In Drug War, Tribe Feels Invaded by Both Sides
By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: January 24, 2010

SELLS, Ariz. — An eerie hush settles in at sundown on the Tohono O’odham Nation, which straddles 75 miles of border with Mexico.

Few residents leave their homes. The roads crawl with the trucks of Border Patrol agents, who stop unfamiliar vehicles, scrutinize back roads for footprints and hike into the desert wilds to intercept smugglers carrying marijuana on their backs and droves of migrants trying to make it north.

By the bad luck of geography, the only large Indian reservation on the embattled border is caught in the middle, emerging as a major transit point for drugs as well as people.

A long-insular tribe of 28,000 people and its culture are paying a steep price: the land is swarming with outsiders, residents are afraid to walk in the hallowed desert, and some members, lured by drug cartel cash in a place with high unemployment, are ending up in prison.

“People will knock on your door, flash a wad of money and ask if you can drive this bale of marijuana up north,” said Marla Henry, 38, chairwoman of Chukut Kuk district, which covers much of the border zone.

The tightening of border security to the east and west, which started in the 1990s and intensified after the Sept. 11 attacks, funneled more drug traffic through the Tohono O’odham reservation, federal officials said, and especially more marijuana, which is hard to slip through vehicle crossings because of its bulk.

A record 319,000 pounds of marijuana were seized on the reservation in 2009, up from 201,000 pounds the previous year, along with small amounts of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.

Hundreds of tribal members have been prosecuted in federal, state or tribal courts for smuggling drugs or humans, taking offers that reach $5,000 for storing marijuana or transporting it across the reservation. In a few families, both parents have been sent to prison, leaving grandparents to raise the children.

“People are afraid that if they say no, they’ll be threatened by the cartel,” Ms. Henry said.

If residents of remote villages tried to call the police, she said, help might not arrive for two hours or more.

At the same time, some residents are angry at the intrusion of hundreds of federal agents, including some who stay for a week at a time on bases in remote parts of the reservation. The surge in agents who cruise the roads has meant more checkpoints and tighter controls on a border that tribal members, 1,500 of whom live in Mexico, once freely crossed.

The once-placid reservation feels like a “militarized zone,” said Ned Norris Jr., the tribal chairman, who also says the tribe must cooperate to stem the cartels. “Drug smuggling is a problem we didn’t create, but now we’re having to deal with the consequences.”

Many residents say they live in fear of the smugglers and hordes of migrants who lurk around their homes, and also of being subjected to a humiliating search by federal agents.

The elderly avoid the desert, even in the daytime, because they might stumble upon a cache of marijuana or drug “mules” hiding in desert washes until dark.

“We can’t even go out to collect wood for the stove,” said Verna Miguel, 63, who was traumatized three years ago when a group of migrants forced her to stop on a road, beat her and stole her vehicle.

“We’ve always picked saguaro fruits and cholla buds,” Ms. Miguel said, using such desert products for consumption and rituals. “But now we don’t dare do that.”

Until recently, the reservation’s international border was porous, defended by three strands of barbed wire. Over the last two years, it has been lined with metal posts and Normandy-style barriers to stop the trucks that used to barrel through and head for Phoenix.

Federal officials describe the rise in drug seizures on the reservation as a sign of growing success on what had long been a vulnerable section of border. Barriers and surveillance have forced most of the smugglers to enter on foot rather than in vehicles and spend hours or days sneaking through the reservation, making them more vulnerable to detection, said Agent Robert Gilbert, chief of the Tucson sector of the Border Patrol.

But the large busts, here and elsewhere on the border, are also a measure of the continued trade and profits reaped by the cartels.

“The cartels use the profit from marijuana to purchase cocaine in Colombia and Peru and the ingredients for meth and heroin from other regions,” said Elizabeth W. Kempshall, special agent in charge of the Arizona office of the Drug Enforcement Administration. “So marijuana is the catalyst for the rest of the drug trade.”

The drug smugglers, mainly working for the Sinaloa Cartel, officials said, place scouts for days at a time on mountainsides, with night-vision goggles to monitor movements of the Border Patrol. The scouts communicate with Mexican or Indian guides using cellphones or two-way radios with rolling codes that cannot be intercepted, said Sgt. David Cray of the tribal police force, which has spent major amounts of money on border issues. During the day, the scouts hide in caves or under camouflage.

