I came across the below ditty while googling the net for smugglers tools.(Just kidding) MJ history buffs should find it interesting, folks who live east of the Mason/Dixon line, in their best southern drawl will say "We'alls dont keer nothin bout that" but hopefully, freshly medicated peeps will at least, in between tokes, mumble, "Whoa, dude..."
As a N California born n bredster, IMO, the article speaks truth. While I cant validate the Canada to N California part, I can attest to the quality of the exported Humboldt County product, over the years, going down hill. I think greater demand through out California, resulting from Prop 215 has morphed Humbolt County into a "quantity over quality" state of mind.
In ANY business, product reputation is forever ongoing. The long lived reputation of "Humboldt Grown" has created a lapse in the grow curve due to a great number of old school growers in the area either not seeing the need to keep up with grow technology or they've just grown fat(dollars wise) & therefore, quite lazy. Yep, I said that. If you combine the wannabe growers who have migrated to N California like it was the gold fields of Alaska in the 1880's and who dont really have a clue as to what they are doing, add the various Mexican Cartels scurrying about in the hills, well, it's just a simple recipe for growing a lot of junk...
MF
"Operation Frozen Timber was the most significant marijuana bust in American history. Although it is not the largest (a bammer operation in Arizona takes that title), it certainly had the largest affect on American marijuana supplies. Operation Frozen Timber was a 2 year investigation involving helicopter pilots flying TONS of BC marijuana from the Canada side to the Washington State side (see the attached story). You can read the story for all the dirty details, because what I am interested in is the after affects on American marijuana policy and the marijuana industry.
Back in the day, most of the super nugs on the West Coast originated in Canada. Some in California might try to argue that they have never let Canada weed infiltrate their state, due to the awesome weed that is grown in Northern California. I am going to have to ask those people to put their pride aside. Northern California produces a significantly smaller amount of ‘super’ nugs, even to this day, when compared to Canada in the late 1990’s to 2006. ALL of the BC nugs were grown indoors, and although they weren’t uniform ‘super’ across the board, EVERY nug I saw from Canada was superior to the outdoor I see coming up from California now.
In this time period that I refer to as the ‘BC era,’ the farther north you went on I-5, the better deal you got. So if you lived in Eugene you went to Portland, if you lived in Portland you went to Seattle, or if you were really smart you just skipped everything and went straight to Seattle no matter where you were at. The weed came in heat sealed bags, with mysterious numbers written in the corner. I remember the best weed always had the number ‘5’ in the corner. I’m not sure why they chose that number, but I know I was really excited every time I saw it on a heat sealed bag.
Things changed in 2006 DRAMATICALLY. Everyone I ever knew up north went out of business. They didn’t know why they were so unlucky finding anything, until I explained to them what Operation Frozen Timber was about. At the time, these people figured it would pick up, as there HAD to be many other routes across the border. The last four years have proven them wrong. I literally have not seen 1 piece of BC weed since that bust. Many have tried to pass their weed off as BC super thunder, BUT I AM NO ROOKIE. I can sniff out a BC bud from a mile away.
So what are the effects on American marijuana policy? Although law enforcement essentially won the war on the Canada border, it has resulted in a nightmare they could have never imagined. Instead of smugglers doing risky operations over international borders, ALMOST all of the weed on the west coast originates in the ‘State of Jefferson.’ This is the area of Southern Oregon and Northern California, where marijuana activity has exploded since Operation Frozen Timber. This is much worse for law enforcement, as every state on the West Coast now has medical programs, and it is much more difficult to regulate than ever before. Now instead of BC bud on the West Coast in spurts, I-5 is flooded with outdoor weed that comes in turkey bags all year long. NEVER, and I mean NEVER have I seen super nugs come in a turkey bag…Not in four years. I’m sure there are super nugs in this area, but the locals keep it for themselves. The only thing that gets out to the masses is the outdoor ‘fake dank.’
The end result of Operation Frozen Timber is a system that is more broken than before, way crappier medicine for the weed fans, a problem that is growing exponentially, and a government that now has virtually no options but to maintain the status quo. I have done a lot of research on marijuana over the last decade, both academically and in my daily life, and I can honestly say that Operation Frozen Timber was the most significant bust in American history. If anyone doubts that, just go get a turkey bag of medicine and see if you aren’t convinced!"
Follow up:
"Accused Pot Smuggler Ordered Extradited To The U.S.
permalink
Canada - An accused helicopter pot smuggler has been ordered extradited to the United States to face drug charges in that country similar to ones dropped in Canada.
Dustin Haugen, a former associate of Abbotsford's Bacon brothers, was arrested after a recent ruling by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Selwyn Romilly.
Haugen filed an appeal last week of Romilly's ruling and has requested a new bail hearing, which has not yet taken place.
