to cut their count down next year even though they were in compliance. I drove by that place and just chuckled every time.

Big Bust

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...n-of-marijuana-cultivation-sutter-county-jail

9:44 a.m. EST, September 12, 2012|Rob Parsons, Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.
Two small arson fires in July led to an estimated $3.5 million marijuana bust on Tuesday believed to be connected to an organized drug trafficking operation south of Yuba City, authorities said.

"Somebody tried to set the grow on fire, and that's kind of what got this whole thing started," NET-5 task force Cmdr. Martin Horan explained.




Hidden behind a prune orchard on foreclosed land just south of Central Street off Highway 99, agents seized 442 nearly mature marijuana plants around 7 a.m.

Horan called it the largest marijuana bust so far this year.

Agents arrested Jesus Reyna Vega, 31, of Delano, and Francisco Vazquez-Pacheco, 28, of Bakersfield, on suspicion of marijuana cultivation and being armed while committing felonies. Salvador Medina, 52, of Reedley, was also arrested on suspicion of marijuana cultivation.

All three were booked into the Sutter County Jail, agents said.

Horan said it remains unclear which trafficking organization may have been responsible for the grow and said the people arrested were not cooperating with investigators.

Agents found a pistol, a rifle and a camp site at the garden, which was surrounded by boards. Officials said at least two people were staying there for several months.

Investigators were called to the scene after the fires in July and found the marijuana recommendations stapled to the plywood fence.

Horan said copies of six medical marijuana recommendations were found at the site, but the cardholders were not aware of the operation.

"This appears to be a new aspect of the (trafficking organizations); they were able to contain copies of 215 scripts and use them fraudulently," Horan said. "We contacted three of the six people with prescriptions, and learned they didn't know anything about a grow near Yuba City. They didn't even know where Yuba City was."

One of the recommendations was local and the others were out of Fresno and Visalia, agents said.

"They were able to obtain copies and put them up hoping officers would just see them and go away," Horan said.

Chandler Station Ranch in Sutter County donated a backhoe for officials to remove the plants, which agents said was a tremendous help.

Agents calculated the street value by assuming each of the 442 plants would yield at least four pounds of marijuana buds and that each pound would sell for $2,000, which would place the street value at more than $3.5 million.

 

[skull and roses]

yea ive been hearing most compliance checks have been smooth sailing as long as you dont have warrants and are under 100 plants....and mostly the grows in town have been geting checked, not up in the foothills, since they dont have warrants and would be hard to trespass on the mountain properties compared to urban areas... all of the busts that happened in the foothills were the result of the big DEA/BINTF raids that happened in late september and early october...its a small percentage of the total grows but enough to notice IMO..

I agree with this, there has been more busts in the Chico hills this year compared to last.

 

[somoz]

......

 

[Z-ro]

Nondual, do you even grow or do you just come on IC to talk about how low you hope to buy packs for? Can we leave personal interest, speculation and manipulation out of this thread and just stick to facts.

 

[kifmaster]

Yuppppp.

Breh if it aint a cash buyer, there is no discussion on price. If its on the arm with no collateral your gonna pay 36 for that 34 pack. The only people who can get away with that shit are clubs. And even then fuck em, if its flight they wont let you walk out of the shop with it.

haha such a simple aspect and yet many folks just dont get it....specifically alot of the younger up and coming dealers nowadays. its funny when you tell someone "i get cashed out 34 a LB for these.." and they counter with.."well, can you front me for 32?"...they dont understand that taking a lowball offer is basically taking money out of my pocket...on 3lbs @ 34 a pop and your bullshit 32 a LB offer is basically robbing me of 600 bucks, so dont take it personal when you get denied for lowballing!

as a producer you are only as good as your distribution, having the best quality ensures multiple buyers will be lining up for your wares and allows you to only entertain the best offers....ive been fortunate to never have a problem moving my herbs, in fact its the opposite there is often so much demand for high grade that i have to turn many people down and hurt feelings lol...

 

[nomaad]

Nondual, do you even grow or do you just come on IC to talk about how low you hope to buy packs for? Can we leave personal interest, speculation and manipulation out of this thread and just stick to facts.

