BANGOR, Maine — Five people and a Maine corporation have been indicted on federal charges in connection with a massive marijuana operation that was uncovered in Washington County in September 2009.
It took more than 60 state and federal law enforcement officers almost a week that fall to harvest nearly 3,000 high-quality marijuana plants worth an estimated $9 million from a remote area in Township 37 near the town of Wesley and about 10 miles off Route 9.
The massive pot plantation was found after a tip was left on the Maine State Police Troop J website. When police flew a plane over the operation, people on the ground set fire to several buildings being used as dormitories before the suspected growers fled.
In a press release issued Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that Malcolm French, 50, of Enfield; Rodney Russell, 48, of South Thomaston; Kendall Chase, 55, of Bradford; Robert Berg, 49, of Dexter; and Haynes Timberland Inc., a Maine corporation, had been indicted on federal drug and other charges arising from the Sept. 22, 2009, seizure of 2,943 marijuana plants.
All four men were arrested Sunday, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Casey, who is prosecuting the case. Each pleaded not guilty to the charges lodged against him late Monday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Margaret Kravchuk.
Another individual also has been indicted in the case but has not been arrested, Casey said. Once the person is arrested, his or her name will be released.
French, Russell and Chase are charged with conspiracy to manufacture more than 1,000 marijuana plants. French, Russell, Berg and Chase are charged with manufacturing more than 1,000 marijuana plants. French, Russell and Haynes Timberland Inc. are charged with managing and controlling property used to manufacture marijuana. French, Russell and Berg also are charged with harboring illegal aliens. In addition, Berg is charged with assisting individuals conspiring to manufacture marijuana evade apprehension.
Berg appears to be the owner of Berg Sportswear, the Corinna business that does custom screen printing and embroidery that was raided by federal investigators in January 2011. Documents made public in July indicated that investigators were looking for evidence that Berg was using logos for major sports teams illegally.
Casey said Monday that he could not comment on what business the defendant in the marijuana manufacturing case might own. The Robert Berg who appeared in court Monday and the owner of the shop in Corinna have the same lawyer, Charles Gilbert of Bangor.
Gilbert did not appear with Berg on Monday. Eric Black, an associate of Gilbert’s, appeared on the attorney’s behalf. Gilbert issued a statement on Berg’s behalf in August 2011 after court documents related to the business were made public.
Investigators in January 2011 seized business records, computers and dozens of boxes of merchandise from the business and residence, according to a custody receipt for seized property and evidence filed in federal court in Bangor. In addition to those items, more than $38,000 in U.S. currency and $740 in Canadian cash was found and seized in safes in the garage of Berg’s home.
“The affidavit recites that one of the participating agencies in the raid was the Maine [Drug Enforcement Agency], yet there was nothing in the affidavit which remotely suggested the presence of anything of interest to drug agents,” said the statement issued on behalf of Berg and the company in August 2011, “and the totally false rumor that this search had something to do with drugs has been especially hurtful to our business.
“Similarly, despite rumors to the contrary, there were no illegal aliens or other undocumented workers at the job site, or employed by us,” the statement said. “Rather, what the agents found was a legitimate business trying to carry on and support its community and its employees in difficult economic times.”
Gilbert said in August 2011 that most copyright infringement issues are handled through civil actions that usually begin with attorneys for firms sending out “cease and desist” letters telling companies or individuals suspected of using logos and mascots without permission to stop using them or face a lawsuit.
Kravchuk on Monday ordered that a bail hearing for Berg be held Thursday. The judge set the date after Berg, through attorney Black, told her he was not sure he could post property valued at $250,000 as required and had concerns about removing all firearms from his home, a condition of his bail, on such short notice.
French was released after his court appearance Monday on $350,000 bail, secured by the deed to his home. Chase is expected to be released later this week once his $250,000 bail, secured by deeds to his primary residence in Penobscot County and summer home in Washington County, is posted.
Russell, who is on supervised release for a conviction in April 2011 for health care fraud, was released on his own recognizance. He was released July 6 after serving five months in federal prison to the U.S. Bureau of Prison’s Inmate Locater website.
A jury found Russell guilty in April 2011 of four counts relating to false statements made in 2008 and 2009 to obtain health care benefits and not guilty of two counts covering statements allegedly made in 2007 and 2009.
Russell applied for the subsidized health care program after he lost his job in Bangor in 2006, according to court documents. He continued to receive benefits after he began working part time.
Court documents in the health care fraud case revealed that Russell was under investigation for being involved in a major drug trafficking operation, according to a previously published report.
When the marijuana operation was discovered in 2009 in Washington County, MDEA officials categorized the size, scope and detail of the operation as quite surprising. They said the plants — many of them 8 feet tall and highly cultivated — were of extremely high quality.