Haugen was charged in Chilliwack in 2006, after he and Daryl Desjardins were allegedly caught moving 135 kilograms of pot into Washington state in a Jet Ranger helicopter.
Police on both sides of the border were watching and taping the movement of the helicopter on May 9, 2006. U.S. authorities intercepted the pot after stopping a truck in Washington they say met the helicopter. When Haugen and Desjardins returned to their Harrison Hot Springs base, they were arrested by the RCMP.
Desjardins, now 48, pleaded guilty in an agreement that included dropping the charges against his younger co-accused, who is now 28.
But after the charges were stayed in Canada, the U.S. Attorney sought Haugen's extradition in connection with the same May 2006 smuggling operation.
Haugen's lawyers said it was a violation of their client's Charter rights to have him face charges in the U.S. after they had been dropped in Canada. But Romilly disagreed.
"There is no suggestion that Crown counsel entered the stay on the offences in order to allow these extradition proceedings to be undertaken by the requesting state," Romilly said.
Desjardins received a four-year sentence and is already out on parole.
Romilly noted that even though Desjardins was more involved in the smuggling plot, "if Haugen is convicted in the requesting state, there is a strong likelihood that his sentence would be much more severe than the sentence imposed on Desjardins."
"If Haugen is convicted of the offences by the requesting state, the parole considerations would not be as flexible as those in Canada," he said.
"If Haugen is convicted of the offences by the requesting state, the possibility of being allowed to serve any portion of his sentence in Canada seems remote."
But Romilly said it is ultimately up to the federal justice minister to decide whether the Charter rights of a requested person have been violated -- not the extradition judge.
"Following committal, the matter reverts to the minister who reviews the case in its entirety to determine whether to order the individual's surrender and, if so, on what basis," Romilly said.
Haugen's lawyers also argued that the U.S. Attorney had not provided sufficient evidence to link the Abbotsford man into the smuggling plot.
They said the link between the truck in which the marijuana was found and the helicopter is circumstantial.
Romilly said the defence lawyers were trying to get him to "evaluate each item of evidence on a piecemeal basis without regard to the cumulative effect of the whole of the evidence."
"On the whole of the evidence, an inference could easily be made that the GMC pickup stopped by police was the same vehicle in contact with the helicopter on the ground," he said.
Haugen crashed another Bell Ranger helicopter back in March 2005 that he was flying from a landing site leased by Jonathan Bacon. Haugen's girlfriend, Christina Alexander, was killed.
Desjardins and Haugen were charged as part of a massive cross-border probe of helicopter smuggling dubbed Operation Frozen Timber."
As a N California born n bredster, IMO, the article speaks truth. While I cant validate the Canada to N California part, I can attest to the quality of the exported Humboldt County product, over the years, going down hill. I think greater demand through out California, resulting from Prop 215 has morphed Humbolt County into a "quantity over quality" state of mind.
In ANY business, product reputation is forever ongoing. The long lived reputation of "Humboldt Grown" has created a lapse in the grow curve due to a great number of old school growers in the area either not seeing the need to keep up with grow technology or they've just grown fat(dollars wise) & therefore, quite lazy. Yep, I said that. If you combine the wannabe growers who have migrated to N California like it was the gold fields of Alaska in the 1880's and who dont really have a clue as to what they are doing, add the various Mexican Cartels scurrying about in the hills, well, it's just a simple recipe for growing a lot of junk...
MF"Operation Frozen Timber was the most significant marijuana bust in American history. Although it is not the largest (a bammer operation in Arizona takes that title), it certainly had the largest affect on American marijuana supplies. Operation Frozen Timber was a 2 year investigation involving helicopter pilots flying TONS of BC marijuana from the Canada side to the Washington State side (see the attached story). You can read the story for all the dirty details, because what I am interested in is the after affects on American marijuana policy and the marijuana industry.
Back in the day, most of the super nugs on the West Coast originated in Canada. Some in California might try to argue that they have never let Canada weed infiltrate their state, due to the awesome weed that is grown in Northern California. I am going to have to ask those people to put their pride aside. Northern California produces a significantly smaller amount of ‘super’ nugs, even to this day, when compared to Canada in the late 1990’s to 2006. ALL of the BC nugs were grown indoors, and although they weren’t uniform ‘super’ across the board, EVERY nug I saw from Canada was superior to the outdoor I see coming up from California now.
In this time period that I refer to as the ‘BC era,’ the farther north you went on I-5, the better deal you got. So if you lived in Eugene you went to Portland, if you lived in Portland you went to Seattle, or if you were really smart you just skipped everything and went straight to Seattle no matter where you were at. The weed came in heat sealed bags, with mysterious numbers written in the corner. I remember the best weed always had the number ‘5’ in the corner. I’m not sure why they chose that number, but I know I was really excited every time I saw it on a heat sealed bag.