I value Nondual's opinions. Known him for years (under various ic names and irl) to be thoughtful, open to the ideas of others and full of useful information.

 

[gingerale]

^ Yeah, I enjoy reading Nondual's posts. Haters get bent

 

[FreedomFightr]

This one of the huge Bust's I was talking about. Non Locals getting out of control. There was a huge bust in Blocksburg last week. They got over 700 pounds dried ready to go, They also had like 800 plants still in the ground.

http://www.times-standard.com/ci_21...sburg-17-arrested-at-scene?source=most_viewed

 

[redbudduckfoot]

right. but look at the names in the arrest record. lol. pretty much all hispanic out of towners. im guessing locals are doing just fine, staying off the radar.

rbdf

 

[SCF]

This thread has always made me feel uncomfortable. As too much information is Divulged, as to how we run things. When i was a Mod, i Deleted things of such, as we dont want government officials, to know... Our Game.. so to speak. Incase we have to go underground. i highly suggest not to give to much information about yourself, your situation, where you live, not even the county, or State for that matter. They have so much control over the situation, you dont even know....

Doobieduck if you read the News On the front page. you will see, the government, his local government, was able to out him just from a simple google search. In which now, the government, knows everything he has posted here, etc.

What if they decided to use, Conspiracy charges against people like us, with Freedom Of speech.

Please my friends, be careful. I have learned to not Fear. But i am starting to think, we all have to protect our internet usage, and know how to be a " Non Entity" on the internet.

I know i have been stupid about my internet usage. But i also feel strongly in Freedom Of speech. But thats a whole other topic. Except the underground thing. Peace.

I didn't get popped but they came on my property for a "compliance check" this year. Crept up behind me while I was BBQ'n outside and scared the shit out of me. They were super nice, part of the game as well, butter you up so they can get more words out of you and come back during harvest to corn-hole you proper style. Everything is recorded so be wise about what you say, don't be difficult because they'll be back the next day with a warrant, but don't spill the entire can of beans on how you setup your operation.


....cause they'll ask you questions such as 'oh, how much was that water tank over there or that irrigation system looks really expensive how much did it cost' ....trying to have you state you paid for everything to be setup like a commercial farm. Say it was all there or be creative but not a smart ass.

In the end, I was cooperative and offered them water, beer, and Italian sausages, they declined to eat.

I was in butte county as well, and literally every big farm around me got either chopped, or shut down for the year as a precautionary measure. There were a bunch of monster(8-10 pounders) 99's around me, which I felt they would go after and leave my 60 alone....not the case. I also had a bunch of starts in our greenhouse for a buddies indoor, that was my fuck up.

Don't know how prevalent this information is but my lawyer was saying they don't really care about small plants, so for example if you have 80 tiny little 1 or 2 pounders, that really doesn't interest them as much as if you have 50 mammoth trees. It's all about proving that it's not medical, so priors, script check up on your patients...all that kind of angle. Essentially what I was told is that butte county sheriff dept will give you 3 elbos per script and not necessarily conform to plant numbers as much as weight numbers.....they are getting a tad smarter these boys are..........and they were out this year to prove to butte county voters that they made a mistake in overturning the ordinance. Just pissed me off is all it did.

So I essentially shut things down as a precautionary measure, I'd rather run away to play another day vs getting caught up in a legal battle that drags on forever, and they can seize your property as well which is a double dick in you. Rang the lawyer right after they left, talked about it with the crew, and the best move was to chop everything and either flip the property or be better prepared for a compliance check next year.

I have a feeling I'm going to be up in the hills next year though, done with the lower level headaches.

Thank you for sharing... Hope everything works out.

 

[huligun]

right. but look at the names in the arrest record. lol. pretty much all hispanic out of towners. im guessing locals are doing just fine, staying off the radar.

rbdf

Being a Colombian national let me say this about that...

Many foreign nationals whether legal or not feel that the worst thing that will happen to them in a felony arrest is deportation. I met a man in jail (I was just in there over a weekend for a small matter) that was arrested with 10kg of cocaine. He felt that he was just going to be deported. Through contacts in and out of that jail I found that he was looking at 5 years federal. I believe he was trying to get the drugs into Canada

 

[redbudduckfoot]

so u r saying that they are misled when hired? also, I was not as much saying they were from Latin America, I was making the correlation that they were Hispanics from other states, Nj, Fl, etc. Not Exactly Humbolt/Butte/Trinity county Locals.