“We have never seen this type of operation in Maine before,” Maine Drug Enforcement Agency Director Roy McKinney said at the time. He confirmed that it was a plantation or farm, where caretakers of the crop lived 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“These are the types of operations we see on the West Coast,” McKinney said. “In Maine, when marijuana is grown in remote locations, someone usually hikes in and checks it periodically. These growers were living right here.”
There were seven buildings in the farm area.
The MDEA took the lead in the three-year investigation, but would not release any additional explanation of the charges — such as information about alleged illegal aliens or about how Berg allegedly helped the others evade apprehension.
“MDEA will not be commenting on this case moving forward,” said MDEA Northern Division Commander Darrell Crandall on Monday. “We’ll speak with one voice, and the voice will be the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, individual defendants charged with conspiracy and manufacturing marijuana face between 10 years and life in prison and a $10,000,000 fine; those charged with managing and controlling property used to manufacture marijuana face up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine; those charged with harboring illegal aliens face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine; and those charged with assisting individuals to evade apprehension face up to 15 years in prison and a $5 million fine. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of Haynes Timberland Inc. and the real property used to manufacture marijuana.
The investigation was conducted by the MDEA, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
BDN writer Mario Moretto contributed to this report.
10 years to life for growing pot?!? And a 10 million dollar fine to boot?! I’m not a smoker, btu that sure seems a little harsh even for the large scale operation. I’m sure the IRS will make their lives miserable enough just on the undeclared income.
Kind of strange that the 4 named aren’t from Down East.
Also wish they would drop the “manufacturing” and replace it with “cultivating”…just seems more appropriate if ya know what I mean.
Edited to add that don’t see how the “harboring illegal aliens” charges can be made now that Obama has opened the door for them. Maybe they should be able to deduct the wages and housing for them.
The Government will never collect that much
And yet if this were a tobacco farm these people would be hailed as “job creators.”
Or “silly buggers”, since tobacco won’t grow in this climate. :)
O yes it will. You don’t garden, do you?
On an industrial scale like that? Seems unlikely; there’s a reason the tobacco plantations of the 1600s didn’t spread north of the Chesapeake.
I guess you never heard of the extensive tobacco growing along the Connecticut river valley in Massachusetts and Connecticut
Huh. No, I guess I hadn’t – it doesn’t seem to have been attempted on any kind of large scale in a very long time, which I have to say doesn’t tend to undermine my original point much. It was too broad a statement, though, I’ll give you that. I should’ve said tobacco won’t grow easily or well enough to be worth bothering with on an industrial scale in this climate, not that it won’t grow at all.
Mind you, tobacco’s not really worth bothering with on an industrial scale in any climate – it has no use other than being a poisonous nuisance and tends to cause the regions producing it to take a net economic loss, since they’d have been better off growing food on the land it uses up – but that’s a different objection. :)
There are varieties of tobacco that will grow almost everywhere.
Somewhere in the Belfast area are the remnants of tobacco drying barns.
tobacco is still grown in and around springfield mass. There’s massive acreage of it right at 6 flags
Canada also has tobacco farms.
Just like they thought about pot 30 years ago!!! But look now!!!
Is there anywhere pot won’t grow? I mean, it’s called “weed” for a reason. :)
This isn’t just some kid growing in his closet. This is 2,943 marijuana plants, a very large operation. These kind of operations, due to their illegality, incite violence and other deranged acts associated with the drug trade. You people were shocked about the drug deal gone bad with people from Bangor who were brutally murdered in that flaming car a month back, but you still support operations like this that encourage that kind of environment?
Marijuana should be legalized, but until it is, these people who are making obscene amounts of money from a scene which you deplore shouldn’t be herald as choir boys.
ahh never mind…i misread your comment
I thinks the cops and the feds incite the violence associated with the trade. Legalize it and tax it. Problem solved.
Im not sure, but I dont think a field of marijuana encourages triple homicides in anyway.
Nope, but the hard drugs do!
Not relevant. Hard drugs are not marijuana and vice versa.
The danger in pot is that people have to go to the drug dealers to get it because it is illegal, whereas if it was legal one could just walk into the store and buy it like they do ALCOHOL and other tobacco products. I am not a pot smoker but believe it should be legalized.
The illegality of pot and the blending of the drug markets is dangerous, I agree.
The youth often say its harder to buy alcohol then it is illegal drugs. Guess its time to regulate.
Only a bonehead would try to make a link between the triple murder in Bangor and a marijuana growing operation in Aroostook.
it was in Washington county not Aroostook!
All I can say is, I’ve paid a hell of a lot more state income tax than they ever have on a whole lot less (and fully legal!) income. I don’t feel a bit sorry for them.
Too bad this state didnt put as much emphasis on Perverts and Lawyers who call in bomb scares.
This is the best news I have heard in a long time!!!
I knew Haynes exported wood, I don’t think the company would be so stupid as to get in on something like this. Because it’s their land they are automatically guilty? Maybe I should start checking my land more often.
