Police Claim Biggest Pot Raid in Years Wasn't Really About Pot

http://www.hightimes.com/read/police-claim-biggest-pot-raid-years-wasnt-really-about-pot



Police Claim Biggest Pot Raid in Years Wasn't Really About Pot
By Maureen Meehan · Wed Jul 01, 2015

When helicopters, SWAT teams, and local police descended on California’s Emerald Triangle last week and yanked out nearly 100,000 pot plants, the notable absence of the DEA had some folks scratching their heads.

According to the Times-Standard, the so-called “raid of the decade” was prompted by “evidence of massive water theft and other environmental violations.”

The police, who said it was as much a water raid as a pot raid, claimed growers were illegally using some 500,000 gallons of water a day from the nearby Eel river, now stagnant and moss-ridden.

~snip~.

However, Hezekiah Allen, director of the Emerald Growers Association, scoffs at the notion the raid was environmentally motivated. “This isn't about the environment; this is about business as usual,” noting that reservoirs at grow sites could be eco-friendly winter water storage sites to be used during the summer growing season. He also questioned the value of criminal raids just when the California Water Board is drafting a system of water-use permits and civil fines for pot farmers.