Cartels plant pot in U.S. national forests

Mexican drug cartels are growing huge marijuana crops in U.S. National Forests rather than risk smuggling pot into the United States, officials say. CNN reported Friday that hundreds of millions of dollars worth of marijuana is being grown on federal lands. These aren't Cheech and Chong plants, said John Walters, director of the National Drug Control Policy. People who farm now are not doing this for laughs, despite the fact Hollywood still thinks that. They're doing it to make a lot of money. Authorities recently found a marijuana garden in the Sequoia National Forest, about a two- to four-hour hike from the nearest road, where some 10,000 pot plants were planted. The plants had a street value of about $40 million, officials said. This is about serious criminal organizations, Walters said. They're willing to kill anybody who... [read full story]