And when you do be sure you’re very careful. Dope grown on this scale is done by people who know what they are both doing, and are very motivated to protect their investment. Tripline’s and IED’s aren’t just in Iraq and Afghanistan. A single # 10 can, some scrap nut’s and bolt’s and a healthy amount of blackpowder are not what you want to find going down a trail on an ATV.
Makes you wonder if there’s any being grown somewhere on all of the land that Quimby owns.
No, but you can be sure that the Fed’s are going to go after Haynes landholding’s as part of a RICO case. That means that every square yard of Haynes land is going to be seized by the Fed’s as part of an on-going, and with almost 3K plant’s it would be hard to call it anything else, criminal enterprise. What will happen to it after that is up to the Fed’s and probably the USDA and the Forest Service people. Maine’s Forest Service will probably get into this as well. But as far as Haynes is concerned, he’s done like a East Grand Lake trout overdone.
Haynes did sell some land to Quimby, maybe they will get the land be fore Quimby does.
Entirely possible. It would depend on when the sale took place, how the land was paid for and how the land’s Deed of Transfer was worded. If the land was paid for by any fund’s that are traceable as drug money, or either Party knew that drug money was involved, the entire sale is KAPUT and the land’s subject to seizure pending a Forfeture hearing. But either way it doesn’t really matter. 2900 + plant’s, over $ 38,000.- in cash, that you know full well the IRS is gonna be asking a lot of not-so-polite question’s about, not to mention the Canadian cash found (and it wouldn’t surprise me to see a couple of RCMP type’s in the area right now) and this one arrest and indictment is gonna go a very long way in clearing up a lot of the drug availability here in Maine, and probably in the Maritime’s as well. And if any of this is ever tied to the 3 kid’s in Bangor, well, Haynes and the entire lot are now fully liable to be charged in their death’s as Co-Conspirator’s at the very least. That makes their death’s a Felony Murder and that means they go in and don’t come out unless they’re boxed for burial.
And if the land is recovered from ole’ Roxy because of this, well, you can be pretty safe in assuming that even Roxy won’t want it. Given her current problems here in Maine right now does she really want to go diving into that PR mess on top of everything else ? Millinocket tossed her idea into the bucket along with, amazingly enough, LePage’s helping them. Having the land known as a source of the dope that got 3 kid’s killed is not going to do a lot for whatever she has in mind.
Not sure where you’re going with this but pretty sure the 3 murder victims were involved in something deeper than pot growing in eastern Maine
Were I Haynes and Company I would sincerely hope so. This type of murder, once attached, has a very ugly way of influencing a jury. The recent murder’s in Aroostook County, in Amity, showed that beyond question, jury questioning included.
Haynes gated off / locked all the roads leading to this operation. Many suspected something was going on
A friend of mine from New Brunswick grew Christmas trees on his property. After the trees were sold he would go out west to Alberta and weld for the rest of the winter. One year he went west and met a fellow from back east that he knew. They had a few brews and the friend asked him if he would like to smoke so pot. My friend said ok and they went to the parking lot to smoke. The guy asked him what he thought of the pot and my friend said it was ok. The guy then told him it should be because he grew it on my friends property.
So what did your friend do? I want to hear the end of the story!
My friend, when he came home checked his property and found where the weed had been grown. It was no longer there and in the futurer he walked his whole property to make sure there were no more growing operations. If the authorities had found those plants on his property, he in all likelhood would have lost his property and done jail time.
That’s a pretty picture.
Very nice plants.. The US government hates competition. The government prefers herion and guns.
“The government prefers (hill-billy -pharmaceutical) herion and guns.”
About time. This wasn’t about smoking a little for yourself, this was about greed, organized drug crime which has a whole lot of other side effect. Good Job MDEA, IRS (although you should be disbanded) and Homeland security…
Like they were with alcohol during prohibition, organized crime is involved in marijuana because it is a banned substance. Remove the ban, make marketing legal, tax it to increase public revenues, lay-off a few drug agents to save some public money. Problems solved.
Malcolm French is a part of the Haynes family, so I would suspect the Haynes Timberland Co. land that was used would be under his control, or that’s what the DA is trying to say in order to help fund that up to $10 mil potential fine.
They should have stuck with clearcutting and selling it to Roxanne Quimby, the way they have done in the Stacyville/Patten area.
Holy smokes Batman! That’s a lot of weed! How come the growers get more time than a murderer? Just asking, I really have no idea. Seems a little unfair, that’s all.
Federal charges carry heavier sentences.
Thanks for the enlightenment. I do appreciate it.
Then child molesting should be made a federal crime.
For one thing they haven’t gone to trial yet. Therefore they haven’t been convicted or sentenced. The article is only saying what is the maximum they can be sentenced to.
Thanks for the info. Still seems like a lot of time for some weed.
