Victimless Crime? Hardly

Consumers of marijuana are portrayed as noble rebels, suffering cancer patients, or peaceful potheads just wanting to be left alone. Whether or not that depiction is accurate, marijuana suppliers are another story. Rivaling the worst Hollywood imaginings of big business polluters, growers have put at risk the local reservoir that serves over a million people.

Last week authorities pulled 7,200 pounds of trash left behind by illicit marijuana growers off the steep hillsides that funnel rain and creek water into [Crystal Springs] reservoir. Among the car batteries and black plastic irrigation tubes authorities carted out by helicopter were toxic pesticides that have been banned from the United States. [snip]

Munsey said agents tearing down the gardens found pesticides methyl parathion and carbofuran, which the Environmental Protection Agency has effectively banned from use in the United States. Both chemicals are considered highly toxic to people and animals. Carbofuran poisoning, in the short term, can mean headache, sweating, nausea, diarrhea, chest pains, blurred vision, anxiety and general muscular weakness, according to the EPA.

Mercury News photo

Are marijuana users endangering the water supply? That argument isn't farfetched if one believes that SUV drivers are (indirectly) responsible for refinery explosions and oil spills. The difference is that the latter are objects of scorn, while the former are way cool, man. © 2012 Stephen Yuen