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Thursday, September 14, 2017

50,000 CA Marijuana Farms: Banned Pesticides Showing Up in CA Water

Posted by Yaqui from: US News and World Report

TOXIC PESTICIDES AND OTHER CHEMICALS FROM ILLEGAL GROWS COULD BE AFFECTING DRINKING WATER, ACCORDING TO ARTICLE IN U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT

Intro thanks to: Kym Kemp Sept 10, 2017

Yesterday, U.S. News and World Report posted an article from Reuters about how banned pesticides and other chemicals found in illegal marijuana grows may be affecting drinking water. Tests done by various official entities show toxic chemicals in “rivers and streams that feed the state’s water supply, prompting fears that humans and animals may be at risk.”

Dogs and even law enforcement officers have gotten ill from coming into contact with the poisons.

Mourad Gabriel of Integral Ecology Research Center stands amid an illegal marijuana grow site in Northern California. Gabriel led research with UC Davis connecting rat poison at such sites to the deaths of fishers, weasel-like mammals proposed for federal listing as a threatened species.
The article is based on research by Humboldt County resident Mourad Gabriel. The article states,
Gabriel, who has visited more than 100 sites in California and is widely considered the leading authority on toxins at marijuana farms, said about half the streams he studied in eight watersheds in the state’s prime pot-growing regions tested positive for contaminants.

Highly Toxic Rotanticide, Chemical Fertilizers , Insecticides
Plus a Jose Cuervo Tequila Bottle and El Dorado Tuna Cans
Indicating a possible Cartel Grow
Growers are often dropped off in unknown (to them ) Locations to set up, tend gardens and don't even know what state or county  they are in, Supplies flown in or set up by locals .
In unpublished data seen by Reuters, Gabriel’s testing showed carbofuran, diazinon and other chemicals were present downstream from pot farms in Kern County in Central California, Humboldt County on the state’s northwestern coast, Mendocino County north of Santa Rosa and others. In some cases, the chemicals were present only in trace amounts.

Some streams tested positive more than a year after law enforcement cleared illegal grows from nearby land.

Typical Ca Grow Scene
SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - Toxic chemicals from illegal marijuana farms hidden deep in California's forests are showing up in rivers and streams that feed the state's water supply, prompting fears that humans and animals may be at risk, data reviewed by Reuters show.

The presence of potentially deadly pollutants in eight Northern and Central California watersheds is the latest sign of damage to the environment from thousands of illegal cannabis plantations, many of them run by drug cartels serving customers in other states, according to law enforcement.

"I don't drink out of the creeks - and I used to," said Sergeant Nathaniel Trujillo, a narcotics expert with the sheriff's department of Trinity County, about 200 miles north of San Francisco. "I grew up drinking out of them."

California accounts for more than 90 percent of illegal U.S. marijuana farming. There are as many as 50,000 marijuana farms in California according to state estimates, and even though voters legalized the drug last November, only about 16,000 growers are expected to seek licenses when commercial cultivation becomes legal next year.
Many of the illegal growers use fertilizers and pesticides long restricted or banned in the United States, including carbofuran and zinc phosphide.

The chemicals have turned thousands of acres of forest into waste dumps so toxic that law enforcement officers have been hospitalized after inadvertently touching plants and equipment, and scores of animals have died.

The streams in which they have been detected are crucial sources of water for fish, vulnerable animals including the Pacific fisher and the Northern Spotted Owl and are used for drinking by people and cattle. Ultimately, the contaminated rivers and creeks flow into the massive water supply system relied on by the most populous U.S. state.

"Carbofuran is in the water, and it's not supposed to be," said Mourad Gabriel, an ecologist who works with law enforcement on marijuana contamination issues. "How are we going to mitigate something like that?"

Carbofuran poisoning can cause headaches, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, uncontrollable muscle twitching, convulsions and even death, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Poisoning by diazinon, another chemical Gabriel has found in streams, can cause difficulty breathing, weakness, blue lips and fingernails, convulsion and coma, the agency says.


Gabriel, who has visited more than 100 sites in California and is widely considered the leading authority on toxins at marijuana farms, said about half the streams he studied in eight watersheds in the state's prime pot-growing regions tested positive for contaminants.