It wasn’t just some weed. These people were very high tech and probably expecting millions (tax free) on their investment. In all likelyhood one or all of them will rat each other out in the hopes of getting a better plea bargain for much lesser sentences if the prosecution can show a strong enough case against them. If the prosecutions case looks weak to the defense attorneys they may go to trial. In either case it will be a while before you find out the final outcome.
High tech?
Its a plant in some dirt. Whats high tech about that?
And You and I will pay for all of this. Our tax dollars at work.
We pay for the laws to be inforced in this country. We don’t get to pick and choose which laws are enforced. We can elect officials who can recind laws but until this law is taken off the books, law enforcement will do their job.
Take everything they own and make them pay their own room and board.
Because our justice system sucks!
I guess that would be a fair assessment.
Now, the fines should help off set some of the state’s shortfall.
The feds are taking them, all I can say is bye…bye. That may be a life sentence for them at their age.
So, why did it take three years to get these indictments?
They had to sample it.
That’s right. Testing is done by a government test toker.
Repeatedly
Gee…..I wonder if they are hiring?
If you sell pot or any other drugs in Maine, sooner or later, you will be caught and put in a jail cell.
Does that help you sleep at night?
Is the same Robert Berg of Berg sportswear that was raided last year?
yes it is..
Ah… nice catch nutandbolt…
And, why isn’t the connection being made in the media? I haven’t seen, read, or heard a single news outlet say a word about it.
…And, right on que BDN updates the story with the Berg connection. WTG BDN.
My dad went down in Washington County and all I got was this lousy T-shirt buisness.
Bet there were some happy deer in Washington County.
All the deer have an unatural hue of red from the Doritos.
Follow up reporting should focus on the “corporate person” involved.
If they are really a functioning Maine timber land management company how could they let people build seven buildings on their land ?
How could that ever happen without the co-operation of the management ?
If they are not, then they are just corporate criminals hiding behind the laws that they abuse.
Hang ’em as high as the ground operators that they enabled.
….
Oh is that what “pot”ting soil is used for?? I thought it was to grow flowers in at home! HAHAHA
When are we going to stop with this crap?! What a HUGE waste of tax money, effort and law enforcement careers investigating, arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating marijuana growers. Alcohol is much more distructive, and we are constantly bombarded with commercials about how much better life would be with beer, tequila, vodka…
The issue here is the scale, and the fact marijuana is illegal. These types of operations are large criminal enterprises. It’s not really about pot, as others have said. If cotton were illegal and there was millions of dollars to be made selling it, we’d have the same situation.
I agree that marijuana should be less illegal than alcohol though. But, it’s not.
The issue is that marijuana should not be illegal. If alcohol and cigs are legal then there is no valid reason for marijuana not to be legalized. Stupid laws are meant to be ignored. It’s purely political, cops want the easy busts, lawmakers want the support of cops. Most doctors don’t want it legal because weed would cut into the marinol, morphine, and all the other pain killers which are much worse than weed, and don’t do as good a job.
Agreed. I blame big-Pharma. They don’t want people growing their own medicine and the alcohol lobby isn’t far behind. They don’t want people growing their own entertainment. Still, I don’t see the Feds giving up the war on pot any time in the foreseeable future, even-though most Americans would prefer they did.
Marinol is synthetic THC. Not your typical “pain killer” and not “much worse” than weed. As far as a good job, for killing pain there is nothing more effective the opiate narcotics. However, there are horrible side effects. The job is good, the result, not so much. Marinol doesn’t really work properly because its not just the THC which is responsible for Marijuana’s medicinal properties.
But yes, stupid laws are meant to be ignored.
‘Good’ grade pot on it’s best day might contain 20% THC whereas Marinol is 100% THC, therein lies the ‘much worse.’ Raw pot contains many other compounds, some called Cannabinoids. We are born with Cannabinoid receptors in our brains. INTERESTING, eh?
As for Opiates being the ‘best pain killers,’ I disagree because of #1 – the drooling side-effects and #2 – they don’t touch Neurological pain and this is where pot comes into it’s own. And #3 – you can’t overdose and die on pot.
But you are spot on and somebody has phrased it better than I, but stupid laws (and Constitutional Amendments like the 18th) create criminals out of, otherwise, law-abiding people. They should not be ignored, but fought & repealed.
easy on the beer…..Your not alone thinking it should be legalized, but you don’t have to drag alcohol into it. ;0)
You have a choice of a heart surgeon to operate on your child.
All you know is one surgeon smokes POT regularly, the other does not.
Choose one.
So, what does the non pot smoker do? Drink? Regularly? If so, I’d take the pot user.
One smokes POT, the other does not
That is all the information you have. Chose one.
The devil you know is better than the one you don’t.
Some of the most successful people I know smoke. Guess I wouldn’t care, unless his/her eyes are squinty…
well all the druggies i see around started with pot !!!! is pot all that bad, well maybe not !!! BUT IT SURE IS A GATEWAY TO OTHER THINGS, that are killing our youth !!!!
