The "hippies" all quit growing over 20 years ago when the outlaws moved into the hills with their AR-15s and booby traps and crank habits. See, being new to the scene they were too inept to grow, so they did the next best thing by stealing dope from all the growers around them. All the hippies left other than carrying guns to protect their crops, and in fact there is almost always illegal weapons and other, harder drugs seized on a commercial pot operation bust today.
A new twist this year was a group of about 30 heavily armed Mexican guys showing up in the gardens West of Ukiah and running the growers off their site a week or two before harvest. It's no wonder someone wasn't killed in a gunbattle as happens all to often in pot disputes. I personally have known five people who have been shot in pot disputes, three of whom died.
This is a criminal element, and Mendocino County allowing a couple to legally grow up to 100 plants without fear of local arrest and prosecution with posession of a county issued medical marijuana license hasn't helped the situation but instead attracted even more lowlifes looking to either grow their own or rip off someone else's.
There are those that grow for personal use and there's those that grow for profit. The eighth ounce bag you buy for 40 or 50 bucks is grown by those that grow for profit. If you wish to "support a criminal empire" then I guess you will, just be aware of the seedier side of the business and consider yourself as being part of the problem then Hardcase.
