By Peter Schrag Almost anybody who's lived in California for even a few years knows from where that acrid smell in the air and the yellow haze in the sky have been coming. And we know the scary feeling that comes with them. The only exceptions are the narcs, state and federal, who think it's marijuana smoke. As California's wildfires overwhelm the resources to fight them, federal and state agents – hundreds of them – have been sweeping through Humboldt County and a sliver of Mendocino County in pursuit of commercial pot growers. An FBI spokesman was quoted in the Eureka Times-Standard last week as saying that 450 agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal agencies would be executing 27 search warrants in what they called "Operation Southern Sweep." But, he said, they wouldn't be going after medical marijuana dispensaries or their patients. "We're not here to set policy or interfere with California's compassionate use." There's good reason for that forbearance. The investigation of the pot growers, as in the past, was initiated by the California Justice Department's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and involved state drug agents as well as the California Highway Patrol, county sheriff's deputies, and local cops. Years ago, Attorney General – later governor – George Deukmejian, wearing a flak jacket, himself choppered in to lead one of the raids. But ever since 1996, when voters passed Proposition 215, which authoriz ...
Anytime
By Peter Schrag Almost anybody who's lived in California for even a few years knows from where that acrid smell in the air and the yellow haze in the sky have been coming. And we know the scary feeling that comes with them. The only exceptions are the narcs, state and federal, who think it's marijuana smoke. As California's wildfires overwhelm the resources to fight them, federal and state agents – hundreds of them – have been sweeping through Humboldt County and a sliver of Mendocino County in pursuit of commercial pot growers. An FBI spokesman was quoted in the Eureka Times-Standard last week as saying that 450 agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal agencies would be executing 27 search warrants in what they called "Operation Southern Sweep." But, he said, they wouldn't be going after medical marijuana dispensaries or their patients. "We're not here to set policy or interfere with California's compassionate use." There's good reason for that forbearance. The investigation of the pot growers, as in the past, was initiated by the California Justice Department's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and involved state drug agents as well as the California Highway Patrol, county sheriff's deputies, and local cops. Years ago, Attorney General – later governor – George Deukmejian, wearing a flak jacket, himself choppered in to lead one of the raids. But ever since 1996, when voters passed Proposition 215, which authoriz ...