Guess what most pot users used before pot? Alcohol! Alcohol is THE gateway drug, as the first thing it obliterates is one’s inhibitions.
They all drank milk before they drank alcohol, so milk is the gateway to other things. Give me a break.
100% 0f the terrorists and murderers in this world all have drank water. Water is the common denominator. It should be banned!!!!
Funny, all the “druggies” around I know started with alcohol and ciggies. The whole “gateway drug” thing, it’s been discredited, but it does serve a purpose of showing who really doesn’t know much about drugs in general.
It has most definitely not been discredited to any extent. In fact, dozens of accredited studies by major prestigious universities have actually proven that marijuana is in fact, a gateway drug… The arguments about milk, or water, or alcohol are absolutely groundless, grossly idiotic actually, not even creative, just plain stupid, something I’d expect a drug user with three brain cells left would write.
Its tounge in cheek man, relax… And leave the Spartans alone. Ive seen what 300 of them can do to your army…
these studies are subjective at best, namely by the political overtones!! marijuana being a gateway drug is.. BS. There are hard drug users who never smoked marijuana, and gave testimony to the fact, they knew numerous people who did NOT!! start out using marijuana!! LOL marijuana killing brain cells, well NOT to worry, it is only the weak ones!!
Who decided that said studies were subjective? I assume the political overtone comment was supposed to reference somthing like undue influence or somthing? If that is the case, and you are an educated person, then you’ll know that all the studies I refered to were subjected to critical peer review including content, data used, scientific methods used etc. prior to publication, right? So your comment can only be interpreted one of two ways: Ignorant or antagonistic, right?
I’m pro marijuana and I’m one of the few that will admit to some dangers of the drug. Smoking anything can cause lung cancer. Pot increases heart rate and blood pressure and may increase the chances of cardiovascular events. Marijuana has a host of undesirable side affects. It’s true. And, it pisses me off when users deny it.
HOWEVER, marijuana also has many beneficial properties and at the end of the day is far less dangerous than alcohol or even significant use of acetaminophen [Tylenol].
But, there really isn’t enough research of marijuana, sadly. As the US Gov’t has deemed it offers ‘No Recognized Medical Use’, classified it as a schedule-1 drug. Right alongside heroin, and higher than cocaine and meth-amphetamines!
Reefer Madness is alive and well. While the entire Nation seems to be on some sort of prescription drug. Like synthetic opioids. So sad.
How does the prior posters level of education have anything to do with your studies? You didn’t even post a link or name the studies or anything. How could he have assumed anything in related to the manor in which they were conducted? You seem to think throwing the words “prestigious university” around should conjure up some image of old men discussing scientific method and passing around notes.
I read a study that said you could be being pompous about the difference between the Gateway Theory and the Stepping Stone Hypothesis and these peoples apparent inability to distinguish the two.
I’m not going to take the time to post links, if you are interested, the information is readily available to anyone who cares to look. So, I suggest you google Marijuana Gateway Drug, or some other combination of words and find the info yourself. This is a pointless use of my time, I’m not going to convince you, you’ve made up your mind, so it really does not matter what links I post, does it?
The so-called “gateway theory” is in fact an example of one of the most basic errors in logic, the belief that correlation proves causality. It doesn’t. As George Carlin put it, “Mother’s milk is the cause of everything!” Just because one event follows another does not mean the second is necessarily related in any way to the first.
A little history on the origin of the marijuana gateway theory. It was invented by Harry Anslinger, former head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, predecessor of the DEA. In 1951, Anslinger appeared before a congressional budget committee to justify his anti-marijuana budget.
For years Anslinger had claimed marijuana causes “criminality,insanity, and death!” to justify his campaign. The LaGuardia Report, a massive study of the effects of marijuana, had come out in 1944. It had shown conclusively that marijuana does NOT cause criminality, insanity, and death…so, said the committee, why should we keep funding you?
Up until then Anslinger had always said there was no connection between marijuana use and heroin use: “The marijuana addict does not go in that direction.” Faced with loss of funding, however, on the spur of the moment Anslinger told the committee, gee, he had been wrong about the criminality, insanity, and death, but he knew that marijuana was a sure route to heroin addiction.
He presented not a shred of evidence to back up this claim. There wasn’t any — he had just made it up. No matter. The committee bought it, even though it directly contradicted his previous statements that there was no connection, and he got his funding to continue his anti-marijuana crusade.
Because it’s so easy to fall for the correlation/causality error when something sounds “reasonable,” the gateway theory lives on, despite having been refuted over and over again. But it remains what it began as — a product of Harry Anslinger’s imagination,, with no basis in reality.
n.b. Most of this information comes from the book “Licit and Illicit Drugs” by Edward M. Brecher. There is an online copy in the Schaeffer Library at http://www.druglibrary.org
If you want to see a scientific study debunking the gateway theory, one was done by Dr. Peter Cohen at the Centre for Drug Research, University of Amsterdam. (I don’t have a current link to it, but a Google search might turn it up.)