The Border Patrol has its own spotters and trucks with infrared video cameras that detect heat miles away. The tribe has agreed to electronic surveillance towers that in coming years will make a “virtual fence” across their lands.

Many agents spend their nights “cutting for sign,” a tracker’s term, making slow drives on dirt roads in search of footprints.

One recent chilly night, a Border Patrol spotter detected eight white dots on his screen moving steadily north, not meandering the way cows or wild mules do. With a laser beam he fixed their coordinates at a spot five miles from his mountaintop post.

Two agents in four-wheel-drive vehicles set out over a rutted ranch track, then hiked through half a mile of mesquite, cholla and prickly pear to intercept the group. Six escaped, but two Mexican men were captured with seven burlap packs, each filled with 50 pounds of marijuana that sells wholesale for $500 or more per pound.

For the agents, it was a good night’s work. “This is what we live for, stopping drugs,” said an agent who hiked in shortly after the bust to help bring in the smugglers and the contraband.

But many tribal members see the federal presence as a mixed blessing at best.

Ofelia Rivas, 53, of Meneger’s Dam Village is an Indian rights advocate and a rare border resident who agreed to speak to a reporter. She said that most families in border villages, including her own, had had a relative imprisoned for drug offenses, but that such individuals should not be blamed for the lack of legal jobs. Ms. Rivas has criticized tribal leaders for acquiescing to what she calls an oppressive federal occupation.

Federal law officials praise the tribe for its cooperation, and the Border Patrol has fielded community relations officers to minimize frictions.

Even Mr. Norris, the tribal chairman, said he had been stopped and questioned. “Quite frankly, the people are getting sick of it,” he said of the heavy outside presence. But he added that the smuggling was beyond the tribe’s ability to control.

“I hope in my lifetime we can go back to the way it used to be,” Mr. Norris said, “where people could go and walk in the daylight on our own land.”

• ‘OG Kush’ (the original cut) came from an s1 from in a bag of ‘91 Chemdawg in the Lake Tahoe area in 1996.

OG Is one of the strongest cannabis strains in the medical marijuana community. THC contents have been tested to be anywhere from 24-28% THC. The OG grows very viney with big spaces between inter-nodes. The OG loves feeding on N and calcium  & magnesium through out the vegetative state. One thing you must do when growing this strain is to let it veg out and super-crop. Many novice growers that attempt to grow OG result in low yields due to no low stress training such as topping or super-cropping. This is a plant that wants to grow strong for its environment so give it lots of speed bumps and physical training prior to flower.

Around the 6th week of flowering, progressively decreasing the nitrogen concentration, you want to up the levels of phosphorus and (P) Potassium(K). PPM’s of 1800 can be achieved with noticeable cola growth. Week 8 you want to completly cut all nutreients and give your plants a nice flush until week 10-11 depending on how well your environment treated your plants. Week 10-11 should be the window of when you should harvest OG Kush.

In another effort to change federal policy on medical marijuana, Congressional Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced the “Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act,” HR 2835, late yesterday. The bill, which was co-sponsored by 13 bipartisan Members of Congress at the time of introduction, would change federal policy on medical marijuana in a number of ways. Specifically, the Act would change marijuana from a Schedule I drug, classified as having no medical value, to a Schedule II drug, which would recognize marijuana’s medical efficacy and create a regulatory framework for the FDA to begin a drug approval process for marijuana. The act would also prevent interference by the federal government in any local or state run medical marijuana program.

Although similar versions of the Act have been introduced in previous Congressional terms, the Obama Administration’s willingness to change federal policy on medical marijuana creates a new political context and may facilitate passage of this important legislation. “We are encouraged by the federal government’s willingness to address this issue and to bring about a more sensible and humane policy on medical marijuana,” said Caren Woodson, Government Affairs Director with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a nationwide advocacy group working with the Obama Administration, Representative Frank and other Members of Congress to change federal policy. “It’s time to recognize marijuana’s medical efficacy, and to develop a comprehensive plan that will provide access to medical marijuana and protection for the hundreds of thousands of sick Americans that benefit from its use.”