In unpublished data seen by Reuters, Gabriel's testing showed carbofuran, diazinon and other chemicals were present downstream from pot farms in Kern County in Central California, Humboldt County on the state's northwestern coast, Mendocino County north of Santa Rosa and others. In some cases, the chemicals were present only in trace amounts.

Some streams tested positive more than a year after law enforcement cleared illegal grows from nearby land.

At Brush Mountain in Kern County, law enforcement shut down a growing operation in June 2014, Gabriel said. But testing the following November and December showed the presence of diazinon in a local stream.


CHEMICAL "LAYER CAKE"

In further testing in February 2015, the stream appeared to be chemical-free. But chemicals showed up again the following year, Gabriel's unpublished data show, prompting him to speculate that it can take months or years for chemicals to migrate through the soil.

"It's like a layer cake," Gabriel said. "They put chemical on chemical on chemical. We'll find different chemicals in the water on different years."

In another instance, a stream in Trinity County tested negative for pesticides in 2014 but positive in December 2016. The state does not have a comprehensive testing program for marijuana contaminants, and little such work has been done at the local level, officials said.

But many people and animals rely on water from local streams. And some are growing concerned.




Patricia Young, whose family grazes cattle in Shasta County, said eight cows have died suddenly over the past three years near an irrigation channel they use for drinking.

Young said the family was worried the cows died from poisoning from marijuana farms in nearby woods, and they were testing the stream.

The chemicals have been found in game animals, including a quail Gabriel shot and ate with his family, and numerous deer and elk whose livers were tested in a study for the Mule Deer and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundations, he said.

Trujillo, the Trinity County sheriff's department narcotics sergeant, said his law enforcement dog, a Belgian Malinois named Johnny, almost died from pesticide poisoning after jumping into a reservoir at an illegal marijuana grow.


California is developing regulations for marijuana farms including rules about water quality and pesticide use, but widespread water testing is not included.

The federal government, which owns much of the land on which illegal marijuana grows are planted, has also not conducted extensive testing of streams near the toxic sites, officials said.


"Indoor and /or Light Dep Grow
Light Dep = 4 Crops per Year if all goes well
Matt St. John, executive officer of the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board in the heart of marijuana country, said his agency is planning to regulate pesticide use by marijuana farmers. But testing streams on a regular basis would be too expensive, he said.

Trinity County supervisors will decide on Sept. 19 whether to authorize a testing program along part of the Trinity River and its tributaries.

"Maybe six months down the road we'll say water quality wasn't affected all that much," said Trinity County Planning Director Leslie Hubbard. "But maybe we'll say we have a disaster on our hands."

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Ben Klayman and Cynthia Osterman)

60 comments:

  1. The toxic grows are most definitely cartel grows...most American growers know how to grow in their area without using toxic stuff. Who would even wanna smoke that nasty crap anyway... Washington and Oregon is where the best smoke is...legal, and dirt cheap...Super good....that's why the cartels switched to Meth and Heroin...no money in crappy brick weed..

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    1. ElGrandeRojo your rite about not wanting to smoke that garbage but the outdoor weed grown in the Great State of CALIFORNIA is not consumed here it's pretty much shipped out of state.But its funny this report is now coming out. Why weren't they doing something about it decades ago? Oh yea that's Rite bye legalizing marijuana you won't need to police it I think law enforcement is feeling a bit insecure about their jobs they have to come up with new titles and new agencies in order to keep their high paying job's. DO NOT BE FOOLED they really don't care about the water! Actions speak louder than words people have been growing pot in those areas since the 60s maybe even before that it's 2017 and now they're worried about it? I'm not buying. It's all about MONEY and job security

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    2. El Rojo, hay mucho dinero en la mota de Sinaloa. You buy 1,000 kilos for $17,000 - $20,000 and then leave at 1am and fly north of USA border checks and the buyers will pay $250-280 the kilo. This leaves profit of more than $200,000 and for the people in Mexico $200,000 in one day is very good money

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    3. Migo kamusta with the biz CDMazatlan

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    4. Why do they let them poison the land by letting them grow toxic garbage on public parks, they can't be getting rich selling toxic garbage to out of state idiots, polluting rivers, lands & get away with it just like that. Culprits gots to be drug cartel cell members or local gangs that for sure.

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    5. Trash people. So irresponsible behavior.