Very nice, but you know that I or anyone else can find legitimate information that debunks a great deal of what you’ve written here… Furthermore, I know, from personal expereince, that people who use marijuana are more likely to try other drugs, as compared to those who have never used an illicit drug.
This is a waste of my time, I’m not going to convince you, and you are not going to convince me… I guess we’ll have to just agree to disagree.
You say you can debunk a great deal of what I wrote. If you can, please do so. Let’s see:
Can you debunk the fact that correlation does not prove causality? If you attempt to do so, any teacher of basic logic will flunk you.
Can you debunk the fact that Harry Anslinger originally stated that marijuana use does not lead to heroin use, then stated that it does to justify continued enforcement of marijuana laws? I doubled-checked my reference and my memory was slightly faulty; while “Licit and Illicit Drugs” has some relevant footnotes attesting to his change of position, my primary source of information for that account is a speech given to the California Judges Association by prof. Charles Whitebread of the USC Law School. You can read it here: http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm . Prof. Whitebread, with Prof. James Bonnie of the University of Virginia, wrote the first definitive history of the marijuana laws.
Can you debunk the fact that Dr. Peter Cohen of CEDRO did a study that showed that the “gateway theory” is invalid? It was easy to find my reference. See http://www.ukcia.org/research/CannabisUseASteppingStone.pdf
Dr. Cohen did find that marijuana use may precede heroin use — as you state. So do a lot of other activities. He did NOT find that marijuana use CAUSES heroin use. Indeed, it is silly to suggest that taking one drug can cause you to crave another drug you have never tried.
There is one connection between marijuana and heroin: both are illegal. Because the same criminal dealer may sell both products, a marijuana user wanting to experiment — or encouraged by the dealer to “try something new” — has little difficulty obtaining heroin. This connection is caused by drug prohibition, not by the drugs.
The Dutch have consciously tried to separate the “hard” and “soft” drug markets to break this connection, with impressive results. So have the Swiss, also with impressive results. We continue to keep them combined…with impressively bad results. Prohibition does not work. We need to treat drug use as the health problem it is rather than trying to turn it into a law enforcement problem.
There are many competing theories and everyone thinks that they are right… Nobody, least of all me, ever stated that marijuana use “causes” a person to use other drugs… I’m really not sure where that came from… But what it does do, is it opens the gateway for other illicit drug use, hence, marijuana is a gateway drug.
During DRT training (Drug Recognition Expert) They travel to major US cities and speak with drug users/addicts randomly chosen off the street. They are assigned to clinically diagnose the drugs each of these people had used or are under the influence of by recognizing and diagnosing the detectable physiological and psychological effects of drug use, impairment and intoxication.
During the questioning each drug addict/user spoken to, about how they came to use the three drugs they are assigned to study the effects of; Heroin, Cocaine, Methamphetamine… Every single one of them state that the first drug they had used had been marijuana. When asked, they all state that they felt that if they had not used marijuana they likely would never have tried using any other drug.
None of the drug users spoken with are in police custody, nor are they being charged with any crime. They are all volunteers, who are normally literally paid for their time with nothing more than a simple meal and all went their own way after finishing with the evaluations which determine which drug they had used, or were under the influence of.
So, you can take your imaginative and seemingly well thought out arguments about how marijuana is not a gateway drug and place them &*^%**&^#^#&*(( )(*&^&*^, because I know better. I’ve been there, I’ve heard it with my own ears from the experts that actually know what they are talking about.
You are just wrong. Pot is NOT a gateway drug.
Louis Armstrong smoked pot most of his life.
Louis Armstrong was a heart surgeon too?
Does the other one have a Martini at lunch and drink a 5th of gin when he gets home at night or does that not matter to you?
I’d choose the one that smokes pot regularly, and I’ll tell you why…
It’s a dirty little secret of the medical community that most doctors are addicted to pills.
So you tell me, you you want a surgeon that smokes a little weed regularly, or a surgeon that’s on oxy’s ?
I’ll pick the surgeon that smokes weed every time, thanks.
“most doctors are addicted to pills.”
Please cite credible sources for this information please. lol, I know……you can’t! Do you understand how unintelligent this assertion makes you look?
does the other one drink!
you apparently have never experimented with pot!
You have a choice of a heart surgeon to operate on your child.
All you know is one surgeon drinks BEER regularly, the other does not.Choose one.
that picture is now my new screen saver
Wow. The people involved is surprising. You have to wonder if there was also a higher level crime group connection as well. Probably hear about that later. I have no interest in the stuff, but IMHO, legalize, let big tobacco and and other interested parties grow it in mass scale, and put a tax stamp on each pack. The income for the Fed would offset a huge part of our national debt and users would no longer be criminals.
Now that was a budding operation.
No cocaine, pill, or heroin dealers were harmed in the making of this news story.
Good work. But wouldn’t it be just better to make it legal and tax it?
