hotrodharley
Well-Known Member
https://cannabis.net/blog/news/what-humboldt-police-learned-from-al-capone
"The violations are glaring. Pot growers steal water, illegally cut down and clear forested areas, build unpermitted greenhouses and dump massive amounts of fertilizer on their crops, police say. Now growers find themselves targeted by cops accompanied by code inspectors. While criminal cases can take months or years to wend their way through the court system, civil violations are far easier to prove.
The county has already seen progress in approaching the growers for environmental offenses instead of criminal offenses.
Using environmental and business-regulation laws to fight these operations has local lawmakers hopeful. But even with better tools at hand, they face the daunting and possibly insurmountable challenge of better-funded growers.
The new county rules, authorized by a broader statewide law, require growers to register industrial-scale cannabis operations and to comply with basic environmental regulations, the same kinds of rules that conventional farmers or orchards have to follow.
It is a pretty crafty move and helps the environment. Do you remember how the FEDS got Al Capone? It wasn’t a murder charge or racketeering charge; it was income tax evasion. They were able to get Capone’s accountant to talk and they put him away for income tax evasion. He later died in prison due to syphilis.
The Humboldt sheriffs can’t get criminal charges to stick so they are bringing in the environmental police to give out hefty fines that don’t have to go before a judge.
You didn't get busted for illegal weed, you got busted for illegal water usage and removing trees. Pay up.
"The violations are glaring. Pot growers steal water, illegally cut down and clear forested areas, build unpermitted greenhouses and dump massive amounts of fertilizer on their crops, police say. Now growers find themselves targeted by cops accompanied by code inspectors. While criminal cases can take months or years to wend their way through the court system, civil violations are far easier to prove.
The county has already seen progress in approaching the growers for environmental offenses instead of criminal offenses.
Using environmental and business-regulation laws to fight these operations has local lawmakers hopeful. But even with better tools at hand, they face the daunting and possibly insurmountable challenge of better-funded growers.
The new county rules, authorized by a broader statewide law, require growers to register industrial-scale cannabis operations and to comply with basic environmental regulations, the same kinds of rules that conventional farmers or orchards have to follow.
It is a pretty crafty move and helps the environment. Do you remember how the FEDS got Al Capone? It wasn’t a murder charge or racketeering charge; it was income tax evasion. They were able to get Capone’s accountant to talk and they put him away for income tax evasion. He later died in prison due to syphilis.
The Humboldt sheriffs can’t get criminal charges to stick so they are bringing in the environmental police to give out hefty fines that don’t have to go before a judge.
You didn't get busted for illegal weed, you got busted for illegal water usage and removing trees. Pay up.