The synthetic pesticides and fertilizers used illegally to grow marijuana in national forests produce far more pollution than previously thought, says Reuters. “Thousands of acres” of national forest in California are “waste dumps so toxic that simply touching plants has landed law enforcement officers in the hospital.”
Ecologist Mourad Gabriel “estimates California’s forests hold 41 times more solid fertilizers and 80 times more liquid pesticides than Forest Service investigators found in 2013,” says Reuters. That translates into 731,000 pounds of solid fertilizer, 491,000 ounces of concentrated liquid fertilizer and 200,000 ounces of toxic pesticides. Some of the chemicals are banned or restricted for use in the United States. California is home to an estimated 90 percent of illegal marijuana farming in the country.
“The most toxic sites cost as much as $100,000 to clean up, leaving taxpayers with a bill that could reach $100 million or more in California alone,” says Reuters. The Forest Service said it has a list of 639 illegal marijuana farms awaiting restoration in California. “Gabriel said that figure understated the problem, and pointed out that toxics are used at thousands of illegal farms on private and tribal land.”