And how exactly do you tax a hidden organization utilizing illegal immigrants?
Achohol Companies were able to figure it out after prohibition……maybe you should ask a Tequila Distillery.
I was wondering what was going on, sounds like Haynes maybe having a going out of business sale soon…
Although it is a “Haynes” company, it does not belong to the H.C. Haynes company. I believe it belongs to a brother in law. Be careful when lumping in the entire family.
Well you might want to tell BDN that, when they first got busted they reported it being owned by H C Haynes.. Of course wouldnt be the first time they got it wrong…LOL..
Looking at the picture, reading the details and after some thought it Looks like what we have here is a usable amount of choom.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/rare-photo-of-barack-obama-the-choom-gang-unearthed/ The only other place I’ve heard the word choom used. Were you referring to the Choom Gang?
Berg is Howie Carr’s buddy, he has the t shirt and hat silk screening business in Corinna that they raided at the time. I believe he had or has a FFL also. They don’t call it Berg Enterprises for nuttin.
so you know nothing but you believe things???
N/M
I found one FFL holder in Corinna, and 15 in 100 miles, none were a Berg…
…
At the time of the raid on his business i looked it up online and Berg was listed. He has either lost it or voluntarily given it up. He has a massive firearms collection.
Would make sense he said he couldnt move all the firearms for part of his bail conditions.
yummy look at all that pot
My eyes are getting red just looking at all the buds. Like far out man.
I guess this sheds some additional light on the Berg Sportswear raid. It will be interesting when the other indictment gets unsealed.
The real criminal is the putz who ratted ’em out.
Malcomb French of Haynes Timberland in Enfield, ME, should not be confused with H.C. Haynes in Winn, ME. H.C. Haynes is in no way connected with this illegal operation.
Is it just a coincidence that a daughter of HC Haynes has a last name of French??
They got more shell companies than Al-Quaida.
Yes it is..
No coincidence. They are married.
She’s married to one of the defendants. That doesn’t mean she knew what her husband was doing.
Are you serious? If she did not know, or at least suspect she must be numb-er that a pounded thumb!
If she wasn’t involved in the family business operations it could take some time for her to get suspicious. I don’t know if this was a new venture for him. We’ll know more when they announce the plea bargains. I’m sure they have at least one of the hired hands ready to testify, probably more than one.
I believe they just recently “divorced” timing is convenient. It was also interesting to read the District Court record regarding Mr. Russel-he was working for French under the table while filing for and collecting state aid in various forms. What a tangled web–Greed rearing its ugly head.
The raid was almost 3 years ago so the divorce might be expected regardless of what she knew beforehand. Whether she was surprised or not, she would want to protect some of the assets. I’m sure the investigators looked in her direction. If they can charge the spouse at least as a conspirator or accessory, they can go after both halves of the community property.
Isn’t Malcom’s wife , HC Haynes??
Well you might want to tell BDN that, when they first got busted they reported it being owned by H C Haynes.. Of course wouldnt be the first time they got it wrong…LOL..
……………………………WARNING………………………..
IF YOU ARE SELLING OR GROWING POT
YOU ARE BEING WATCHED
YOU WILL BE ARRESTED SOON
YOU WILL BE IN A JAIL SOON
YOU WILL BE IN JAIL FOR A LONG TIME SOON
every drug dealer in jail, never thought they would be caught someday
Warning…. If you molest children, you will do less time than someone growing some weed.
Extremely sad, grossly unjust. but true!
Brilliant use of the English language, Crusader.
And it makes no difference. In the words of Peter Christ, 20 year veteran cop and founding member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (www.leap.cc),
“If you arrest a burglar, for a while the number of burglaries goes down. If you arrest a rapist, for a while the number of rapes goes down. But no matter how many drug dealers we arrested it made no difference on the street. NONE. All we did was create job opportunities.”
Drug prohibition doesn’t work.
I would like to clear something up. As an employee of H. C. Haynes, Inc. for more then two decades.
First Haynes Timberlands was established by Malcome French. This company is not affiliated with H. C. Haynes, Inc. H. C Haynes will keep rolling for many more years. The Family that I have dealt with for all these years have been great. Most of you who have a snowsled or a 4 wheeler have used their property without question for years.
Haynes got plenty of tax breaks for letting people cross their land. Gratitude works both ways. Spinning off a separate company to avoid losing everything is an old trick. It’s kind of like a wind company and their shell sub companies, used to hide the books like Enron did. Didn’t Haynes get busted not long ago for tax evasion? You may worship them if you like , many know better.
there are no tax breaks for letting people cross your land. It’s called tree growth tax and there is no public access requirements. Open space taxation requires you allow certain types of public access, but that’s not what they use. Anyone with 10 acres can get in treegrowth so it’s not like they are getting some magic subsidy.
Yeah, right. Just go ask ‘The Penguin’ about tree growth tax’s and subsidy’s.