 

[redbudduckfoot]

And this bust was carried out by Humbolt county, not the DEA. so I'd Say it was locals protecting locals.

rbdf

 

[huligun]

I don't think anyone was misled. I think that there is a misconception by many foreign nationals that you will not go to jail if arrested in the USA. If the lure of Big Money or just a job involves risk, they are not properly informed.

The foreign national that I spoke of was arrested by country officials and during the plea bargaining stages the Feds just picked up his case. He really had no idea of the risks, or even the consequences of such a large quantity. Having lived here for so long I thought everyone knew that much blow was a no-no and was surprised he was only looking at 5 years. And in fact that five years was based on a plea bargain, not going to trial.

I just like to mention this kind of story from time to time to inform aliens that deportation is not the worst thing that can happen to you. In my case deportation could be a death sentence so I am very careful.

 

[SCF]

State, feds, tribal police seize nearly 2,000 pot plants on Yurok Reservation

The Times-Standard
Posted: 10/04/2012 02:11:23 AM PDT

Working with tribal, state and federal law enforcement agencies, the Yurok Tribe announced Wednesday the recent eradication of three large-scale marijuana growing operations on the Yurok Reservation.
On Tuesday, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office and the Yurok Department of Public Safety served search warrants on a property off Johnson's Road owned by Dan Sundberg, according to the release. Several people were detained and questioned on site. Nearly 200 mature plants were found on the property. No arrests were made, but the investigation is ongoing, the release states.
On Sept. 25, the tribe's Department of Public Safety, Hoopa Valley Tribal Police, sheriff's office, California Highway Patrol and officers from the Bureau of Indian Affairs served search warrants at two properties on the eastern edge of the reservation near Weitchpec. Nearly 200 pounds of processed pot and 1,755 mature pot plants were seized in the joint law enforcement operation, according to a press release.
”We are trying to get the word out. If you are growing pot on the reservation, you are going to get caught,” the tribe's Department of Public Safety Chief Mary McQuillen said in the release. “These illegal operations are causing serious harm to the reservation community and the environment.”
The tribe's Department of Public Safety asks the public to report illegal activity on the reservation by calling 707-482-8185.

http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_21696360/state-feds-tribal-police-seize-nearly-2-000

 

[SCF]

Downey Calls for Backup

Downey Calls for Backup

http://www.northcoastjournal.com/news/2012/07/26/downey-calls-backup/3/

Downey Calls for Backup

Overwhelmed by marijuana, the county sheriff looks to the feds for help

(JULY 26, 2012) Over the last couple of weeks, Humboldt County has been virtually crawling with federal law enforcement agents on the prowl for big-time weed dealers. First, on July 10, came United States Drug Enforcement Administration agents, who served multiple search warrants in SoHum and, with help from the Humboldt County Drug Task Force, arrested 13 people — some local, others not. (Three of the 13 were placed on immigration hold status.)

Eight days later, agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Minneapolis, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security, led raids on properties in Bayside, Sunny Brae, Petrolia and Garberville. These raids appeared to be the culmination of a multi-agency, multi-state investigation, and according to the Sioux FallsArgus Leader they led to the arrests of three South Dakota men. Two of the three, including Sean McFarland, a singer and rhythm guitarist for a popular alt-country band called Snakebeard Jackson, had moved to Humboldt County in March, 2010. All three have been charged with conspiring to distribute at least 220 pounds of marijuana.

One of several marijuana grow operations photographed last year by Humboldt County sheriff’s deputies. PHOTO COURTESY HUMBOLDT COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE.

Clearly the county’s black market marijuana industry is booming, and while local law enforcement didn’t want to say much about the recent raids, referring all questions to equally tight-lipped federal agencies, Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey said the backup is welcome. As a matter of fact, he said, “I’m the one, I hope, who initiated it.”

Frustrated by the proliferation of large-scale outdoor grow operations, along with the erosion of state resources, Downey decided to ask the federal government for help. Last October he began meeting with U.S. Attorney General Melinda Haag, who has taken a hardline stance against marijuana, even going so far as to target reputable medical marijuana dispensaries. And Downey didn’t stop there.