In addition to rescheduling marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), HR 2835 would provide protection from the CSA and the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) for qualified patients and caregivers in states that have legalized the use of medical marijuana. Specifically, the act prevents the CSA and FDCA from prohibiting or restricting: (1) a physician from prescribing or recommending marijuana for medical use, (2) an individual from obtaining, possessing, transporting within their state, manufacturing, or using marijuana in accordance with their state law, (3) an individual authorized under State law from obtaining, possessing, transporting within their state, or manufacturing marijuana on behalf of an authorized patient, or (4) an entity authorized under local or State law to distribute medical marijuana to authorized patients from obtaining, possessing, or distributing marijuana to such authorized patients.

The Obama Administration has made repeated statements that it intends to end federal enforcement against medical marijuana, but has yet to provide a detailed plan of implementation. A lack of clarity on this policy change has prompted Congress to take action. In addition to the introduction of Frank’s bill yesterday, Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) introduced language Tuesday within the Commerce, Justice and Science Departments (CJS) Appropriations bill seeking clarification on the Administration’s policy. “It’s imperative that the federal government respect states’ rights and stay out of the way of patients with debilitating diseases such as cancer who are using medical marijuana in accordance with state law to alleviate their pain,” said Hinchey in a press release issued Tuesday.

Further information:
At the time of release the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, HR 2835, was not yet published by the Government Printing Office (GPO), but contains identical language of Rep. Frank’s bill introduced last year (HR 5842): http://safeaccessnow.org/downloads/HR5842.pdf
HR 2835 can be reviewed at the following site once it’s published: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.2835:

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/06/12-7

So everybody that uses cannabis has pretty much heard of the achronym THC. THC plays the biggest role in cannabis potency however it is not even close to being the sole player. There in fact is several known Cannabinoids responsible for the effects that marijuana has. THC, CBD, CBN, THCV, CBC, CBL etc… You can read this article for most of the info but I am just going to go over the first three since they are the ones being documented by most of the seed companies out there.

THC: Tetrahydrocannabinol. Produces the cerebral floating fealing found in good Sativas. May induce a psychoactive response if injested in large enough quantaties. THC has been synthiticly derived and is dubbed ‘Marinol’. Marinol has little medical applications and is largley discredited due to it’s leagthly response time (2-3 hours after ingestion). THC will not create any sleepiness in the user.

CBD: Cannabidiol. CBD is really just an enhancer to THC. Without THC, CBD has little to no effect. In a marijuana strain that is high in CBD the user will feel sleepy, hungry and genrally ‘out of it’ . CBD is responsible for the numbing body sensation that can occur when laying down. Primarly found in Indica’s, CBD is most noted for it’s ability to leangthen the effects of THC. A strain high in CBD may keep the user medicated for sometimes twice as long! Chocolate has also been claimed to increase the duration of cannabis effects. CBD has also been toted as being a very promising cancer killer.

CBN: Cannabinol. CBN is the little brother of all the cannabinoids. It doesn’t carry potent mind bending effects like THC and CBD but it has it’s place. Just like steel oxidizes to create rust, THC oxidizes to create CBN. CBN does increase the leangth of a users experience but not nearly as much as CBD. CBN is noted for it’s ability to make a user feel confused and dizzy. A strain high in CBN will induce a sleepy hangover that is usually unwanted. For the most part, CBN should be kept to a minimum of 0-.5% since it’s usually a result of exposure to air.

The Supreme Court rejected appeals today from two hold-out counties in Southern California that object to the state’s 13-year-old medical marijuana law and claimed it should be struck down as violating the federal drug-control act.

Without comment, the court turned down the pair of appeals.

The action likely will clear the way for patients in San Diego and San Bernardino counties to seek county-issued identification cards that show they are eligible to possess and use marijuana.

These identification cards have been required under state law since 2004, but the two counties have refused to issue them. Their lawyers had asserted the state’s authorization for using medical marijuana conflicted with the zero-tolerance policy set by federal law.

“Our theory is that a state law which authorizes people to violate federal law is preempted” and, therefore, unconstitutional, Thomas Bunton, a deputy county counsel in San Diego, said last week.

Federal officials have continued to insist that all use of marijuana is illegal, even in states such as California. However, Atty. Gen. Eric Holder said recently that the federal government will not devote great effort to prosecuting low-level marijuana cases.

Lawyers for San Diego and San Bernardino counties had gone to court seeking a clear ruling on whether the state law violated the federal drug law. San Diego NORML, a marijuana advocacy group, had threatened to sue the county in 2005 for not complying with the state law by refusing to issue identification cards.

