Homeless on public lands

[Oak]

I'm not even sure what to say about this, but it will surely lead to greater restrictions on how we use public lands near urban areas.

Camping crisis: Some western Boulder County sites under siege

"At West Magnolia, there is no running water," said Nederland Fire Protection District Chief Rick Dirr. "All of these people, their excrement is scattered throughout the woods. There aren't any bathrooms. From a biohazard, or whatever perspective ... now we've just got a lot of people crapping in the woods.. And that's not the experience I want my kids to have."

Several people interviewed invoked the legalization of marijuana as just one more lure for some of the out-of-state itinerant to Colorado national forest lands — despite the fact that using it on federal lands is illegal. Begley, the young mother tending her baby in a tent, was of those happy to see the Colorado give pot the green light.

"I'm from Humboldt County, Calif., so obviously, I'm going to be promoting marijuana," she said. "I mean, marijuana has helped me. Marijuana has got me off harder drugs. Marijuana has helped me raise my children ... I think Colorado is on the right path."

 

[Schaaf]

Does a homeless dude poop in the woods?

Yes, they do.

 

[hank4elk]

The Homeless and more important,the mentally ill homeless were a daily dealing in my prior life as a Park Ranger in Cent/coast CA.
Several years before I retired,a CA State Park Ranger was killed defending a man & his son from a MI homeless man in a campground.
This was 10 mi. from several of our parks & campground. I was PR in the campground/park & had just declined a job with CA State Parks.

The squatters & growers in the backcountry were another problem.

 

[Ben Lamb]

But we don't need law enforcement on public lands. The understaffed & underfunded County Sheriff will do just fine.

 

[sagebrush]

A lot of homeless/itinerant workers camping the the forest around Flagstaff. From what I have seen, they follow the rules and move camps every 14 days. Some leave trash behind, but no greater percentage than the slob campers.

I'm sure we will see more and more as the unemployment number drops below 5% and the labor participation rate drops below 60%.

 

[cur dog]

LEGAL POT! No need to say more.

 

[Zach]

Hey, it's their land too....

 

[Mule Deer]

Recreation departments in federal lands are so under funded and the first to take the cuts when it comes to that. It's never made any sense to me. Yes conservation is great, studies are needed, timbers, and other resources are needed.

But, how many people care about how the soil horizon is doing? Or that stream is gis'd all the way up to its source?

Then how many people care about having a clean, accessible forest, that is well kept and running. Services are fixed on time, tattered signs aren't the norm, destructive visitors are reprimanded. Yes recreation departments deal with this and much and they have to do it with 1/2, 1/3, shit 1/8th the man power and budget.

There's a point when you have to keep the forest running smoothly. Resources and conservation is important on the forest, but how many of the 170m visitors to the forest really care about that and how many of them want a good experience on the forest? Well give the taxpayers what they want DC and quit under funding recreation programs and over funding everything else.

They're the ones dealing with the GENERAL PUBLIC and 99% of visitors are the GENERAL PUBLIC.

 

[Pagosa]

I remember the campaigns in 2012 for legalization of dope, a lot of people tried to tell me how great it was going to be for the economy, real estate market, social programs due to tax revenue. I tried to explain about the moral and social downfalls and tried to use Denmark as an example. They would not listen. Even the Governor a year later said it was a bad decision. It only attracted the worst of individuals.
So Colorado and any other state that legalizes a illegal activity will suffer the consequences. Damage to public lands will be the least of Colorado's, Washington, and/or California's problem in 10 to 15 years.

 

[Flatland Crusoe]

Is Richard Nixon trolling this site? The hippies smoking dope are occupying the national forest and pooping everywhere. You guys are old and have been in the woods too long.

National forest most anywhere is fairly lightly patrolled at best outside of a few densely used areas and there are problems as such whether it's in Colorado or elsewhere. Colorado has been turning into California light for a while, but the moral fabric of American didn't come apart at the seams when Colorado legalized pot.

Some reporter found the interview found the interview they wanted and ran with it.

 

[rmyoung1]

I remember the campaigns in 2012 for legalization of dope, a lot of people tried to tell me how great it was going to be for the economy, real estate market, social programs due to tax revenue. I tried to explain about the moral and social downfalls and tried to use Denmark as an example. They would not listen. Even the Governor a year later said it was a bad decision. It only attracted the worst of individuals.
So Colorado and any other state that legalizes a illegal activity will suffer the consequences. Damage to public lands will be the least of Colorado's, Washington, and/or California's problem in 10 to 15 years.

Well said.

 

[MTGomer]

Sounds like a legitimate issue has been spun into a reefer madness propoganda piece.

The war on drugs, especially pot is a failed and losing 50 year old, tens of billions of dollars war supported by two types of people: the willfully ignorant and those who profit from it.
The war on drugs has been wildly successful at eroding the 4th amendment, growing government massively, creating a prison industrial complex and turning the innercity areas into ghettos. Although mostly unintentional, it's had a stark racial outcome, creating an entire generation of inner city blacks into felons and dropouts.