“I began to reach out then, not only to the U.S. Attorney’s Office but [also to] the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the U.S. Marshall’s Office, ATF.”

The problem, Downey said, is that state resources for the drug war have all but disappeared. The budget approved earlier this year by Gov. Jerry Brown includes $71 million in cuts to the state’s law enforcement division and threatens to eliminate the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, which confiscated $17 billion worth of marijuana from California forests in 2010.

The inter-governmental Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP), which once struck fear in the hearts of outdoor growers throughout the Emerald Triangle, is now “a shadow of what it used to be,” Downey said. “Everything’s been downsized. Those programs have been decimated.”

Here’s how bad things have gotten: Last year, Humboldt County sheriff’s deputies in helicopters took aerial photographs of nearly a dozen massive outdoor growing operations, mostly located in the Redwood Creek watershed, but they didn’t have the resources to do anything about them, Downey said.

Those resources should be easier to come by if the county gets accepted into a federal program that targets large-scale drug trafficking and production. Established in 1988, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program, or HIDTA, is designed to foster cooperation among federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies. Counties that are part of a HIDTA (pronounced hide-uh) also have increased access to federal resources. Downey wants to get Humboldt County in on that action. He and other law enforcement officials in the county have petitioned the Office of National Drug Control Policy to be added to the existing Northern California HIDTA, which includes 11 counties stretching up the coast from Monterey to Mendocino and east to Alameda, Contra Costa and Lake.

The benefits of the program are both strategic and financial. Each HIDTA — and there are 28 across the country, incorporating 16 percent of all U.S. counties and 60 percent of the U.S. population — is guided by an executive board that includes federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement leaders. The board designs initiatives and requests funding to implement them. The program also offers support for technology, intelligence analysis and training.

Ron Brooks is the director of the Northern California HIDTA, which was designated in 1997. At the time it included just 10 counties; Mendocino wasn’t added until last year, following a collaborative application effort led by Sheriff Tom Allman. Brooks said there are no hard and fast criteria for acceptance into the program, but a key step is for local agencies to conduct a thorough analysis of drug trafficking in the region.

“They should try to develop a true threat picture,” Brooks said, “not just a guess but to really understand: How many trafficking organizations are operating in the county? What’s their production capacity? What’s their level of sophistication? And how does it impact other parts of the state or the country?”

Political support is also important. Mendocino County engaged Congressman Mike Thompson and Sen. Diane Feinstein in its effort to join the Northern California HIDTA. Thompson believes Humboldt should be included as well, and not just because of marijuana.

“Local law enforcement’s resources are strained because of the ongoing fight against the rampant expansion of methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana trafficking,” Thompson said in a statement to the Journal. “They need the assistance of HIDTA funds, which will allow the county’s law enforcement to improve their intelligence-gathering abilities and more effectively combat the threat of widespread drug trafficking.”

Brooks said the timeline for a decision on Humboldt’s inclusion is uncertain. A lot depends on whether there’s enough money in the program. “They don’t add counties very often,” he said.

Lately the federal government has made little distinction between medical marijuana dispensaries and commercial grow operations, going after both with renewed zeal. While Downey acknowledges that some dispensaries are clearly motivated by profit rather than compassion, he still believes that the state should be allowed to regulate dispensaries. But that’s not his call.

“If the federal government is going to have the stance that any type of cultivation is illegal,” he said, “then I need some help here.”

 

[redbudduckfoot]

its just people getting greedy. douches moving out to cali and rocking 99+ grows OD their first year, lol. I plan to move to a med state(cali or Wa) and I would stay indoor, less than 10K for the first few years, to dly under the radar and stay safe. 2 5K flip rooms, 10 P every 40 days, hell, If I cant pay the mortgage and live well on 10 a month, then the wife and I are FOOLS!!!

LOL

seems to me if you stay small, mom n pop, like peeps in the early days of 215 and even before, you all good. I've heard of locals doing well, over 30+ years and never a bust. plenty of toys, just not pushing an Escalade or Merc. thats just SLOPPY DICE, to say the least.

rbdf