Law enforcement officers package illegal marijuana found in Colorado.
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The Denver Post report also indicated that marijuana lobbyists are looking to the Colorado Legislature for help, stating, “Several legislators tried but failed to pass a law that would have removed pesticides entirely from the list of ingredients on marijuana product packages”.
The raids of pot grows on public lands were conducted by federal and local law enforcement agencies over the last six weeks in counties across the state including Jefferson, Montrose, Fremont and Routt. He believes it is the work of groups outside the U.S. Indeed, legal ganjapreneurs no doubt cheer such operations, since they remove black market marijuana from the pipeline, thereby providing less competition for cannabis grown properly under Colorado law.
The case underscores disagreement over what chemicals should be allowed in the cultivation of pot and leaves the plaintiffs facing a dilemma: The US government still regards nearly all marijuana as an illicit drug and there are no federal safety guidelines for growing it.
Another factor is that Colorado’s legal recreational marijuana leads lawbreakers to think there won’t be as much enforcement here.
Don’t be surprised if we hear about more raids against illegal grows on federal land.
In April, Watchdog Arena reported the emerging concerns from the agricultural community, specifically fruit growers in western Colorado, who were alarmed by the possible implications of having an outdoor marijuana grow in the midst of fruit orchards.
The Department of Justice said law enforcement agencies have identified and dismantled six major grows in Colorado, many of them found in National Forests and Bureau of Land Management property. Further, a handgun was found. Additional site clean-up of trash and other items will be ongoing by the U.S. Forest Service. Those arrested were growing the marijuana in Cotopaxi and Westcliffe, and then either driving or using UPS to send the marijuana to Florida.
The largest seizure from the raids occurred in early September in southern Colorado, where hunters stumbled across a pot growing operation in the San Isabel National Forest.
Brandan Flores and Brandie Larrabee allege that distributor and retailer LivWell has for years applied Eagle 20, a fungicide that contains the chemical myclobutanil, to its marijuana crop.
“I don’t think we’re going to completely eliminate outdoor grows in the future”, he said.
BLM Rangers discovered more than 1,200 fully mature marijuana plants, many exceeding six-feet-tall, along with 211 kilograms of dried marijuana and a rifle.
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In addition. Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman has assigned fraud investigators to review whether a few marijuana companies are improperly using the word “organic” on products. One Honduran and five Mexican nationals were arrested.