Prohibition is a failure in every form. That's a fact.

The weeds are coming!!! Come out of the 60s hysteria you clowns and get with the times.
An adult choosing to consume a plant is not your business.
And I object to the portion of the 35% of my money that is taken from me being used to incarcerate non violent consumers of plants, turn them into felons, and then support their welfare and food stamps when they get out, because you made a felon out of them, making them unemployable.

Marijuana is illegal because of early 1900s crony corporatism not because of its negative effects.

Whether a 'my body, my choice' liberal or a family values, fiscal conservative, you are glaring hypocrites.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

It certainly is ironic that a country can make a plant product that has some very legitimate medicinal purposes into the bogeyman, but yet ethanol products are some of the most visibly advertised products in America. I'm willing to bet far more lives have been destroyed by distilled grain products than cannabis products.

 

[Big Foot]

Sounds like a legitimate issue has been spun into a reefer madness propoganda piece.

The war on drugs, especially pot is a failed and losing 50 year old, tens of billions of dollars war supported by two types of people: the willfully ignorant and those who profit from it.
The war on drugs has been wildly successful at eroding the 4th amendment, growing government massively, creating a prison industrial complex and turning the innercity areas into ghettos. Although mostly unintentional, it's had a stark racial outcome, creating an entire generation of inner city blacks into felons and dropouts.

Prohibition is a failure in every form. That's a fact.

The weeds are coming!!! Come out of the 60s hysteria you clowns and get with the times.
An adult choosing to consume a plant is not your business.
And I object to the portion of the 35% of my money that is taken from me being used to incarcerate non violent consumers of plants, turn them into felons, and then support their welfare and food stamps when they get out, because you made a felon out of them, making them unemployable.

Marijuana is illegal because of early 1900s crony corporatism not because of its negative effects.

Whether a 'my body, my choice' liberal or a family values, fiscal conservative, you are glaring hypocrites.

Hit the nail on the head Gomer. Well said!

 

[Nameless Range]

Well said MTGomer.

When I lived in Bonner, MT, bums would set up a small village on the Nature Conservancy Land behind my house every summer. TNC manages camping on their land much the same way the FS does, and there is a limited amount of time someone can be in one location without moving a certain distance. Eventually I complained enough to the TNC that they sent the cops out to force them to move the obligatory mile or whatever it was. I was not there when the cops came so I am not sure how it went. They left chit everywhere, both literal and figurative. Those people were camped there because it was a good spot to camp and Missoula was oversaturated with homeless people as it was. They would terrorize the neighborhood with theft, trespassing, threats.....All of it fueled by Alcohol.

I think more homeless Americans on Public Lands has to do with economic and legal realities, the increasing number of homeless, and mental issues. Sure drugs may be involved, the main one being alcohol. It's amazing to me that despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the boogeyman of marijuana still exists. The debate is over, and if we are going to be consistent in what we consider to be a drug detrimental to society, it has to and will be, completely legalized nationwide within a couple decades.

 

[Power54]

These types of camps and/or dispersed longer-term camping happen a lot of places, legal weed or not. Hell, Missoula had a big old homeless camp under the Reserve Street Bridge that probably made the one in Nederland look like child's play. I think its gone now but I've been away from Missoula for a while so I'm not sure about that. Like Nameless said, it was alcohol that made those folks dangerous, not marijuana. I also doubt it was access to marijuana that made Missoula appealing. In Jackson Hole, they have restricted camping in areas close to town during peak season to 3 days to minimize longer-term camps used by seasonal workers and those that can't or choose not to pay the insane rent prices. The 3-day limit is also enforced but most folks seem to abide. People living on public land can be a problem but it isn't a problem created or likely even exacerbated by the legalization of marijuana. And, it can easily be dealt with by simple restrictions and enforcement.

 

[SteveE]

+1 MTGomer and JLS hit the true nail on the head.

Really blaming legalized weed for this?? Too funny...

Do you check under the bed for the boogey man too?

 

[Tkaldahl2000]

Teaching in a public school, I see the impact of alchohol on a daily basis. Students never overcome the effects of fetal alchohol syndrome, and in my district the devastation of poverty is exacerbated by alchohol abuse. On the other hand, just because weed may not be as harmful does not make it a good thing. Unfortunately people are going to make bad choices. I see people killing themselves at Golden Corral every time I go there too, but I don't think the government should control how I eat.

 

[noharleyyet]

If marijuana wasn't illegal. would paranoia still be a side effect?

 

[Ben Lamb]

If marijuana wasn't illegal. would paranoia still be a side effect?

You don't need weed to be paranoid, just an internet connection.

Well said Gomer & JLS.