Thumbs Getting Greener in the Mormon State
November 3rd, 2008 by Perry
More than 90,000 marijuana plants were seized this year in rural Utah, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. During the months where the southern portion of the state has suitable conditions for growing marijuana, the state has seen an influx of what the federal government believes to be cartel-related activity.
Scott Burns, the deputy “drug czar” at the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy said:
These are large-scale, narco-traffickers. [...] These are the big guys.
What I found interesting is that no where in the story does the federal government justify why it believes its cartel activity, rather than local growers. The only reasoning offered is the appearance of the fields in Utah is a result of recent border tightening since 9/11. That combined with the scale of the operation, and its proximity to California and Mexico, apparently means cartel involvement.
I find it a little strange that there’s absolutely no cartel violence in Utah though. The DEA fails to explain how a state that’s 58 percent Mormon and 95 percent “white” according to the 2000 census, managed to smuggle in a whole cartel operation past the borders undetected.
Jeff Whatcott, commander of Central Utah Narcotics Task Force, said:
It’s still like looking for a needle in a haystack.
But you have to give it our federal government; drop a needle that smells like weed and by golly, they’ll go digging through that haystack.
