Invasion Of The Marijuana Growers

[KiotiKowboy]

In Northeastern Oklahoma, there has been a MASSIVE influx of marijuana growing operations. They come in with rolls of cartel cash, pay double for the land and then setup up unsightly compounds for their operations. Most of them erect rows of greenhouses and bring in countless small trailers for worker living quarters. Trash on the property is a standard feature.

Since these operations are "so-called" medical marijuana producers - they have some unusual protections. One of great interest is .... neighboring properties cannot spray fertilizers/herbicides if there is a chance of drift. It doesn't matter if you have operated a farm for decades - you have just lost your rights.

We recently had one of these (insert your favorite derogatory term here) purchase 20 acres that adjoins our land. We resolved ourselves to sell our recently completed new home and move across the state line where there is more legal protection. This was a painful and gut wrenching decision - but if we waited until the operation was up and going, we felt we stood to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in property value.

Unexpectedly (I'll just call it an answer to prayer) the buyer - who already knew he was unwanted - offered to sell ... at the right price. This was 3 times the property value but far less than we expected to lose if he stayed. As painful as it was - we paid and considered ourselves blessed.

If you live in Oklahoma and have property for sale near you - especially smaller parcels ... 10 - 40 acres ... consider yourself warned.

 

[Aquamoose]

I f’in do NOT like these folks. I would have made life living hell for them if they were next door to me.

 

[Bearsixty7]

Do you have a link to this law?

"neighboring properties cannot spray fertilizers/herbicides if there is a chance of drift"

I can't see that being law or enforced. To me it's the growers responsibility to buy enough land to have their own buffer zone if you will or to build sufficient barriers. IF the operation is in a green house, it should be protected anyway.

 

[KiotiKowboy]

I don't have the link. This issue was discussed during a local political forum.

 

[grsthegreat]

Its not just them. If you spray any herbicide and it drifts and damages neighbors crops you can be liable. Heck, you can be sued for having red hair nowdays.

 

[4570Man]

Do you have a link to this law?

"neighboring properties cannot spray fertilizers/herbicides if there is a chance of drift"

I can't see that being law or enforced. To me it's the growers responsibility to buy enough land to have their own buffer zone if you will or to build sufficient barriers. IF the operation is in a green house, it should be protected anyway.

Couldn’t you say the same for the sprayer that they should’ve bought enough land to contain their spray?

 

[CobyRupert]

Can’t spread poison onto my neighbor’s land? What is this country coming to?

 

[WM75Guy]

If you are spraying, you have to keep it on your property. In Texas pesticide and herbicide use falls under the Agriculture Code, the definition of pesticide in the law includes both. There are administrative, civil, and criminal penalties for violations. This is the section where spraying on a windy day and causing drift could be a criminal offense:

(e) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) knowingly or intentionally uses, causes to be used, handles, stores, or disposes of a pesticide in a manner that causes injury to man, vegetation, crops, livestock, wildlife, or pollinating insects;

It is a Class A misdemeanor, unless you have a prior conviction and then it would be a state jail felony.

If I let something drift off my property and are sued in civil court, I could be found liable for damages. That is why I have drift coverage as part of my ag insurance policy.

 

[oosik]

My property is a mile west of the county road. Therefore - I have a mile long driveway. Just across the county road, from my driveway, is a twenty acre parcel.

I wasn't so concerned that these knotheads were setting up a MJ growing facility. Not until I witnessed the calibre of clients that came to this facility. Seems that half of them didn't know right from left and came down my driveway.

Then that GLORIOUS night. I was awakened by the sounds of sirens. Something had gone wrong and the entire mess burned to the ground. Nobody seemed hurt but all that remained - ashes. Thankfully - it never was reestablished.

Maybe they tried spraying something volatile/flammable - ??

 

[ChuckT]

Knotheads are, unfortunately, universal.

 

[RoyJackson]

Do you have a link to this law?

"neighboring properties cannot spray fertilizers/herbicides if there is a chance of drift"

I can't see that being law or enforced. To me it's the growers responsibility to buy enough land to have their own buffer zone if you will or to build sufficient barriers. IF the operation is in a green house, it should be protected anyway.

Also looks like a good class action lawsuit since you were there before the potheads

 

[newbury]

If you are spraying, you have to keep it on your property. In Texas pesticide and herbicide use falls under the Agriculture Code, the definition of pesticide in the law includes both. There are administrative, civil, and criminal penalties for violations. This is the section where spraying on a windy day and causing drift could be a criminal offense:

(e) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) knowingly or intentionally uses, causes to be used, handles, stores, or disposes of a pesticide in a manner that causes injury to man, vegetation, crops, livestock, wildlife, or pollinating insects;

It is a Class A misdemeanor, unless you have a prior conviction and then it would be a state jail felony.

If I let something drift off my property and are sued in civil court, I could be found liable for damages. That is why I have drift coverage as part of my ag insurance policy.

I recently got my Mississippi Private Applicators license and the law is probably much the same throughout the US.
We've got to keep our poisons to ourselves.

 

[oosik]

Newbury - that makes common sense. Surely - anybody with a license, such as you have, knows what can/can not be done.

What kind of upsets me. The guys with their airplanes. Not the Taco Wagon but my previous pickup. Been oversprayed several times when I drove thru the wheat fields down south of me. Never seemed to make the truck grow - never had trouble with weeds sprouting up in the bed of the truck. Damned little "wet spots" all over the truck were hard to wash off.

 

[Bearsixty7]

Its not just them. If you spray any herbicide and it drifts and damages neighbors crops you can be liable. Heck, you can be sued for having red hair nowdays.

Couldn’t you say the same for the sprayer that they should’ve bought enough land to contain their spray?

I guess I read it the wrong way. Sure, you should be liable for keeping your own spray on your property, but I read it as you couldn't spray at all since there is always a chance of drift.

 

[PuffyC]

This is like the EV discussion where people have no problem with pollution and gov't subsidies and all that until some industry they don't like starts doing it, then they magically become environmentalists who think the gov't shouldn't get involved.

 

[ruffdog]

Follow the money....who is making more money for the State, the little farmer growing grain or a factory pot grower? Just say'un.

 

[TheMan419]

Is marijuana particularly sensitive to herbicides? Is it like cotton and 2,4-D or dicamba is claimed to be?

It would seem it is your job to contain your spray. Heck we have an 18 acre farm for our horses. I might spray 2,4-D once a year. We are required to have drift insurance as part of our farm policy. We cannot waive it. Corn and soybeans are the row crops grown around me.

 

[ruffdog]

Article on the subject:

Okie drift: Marijuana growers worry that pesticide use could threaten their crop

 

[Bearsixty7]

neighboring properties cannot spray fertilizers/herbicides if there is a chance of drift. It doesn't matter if you have operated a farm for decades - you have just lost your rights.

I fully understand the controlling the spray for herbicides, You can't kill a neighbor's crops/grasses, but fertilizers?

 

[Bearsixty7]

Article on the subject:

Okie drift: Marijuana growers worry that pesticide use could threaten their crop

And here is the mistake on their part.

Some grow houses, meanwhile, have been built right up to the property line, Lowe said, and others have grow operations next to roadways, complicating efforts by counties and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to use chemicals to control weed growth along public roadways.