The Marijuana Environment is Hazardous to Human Health
All creatures great and small are being poisoned by the pesticides and rodenticides in the water they drink, and in the food they eat. This polluted water from the northern California marijuana environment eventually flows to much of the State. The lawless pot industry is nothing less than purveyors of poison.
The recent scientific study “Cultivating Disaster: The Effect of Cannabis Cultivation on the Environment of Calaveras County,” points out that the cultivation of the drug was allowed by the State of California without adequate understanding of the impact on the environment and public health, welfare and safety. The chemicals that flow from the grow sites to the watershed had never been approved for these crops.
California classifies as an agricultural product. However, pot growers do not have to meet the same stringent requirements for chemicals and fertilizers as do all other farmers. Local water providers conduct limited testing to see if dangerous chemicals are leaching into water supplies or waste treatment systems.
However, independent water experts tested water samples in Calaveras County. They found that two-thirds of the samples contained chemicals proven to be deadly poison to humans, fish and animals.
Carbofuron is a threat
Of particular concern is carbofuron, an extremely toxic, water soluble granular pesticide. The US bans banned carbufuron, but Mexican cartels don’t follow the US ban. It is reported that an eighth of a teaspoon would kill a 300 lb black bear.
In 2017, UC Davis researchers found harmful bacteria and deadly mold and Aspergillus fungi on marijuana in grows and dispensaries. This critical threat from marijuana grows to our environment and the human population is just beginning to surface.
The damaging effects of marijuana (cannabis), often considered a hallucinogenic drug, have long been known. Marijuana with high levels of THC, the mind-altering chemical in marijuana, is being grown and sold today as a “medicine.” It is long-acting and addictive, causing brain damage, loss of intellect, psychotic breaks, suicides, mental illness, and birth defects and leads to other social costs from higher crime rates, highway deaths, excessive high school dropouts, and increased ER admissions, among others.
This lawless Big Marijuana Industry follows the playbook of Big Tobacco: GET KIDS HOOKED – ADDICTION OFTEN FOLLOWS. Their advertisements include images of Santa Claus, kids’ movies and cartoons, and they sell “edibles,” pot infused candy, lollipops and gummy bears with THC levels 50-70%. Many products are advertised as being 94-95% THC. Now there is crystalline THC that is 99.99% THC, known as “the strongest weed in the world.” Unfortunately, the public perception of marijuana is based on marijuana of the past – with 1- 5% THC.
Marijuana Industry kills spotted owls, too
The marijuana industry kills owls, too. Efforts to save the northern spotted owl brought down the California timber industry in the 1990s. Although the spotted owl made a comeback, the marijuana industry now threatens its survival.
A study led by University of California Davis researchers and released Thursday found that two owl species—the northern spotted owl and barred owl—are being exposed to high levels of rat poison from illegal marijuana grows in northern California. The owls eat the poisoned rodents.
“Proposition 64, which legalizes recreational marijuana in the state, took effect this month,” said the UC Davis press release. “With its arrival, resource managers expect the number and size of unpermitted, private cultivation sites to grow, which could exacerbate the problem.”
The study, published in the journal Avian Conservation and Ecology, found that “seven of the 10 northern spotted owls collected tested positive for rat poison, while 40 percent of 84 barred owls collected also tested positive for the poison.”
Cleaning up the Marijuana Environment
The Calaveras Study estimates 1200 grows sites in that county; U.S. Forest Service estimates a tag of 2 billion to reclaim these sites. An estimated 50,000 grow sites in California would cost 50 – 80 billion to reclaim. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife says, “We are aware of the seriousness of the problem, but (we) do not know who is going to help clean it up.”
U.S. Attorney General Sessions has indicated his willingness to enforce our federal food and drug and environment laws when it comes to marijuana. Our California U.S. Attorneys must prosecute those who have broken federal, state, and county ordinances and explore funding to pay for cleanup of the land. This is not just a California issue, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that federal marijuana laws preempt state laws and that marijuana control is a federal matter, not a states’ rights matter. There is no time to waste. Our future is at stake.
For more information, visit CAALM.info.Stop Pot is a non-partisan grassroots campaign started by citizens concerned about the damaging health effects, both physical and mental, of marijuana. We are also concerned about the impact of marijuana on the environment.