Pubdate: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Copyright: 2013 Hearst Communications Inc. Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1 Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388 Author: Larry Waldron Page: A9 PERILS OF GROWING POT Environmental destruction is caused by marijuana production on public and private forestlands in Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity counties. Forest clearing, diversion of streams, construction of hundreds of miles of eroding roads, unrestrained application of fertilizers, herbicides and rodenticides wreak damage on the ecosystem reminiscent of the worst logging practices of the past. The scale and remote location of these illegal activities apparently make them beyond the control of the various state and federal agencies meant to restrict them. This situation is a persuasive argument for the legalization of marijuana. Transferring its cultivation to agricultural cropland more suitable for its production and managed by legitimate businesses subject to regulation and taxation would be a progressive step. Of course these legitimate producers will resist regulation and do their best to evade taxation, but what else is new? Larry Waldron, Berkeley - --- MAP posted-by: Matt