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    6. You know they still use chemicals to deal with pests for the larger industrial grows in Washington, Colorado, and Oregon, right? The legal pot farms are no different than the so-called organic farms when it comes to spraying their crops. Smaller amounts per spray, but more often.

      That said, on the positive side, at least with legal growers you can fine them for using certain chemicals or contaminating water supplies. Still taking in that junk when you use MJ and various products though. But to each their own, so long as it doesn't hurt anyone else.

      KB

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    7. 8:35 you must not leave the basement. There's more crimes then just weed. Rape, Murder, Terrorism, Finding bad Hombres all of that

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    8. http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-hmong-marijuana-siskiyou-20170910-htmlstory.html#nws=mcnewsletter

      It's not just cartels.

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    9. Thanks for that link. Seriously, check it out !
      No, it's really not just Cartels , it's a whole lot of everybodies.
      Green rushers. There is Mtn top removal growing too, where they illegally doze roads up steep mountainsides , chop the trees down, put up 20 plastic hoophouse greenhouses, haul in diesel generators, pump the water out of every watershed /hole / spring sometimes up hill a thousand feet for everyone w Google Earth to see.
      Sure there are Mom and Pop's totally organic homesteads too and they all HATE what is happening.
      GE It. A lot of the old Cartel grows have been cleaned out of many National Forests, NOT to be confused with PARKS as I saw someone mention. Now they trespass grow on TPZ lands, ie logging company land and private property , also sometimes w/o the owners knowledge if it is a big spread. They lease land , buy properties, rent garages , grow houses
      and on and on.
      That Hmong story is another sad example.
      If everyone just had one plant in their yard we would all be good with that,
      but of course that opens another whole can of worms.

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    10. Check out that extra link : Kym Kemp. She does an awesome job on N Ca.......there a doooozy in there today. 14,000 Christmas tree bust. 🌲
      She also carried the LA Times Hmong grow story.

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    11. Worst part is them sobs are still out doing the same in other places.

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    12. 3:32 you and your myths,
      --the new EPA commissioner says it is all well, after suing the agency for years he is firmly in power there to fack it up to hell, from inside, and the son of the first EPA commissioner would agree with him, his name Neil Gorsuch, the new supreme court member...must have been adopted...

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    13. B.s the weed production in Sinaloa went down drastically after the legalization. The new thing is growing opium poppy.. Same thing in tierra caliente

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    14. 3:33; FAKE NEWS! Why don't you look and see how much weed is being busted in both Mexico, the Border Patrol, and in route from the border. If you actually knew what you were talking about you'd know that no farmer is going to put all his eggs in one basket with poppy because even though marijuana is identifiable from air it's not nearly as identifiable as poppy from a much higher altitude and flying much much faster.

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  2. Oh well . California wants it they can keep it . The refer addicts finally come of age . Shits good for you now . LOL . Just because a bunch of addicts say what they are doing is good , don't make it true . It don't matter how many time a lie is repeated its still a lie . I know people that was smoking it day and night over 40 years ago and they still are . Somes lungs have gotten so bad they use alternative methods . Back then if they run out they went nuts hunting it and I'm sure they do the same today. Non addictive ? SHIT

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    Replies
    1. Calm down grandpa

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    2. ... Go Back To Your Alcohol & Cigarettes As They Are Really "Addictive" ... Would I Rather Smoke Marijuana Or Smoke Cancer Sticks And Drink Like A Sailor ? ,,, Hmm ... Reefer Addict - JeJeJe , Someone Must Have Believed That Old Movie Reefer Madness ... I Work Everyday , Pay Taxes & Vote ... Why Can't I Use My Mediical Marijuana That Is Prescribed By A Doctor To Me ? ...

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    3. 8:43 califa grows to supply other states, otherwise it would be counterproductive, imagine nobody paying taxes and smoking their produce on the farms, no money for the state.

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  3. While I don't contest that pot grows do contaminate the water and soils of the national forests and parks, what gets me is how these same "authorities" never mention the fact that legal crops like corn, cotton, grapes, walnuts, tomatoes, strawberries, oranges, etc; all these crops are sprayed, fumigated, and fertilized and these chemicals go into the air and water and soil.
    It seems to me just another way to demonize weed. Kind of like someone smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer and telling me not to do drugs!