Last year, a state appeals court upheld the California medical marijuana law and said it was not rendered void by the federal drug law. The California Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from the two counties.

However, both counties appealed to the Supreme Court, but their appeals were dismissed today.

Graham Boyd, director of the ACLU’s Drug Reform Law Project, said today’s order “marks a significant victory for medical marijuana patients and their advocates nationwide.” It dispels any remaining doubts that the state laws are valid, he said, and it “leaves ample room for states to move forward . . . with independent medical marijuana policies.”

Since California’s voters adopted the Compassionate Use Act in 1996, 12 other states have approved measures permitting medical use of marijuana. The others are Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. The New Hampshire Legislature passed a similar measure recently that awaits action by the governor.

The federal government, however, has continued to insist that the sale or use of marijuana is illegal under the Controlled Substances Act. This 1970 law designates marijuana as a Schedule I drug that has “no currently accepted medical use” in the United States.

Federal authorities also have asserted they can arrest and prosecute all those who use or sell marijuana in California and other states that have authorized medical use of the drug.

Four years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress and the federal government had the constitutional authority to regulate the sale and use of marijuana under its power over interstate commerce. The 6-3 decision, in the case of Gonzales versus Raich, rejected the claim that personal use of homegrown marijuana was off limits to federal authority. But the court did not rule then on whether the state’s law allowing medical use of marijuana was void because it conflicted with the federal drug-control law.

In its appeal, San Diego county’s lawyers had questioned whether the California law authorizing medical use of marijuana “is preempted under the Supremacy Clause” of the Constitution by the federal law forbidding all use of marijuana.

Cross of Cheese and blueberry - Bio.

Look: These buds are solid and firm to the touch. Give it a hard press and it will be “springy”. Light green, it is almost white in many areas with very light yellow-orange hairs emerging all which are still covered with resin. The smell is simply mouth-watering! Fruity, a bit zesty like the usual cheese. Rich smells, strong and obviously potent; it’s nice to find a bit of that Indica fruity scent in here. GOOLDDDFISH SNACKS. It tastes surprisingly fruity with just a sweet touch of cheese. There is a sweet, yet musty taste that has a bit of lemon peel zest, pine type smell , whatever you want to call it. It burns so smoothly you end up taking bigger hits than you can stand. flashy visual effects and a body smashing, gravity like, feeling. Just a bit of this bud can make you feel a bit wasted. ‘Double-blink’ weed has me taking a second look at everything just to make sure I actually saw what I saw. Not sleepy, quite psychedelic, lots of colors. I really consider this a “happy weed” with a bad name lol.

Why is marijuana practically legal but extremely over priced? God if lived in california i’d probably be spending 400 dollars a week on pot. The states capitalistic elitist approach to marijuana reform makes no sense to me, it’s almost a step backwards. If this trend continues soon enough marijuana will be legal altogether, the market dominated by massive corporations, and the prices, OUTRAGEOUS.

At first glance this sativa dominant strain is a light tone of green with pale brown/orange hairs. Upon further examination you can see the touches of purple through-out the buds. The smell is very concentrated sweet modernized skunk, the smell or musk from the bud makes your nose have this tingly hot/cold feeling. The smoke tastes of unsweetened salty honey if you can imagine, with a almost warm taste, no cough with a mild lung expansion. Effects are just remarkable, having a numbing vibe go through your body, with your head completely thoughtless, after 2 bong hits I sat motionless for about 2 minutes with bong at hand unable or more like unwilling to move just enjoying the effect. The extremely smooth smoke along with the strength of this strain have easily earned a special place in my heart. It is not stupefying (maybe a little), but complete feeling of relaxation and comfort will be what patients should expect from this strain. Will aid patients in melting stress from body/mind, also helping those with insomnia, and I can be sure for numerous other ailments.

Blue Dream haze is a cross between DJ Short’s Blue Berry and Super Silver Haze. This strain should be taken to at least 10 weeks. Haze characteristics can be identified all through out the growth of the plant.  Bud structure of the blueberry is also noticed with minimal haze structure being airy. The smell is quite sweet almost an even blue/haze mix. Yields of 2 pounds per light can be achieved with a minimal veg period. One should be carful with Phosphorus(P) and Potassium(K) levels near the last weeks before flush.