Things changed in 2006 DRAMATICALLY. Everyone I ever knew up north went out of business. They didn’t know why they were so unlucky finding anything, until I explained to them what Operation Frozen Timber was about. At the time, these people figured it would pick up, as there HAD to be many other routes across the border. The last four years have proven them wrong. I literally have not seen 1 piece of BC weed since that bust. Many have tried to pass their weed off as BC super thunder, BUT I AM NO ROOKIE. I can sniff out a BC bud from a mile away.
So what are the effects on American marijuana policy? Although law enforcement essentially won the war on the Canada border, it has resulted in a nightmare they could have never imagined. Instead of smugglers doing risky operations over international borders, ALMOST all of the weed on the west coast originates in the ‘State of Jefferson.’ This is the area of Southern Oregon and Northern California, where marijuana activity has exploded since Operation Frozen Timber. This is much worse for law enforcement, as every state on the West Coast now has medical programs, and it is much more difficult to regulate than ever before. Now instead of BC bud on the West Coast in spurts, I-5 is flooded with outdoor weed that comes in turkey bags all year long. NEVER, and I mean NEVER have I seen super nugs come in a turkey bag…Not in four years. I’m sure there are super nugs in this area, but the locals keep it for themselves. The only thing that gets out to the masses is the outdoor ‘fake dank.’
The end result of Operation Frozen Timber is a system that is more broken than before, way crappier medicine for the weed fans, a problem that is growing exponentially, and a government that now has virtually no options but to maintain the status quo. I have done a lot of research on marijuana over the last decade, both academically and in my daily life, and I can honestly say that Operation Frozen Timber was the most significant bust in American history. If anyone doubts that, just go get a turkey bag of medicine and see if you aren’t convinced!"
Follow up:
"Accused Pot Smuggler Ordered Extradited To The U.S.
permalink
Canada - An accused helicopter pot smuggler has been ordered extradited to the United States to face drug charges in that country similar to ones dropped in Canada.
Dustin Haugen, a former associate of Abbotsford's Bacon brothers, was arrested after a recent ruling by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Selwyn Romilly.
Haugen filed an appeal last week of Romilly's ruling and has requested a new bail hearing, which has not yet taken place.
Haugen was charged in Chilliwack in 2006, after he and Daryl Desjardins were allegedly caught moving 135 kilograms of pot into Washington state in a Jet Ranger helicopter.
Police on both sides of the border were watching and taping the movement of the helicopter on May 9, 2006. U.S. authorities intercepted the pot after stopping a truck in Washington they say met the helicopter. When Haugen and Desjardins returned to their Harrison Hot Springs base, they were arrested by the RCMP.
Desjardins, now 48, pleaded guilty in an agreement that included dropping the charges against his younger co-accused, who is now 28.
But after the charges were stayed in Canada, the U.S. Attorney sought Haugen's extradition in connection with the same May 2006 smuggling operation.
Haugen's lawyers said it was a violation of their client's Charter rights to have him face charges in the U.S. after they had been dropped in Canada. But Romilly disagreed.
"There is no suggestion that Crown counsel entered the stay on the offences in order to allow these extradition proceedings to be undertaken by the requesting state," Romilly said.
Desjardins received a four-year sentence and is already out on parole.
Romilly noted that even though Desjardins was more involved in the smuggling plot, "if Haugen is convicted in the requesting state, there is a strong likelihood that his sentence would be much more severe than the sentence imposed on Desjardins."
"If Haugen is convicted of the offences by the requesting state, the parole considerations would not be as flexible as those in Canada," he said.
"If Haugen is convicted of the offences by the requesting state, the possibility of being allowed to serve any portion of his sentence in Canada seems remote."
But Romilly said it is ultimately up to the federal justice minister to decide whether the Charter rights of a requested person have been violated -- not the extradition judge.
"Following committal, the matter reverts to the minister who reviews the case in its entirety to determine whether to order the individual's surrender and, if so, on what basis," Romilly said.
Haugen's lawyers also argued that the U.S. Attorney had not provided sufficient evidence to link the Abbotsford man into the smuggling plot.
They said the link between the truck in which the marijuana was found and the helicopter is circumstantial.
Romilly said the defence lawyers were trying to get him to "evaluate each item of evidence on a piecemeal basis without regard to the cumulative effect of the whole of the evidence."
"On the whole of the evidence, an inference could easily be made that the GMC pickup stopped by police was the same vehicle in contact with the helicopter on the ground," he said.
Haugen crashed another Bell Ranger helicopter back in March 2005 that he was flying from a landing site leased by Jonathan Bacon. Haugen's girlfriend, Christina Alexander, was killed.
Desjardins and Haugen were charged as part of a massive cross-border probe of helicopter smuggling dubbed Operation Frozen Timber."