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    Replies
    1. @8:55 This true, but with legal operations you can fine or shut down places that use illegal chemicals or that you can show contaminated water supplies beyond legally accepted levels. Hard to do with these grows since most of the time they don't catch anyone there unless they tailed them to the site.

      KB

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    2. Not to mention the well drilling......and the, ahem, labor problems.

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    3. 3:55 the worst labor problem is the courts paying too much attention to laborers complaints, on top of their lazy ways and not even being able to do the job, they pay for the opportunity by suing and going public with falsehood that have cost bill o'reilly and roger ailes their jobs, not to insinuate that they did anything wrong, they just chose to pay millions of dollars to their victims, probesitos.

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    4. HUH ? what does your comment have to do with this article ?

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    5. 2:01 you mention labor problems at 3:55, i just wanted to illustrate some examples, laborers have been a source of too many problems in this country for a long time, and tyhe United Farm Workers of America did not help any, now even high positioned dignitaries like o'reilly are paying for the pampering of the disposessed class.

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    6. Oh brother, don't even get me started .

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  4. CDS has been in the hydroponic weed for decades. Since Quintero times. Then it switched to Canadian growers back in the early 00s. Now is CA.

    If they can plant coca trees in the sierras and make heroin #4 weed is kids play.
    The thing with the 420 culture is that weed is a STUPID drug. These stoners feel like they're pioneers in something because they get to put a silly name to their hybrid strain.

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    Replies
    1. There's no Coca trees in the sierras. Oh man that has me dying right there. I'm from Tegoripa Sinaloa myself. Lmao coca trees in Mexico. I love it. Only on borderland beat comment section can you find these guys:)

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    2. 6:50 and what about those that inject mariguana?
      i bet even Chivis was warned by her granny and mommy a few times about them, when she was a hippie.

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    3. I'm from Oxnard Cali coca only grows around Columbia Peru Bolivia who knows even maybe any place near by the equator coca in Mexico hilarious migo

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  5. Uk has garbage bud compared to u.s.

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  6. If this is California can you imagine what the streams look like in Mexico?They probably don't test and there's all the added meth labs that know one knows exist.

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    Replies
    1. after beating the comunistas, el salvador and honduras have resumed their poison sprays all over their countries, it has been reported but nobody can tame their oligarchic democracies, the US is all for the chemical producers selling their poisons there, perhaps to keep the depopulation plans going?

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  7. Las letras Propaganda. You bought that lie! Califas best weed grown indoors. Stop burning bammer babosos.

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  8. pinchis mariguanos estupidos they still go and give their smokes a bath of embalming fluids, if they have to go and steal recently buried bodies it is no problem, funeral homes also make a killing from the deaths and murders and overdoses and gang wars.
    but in mexico for some strange reason nobody reports on poisonous chemicals left behind by the drug farmers, is there a chance that afghanistan uses poison chemicals for their opiates farming? or they just use their camels and horses dung?

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  9. In other words, the WAR on drugs is winning the battle so far.

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  10. Propaganda for the "War on Drugs".

    We need more money..WHY?? it just flowers.

    Oh.. poison, dead puppies, dead rivers. Save the planet give us money.

    ReplyDelete
  11. BorderlandBeat you guys are cool. At least y'all don't get offended when I call out mistakes in posts on Instagram. That guy that runs your IG page is a GoodDude. Unlike NarcoNoticias on IG, those guys get so butt hurt when I call them out on bs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. IG like facebook and twitter are russian communist oligarch tools, it is so easy to plant shit there, who runs it? i promise never to go there

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    2. Facebook and IG twitter are tools for liberals. I was banned form IG for being conservative

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  12. cali bud shits on any other bud and dont even start with colorado most of there shit is all already been done dosent come close to us

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  13. Got a pucker bit of lemon cheese bunning it down here UK nice.

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  14. Once Again People.....Medical Marijuana is a Joke!!!!
    The only Medical about it are the PRICES!
    The only way is for the State to start growing their own and start selling at Pharmacies. The PRICES would be cheaper, no cartels, no pesticides, fungicide, and taxes would help for Drug Prevention. OTHER option is to Grow your own. What a joke this whole medical thing is.....lol

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    1. Unfortunately, I kind of agree with you. Everyone with a headache needs " medicinal. " and 100 designer varieties with fancy names. Lots of growers just get permits for their " medi " patches which they actually consider expendable to the Leo's and a distraction from their
      Light dep greenhouses that turn out multiple crops year round , complete with all the infrastructure to support them. It's a mess and as usual, it's not the plant its the people. , ie Greed. I am not saying that is not good medicinally either, it seems been aroun dfor thousands of years.