If you are referring to the people abusing tree growth on the coast it is just that. Abuse, of an otherwise practical program.
Thanks for clearing that up Peter. I had hoped that they were not involved and I am glad that they were not.
Don’t worry the government will now seel it as medical pot and get there money out of it!!!
No, they most likely will destroy it. What a waste.
I would bet that this is not the only large growing business in Maine. If there is profit to be made free enterprise will endure. This is no different than prohibition. That didn’t work very well did it?
IRS will soon file charges too?
The IRS only wants to collect the taxes on the income. As they should. I pay tax on my income and you probably pay on yours.
malcolm & barbara french own haynes timberland & sell land thru french properties website. totally seperate businesses from hc haynes and lakeville shores which are owned by barbara french’s brother & sister
thanks for the clarifying that…..
HC Haynes may have decided to spin off another company ,Haynes Timberland, so legally they would not risk their entire operation if they got caught. That is the kind of thinking you get dealing with windsprawl companies and their city lawyers. The millions in profit were too tempting, and Haynes figured his “property rights” superceded the laws. Throw em all in the slammer and dismantle the turbines before our energy costs go up any more.
HC Haynes does not own or operate Haynes Timberland.
why don’t all you anti-windmill people reach into your own pockets and buy the mountains or the development rights yourselves instead of trampling peoples property rights into the ground
Then they dug and they burned,
And they burned and they dug,
And they killed all our cute little weeds.
Then they drove away,
We just smiled and waved ……….
Sittin’ there on that sack of seeds!
Bravo!
Legalization, Regulation, Taxation!
Yes We Cannabis!
Caprountree: You have it correct. Enroncrooks is just bent becauase of the windmills. They have no Idea the size of the company.
Thinking about manufacturing and marveling at just how much of that may have been done since 2009 (or earlier) by those who will do anything to “win” a conviction, seize property and confiscate a large amount of property. These accused men and their families have endured a lot over three years, their reputations tarnished, life’s savings depleted and lives turned upside down. Three years….the unjust justice must be extremely angry. Imagine being one of these hard working men and innocent. I hope the BDN will have the integrity to put the story on the front page if these men can prove their innocence, as its been complicit in the humiliation and intimidation of these men.
Not following you. The indictments were just handed down. Not 3 yrs ago. Besides, reporting the arrest of individuals for serious crimes is hardly “intimidation”. Furthermore, would you have us believe that the DEA “planted” these nearly 3,000 pot plants and went as far to hire illegal aliens and build dorms for them to care for these plants? Again, not following you.
Wicked Pissah!
Nice buds!
Legalize it and tax it, also tax religious cults and the budget would be balanced in 4 years.
Hate to tell ya, but our federal budget will NEVER be balanced, and taxing dope and cults will do nothing.
Says you. Who said I was talking Federal? And quit being such a pessimist…… Just by taxing the religious cults we could balance the budget, and yes Federal.
Take the time to watch and listen….carefully……the budget will NEVER be balanced.
youtube.com/watch?v=EW5IdwltaAc
Well to be fair if we actually got people in office who actually knew what a budget was, there could be a chance.
Paranoid much? You would take the word of an unknown youtube user named Hal Mason, who sounds a lot like he works under Paul “Lying” Ryan, go for it. I am not a doomsday er. I will continue to believe that forcing companies that outsource jobs to pay their fair share of taxes on the imports will bring fiscal responsibility back to the USA. That of course plus taxing the Smitten Robmes’ of the world, taxing all religious cults and legalizing (taxing) dare I say it marijuana. Oh the horror.
No, the paranoia is all yours.
And as is the custom of the uber left, don’t concern yourselves with facts, especially facts that contradict your beliefs.
Believe what you will. You will never see a balanced federal budget in your lifetime.
I like your ideas but the fact is, the more money that is in the coffers, the more that is spent. They’re like drunken sailors in port after a year at sea.
Hey got to Plant something in All those CLEARCUTS !! Might as well be a Fast Growing Great return on Investment Crop!!!!
Someone once said Hell is the impossibility of reason.
Very disappointed in Mr. Chase….known him for a few years…never would have suspected this. Makes you really wonder….can’t trust anyone these days.
So this is what high grade well tended plants look like by experienced growers–stuff has sure advanced from the early 70’s crap–which was mainly Colombian / Mexican which didn’t even bud out before frost got em!
Jailing job creators.
it is because of the way they have to get pot….they have to go to drug dealers whom are not as sweet as store clerk may be. Think about it.
How much pot does one need to consume before they experience a “pot seizure?”
Another sucessful business closes down due to government intervention!
French & Haynes. These pot growers are the same crooks who are in bed with Cianbro as they try to put a wind “farm” on Maine jewel East Grand Lake. Birds of a feather, seeking an illicit quick buck.
someone owns those mountain tops! maybe i think your front lawn is a scenic jewel and i should be able to pitch my tent on it and use it for free without asking