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    2. 3:40 as usual, legalizing was a scam, these days the usual suspects armed with their impunity keep trying hard to hook ever younger boys and girls from grade school

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    3. if you are sick, do not use mariguana, use magnets, at least they never wear off...

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  15. The growers in N.Cali who have been growing for decades do not use pesticides. The majority of dispensaries in Cali now test their buds for pesticides. I will not buy from a dispensary that does not test and neither should you. This story is a fear tactic for those who have no clue about the MJ industry. And Cali by far grows better buds than Oregon and Washington for the clown who said they grow the best.

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    Replies
    1. That is no fear tactic, there are literally thousands of grows like this. It's NOT the plant , its the people. Does not have to be done this way. You are right about your other points . These grows are environmental wreckage to plants, animals humans, fish and our drinking water etcetc.

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    2. You ain't gotta lie to lick it! All Growers use pesticides and fungicide. Too much money involved. Less than 1% of dispensaries sell 100% organic strains. It's all fake with their testing. They test legit organic strains and sell you stuff full of pesticides. If you dont belive me go to 10 dispensaries and have thier stuff tested .mark my words....

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    3. I only smoke non gmo Organic and gluten free mota.i smoke cause all the cool kids do it

      Delete
  16. Say no 2 drugs folks. And keep saying no 2 drugs. - Sol Prendido

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    Replies
    1. 4:00 saying NO uses too much air to exhale,
      better to say mmmmh, at least you keep it all inside.

      Delete
  17. Mexico Grass is ok. Very natural and health

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  18. I am in recover. U r right

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  19. This is the most ridiculous bull shit I have ever seen . Finally the pot head generation are the elders of our country . It started slowly creeping in with the Clinton administration . Shits good for you now . All these people that have to have it for medical reasons . I used to smoke and not occasionally either. All my friends smoked it and it was because they wanted to stay high . Shit A paint huffer wants to stay high . These same friends still smoke it day and night but now its medical . One of them is selling his farm and moving closer to town because Of his medical condition , COPD. Recon what caused that ?
    I remember back in the 60's and 70's when I was a kid the old men talking about about how the world was "going to hell in a hand basket" . Aint it odd how , wherever you have these week permissive tree hugger types criminals can thrive ? The end result turns out that the tree they want to save gets poisoned because of it.

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  20. Obviously, those grows in the pics are from cartel associated grows. The garbage all over is a big giveaway. The hippy growers up there don't use chemicals, they are pros not hacks. The cops up there are basically complicate if you own the land or are allowed to be there. It's 90% of the people up there in someway make money off it. No one messes with that much economic saturation not even the police. It would be dumb. Instead they go after the illegal immigrant growers. This is just justification for that. Even when they do lease the land they are target #1. It's the way it should be and it's the way it is. But trust me, no self respecting hippy is putting chems in their weed. However, the water table being depleted is true but it's napas fault more than the growers because they diverted a natural river for their wine production. That caused the water table to not properly replenished.

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  21. Marijuana can even be grown without soil, hydroponically, and growing only a female plant, so no seeds. However, in Baja California Sur, where my deported Mexican ex-boyfriend has been living, the weed I saw there had seeds.
    Mexicans say they are more Native American indigenous than Americans are, but look at how cartels treat the environment, polluting for economic gain, which is selfish greed. And murdering their fellow citizens, again for the love of money, which is evil.

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    Replies
    1. 8:04 the owners of the mota do not provide their farmers with luxuries like better fertilizer or anti-polution measures, hell they don't even pay their laborers, no WCs either, no kitchens, no nada! they just call la migra on them when the money is in the bank, like texas cotton farmers.

      Delete
  22. mariguanos are just mariguanos, that is no drug addiction, it is a pendejismo nomas.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Engineered cannabinoids (e.g. Marinol) accessible in the market are to a great degree costly, pushing individuals towards the more moderate cannabinoid as marijuana.cbd vape juice

    ReplyDelete

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