134 tons of Marijuana set on fire in Mexico

[marmar]

:smoke:



from the NY Times:




TIJUANA, Mexico — Tons of marijuana — 134 tons, in fact — sat on a makeshift platform Wednesday on a military base here. And then, after a military band played, after speeches by Army and police commanders, after a laborer sprayed fuel on the verdant, pungent bales, after college students and dignitaries and a throng of journalists took aim with their cameras, it was lit on fire.

And so up in smoke went the equivalent of a few hundred million joints in what Mexican authorities called the largest seizure of the drug in the country’s history, a dash of hype befitting the elaborate ceremony to both get rid of it and highlight a success, any success, in a bloody, lingering drug war.

The authorities could not say with precision what the previous record was, but no matter. This one, they said, had to be the biggest.

With the push of a switch setting off an electrical charge, a few patches of flame burst from the bales and quickly erupted in flames that sent blasts of heat more than 100 meters away and thick, black billowing smoke into the wind. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/world/americas/22marijuana.html

[napi21]

1. Woa! Get your friends and stand down wind of that baby! nt

[spanone]

2. oh, to be down wind.....

:smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke:

[Xipe Totec]

3. Snif! Snif! why are you crying?

I'm not crying, I'm inhaling.

[polichick]

4. What a waste! They could have taxed and sold it. nt

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Indeed

[Xenotime]

38. So true.

[derby378]

6. Not that long ago, when Anthony Bourdain was in Panama...

...drug enforcement agents down there took Bourdain and his camera crew to a top secret location where they had amassed a huge amount of cocaine - at the very least worth $300 million in US dollars.

Bourdain watched as the agents poured gasoline and other accelerants all over the mountain of cocaine. And then, in a twist of irony, the agents offered Bourdain, a former cocaine addict, the torch.

Without a second thought, Bourdain torched the mountain of cocaine and watched it all go up in smoke. He freely admitted that this would have been one of his all-time biggest wishes for Christmas, right along with "a unicorn that craps Krugerrands." But he has walked away from that world, and I say good on him for it.

[MrSlayer]

7. A moment of silence.....

Tragic.

[Initech]

8. How fast do you think I can get to Tijuana?

:hippy: :smoke:

[xxqqqzme]

9. sad.

[MuseRider]

10. Now that is just

wrong. Oh to be a pilot flying around Tijuana.

Makes me sad.

[The Midway Rebel]

11. Sprayed fuel on it !!???

WTF. What a waste of fuel, pot, money and time. They said it will burn for two whole days. Thanks dumbasses for the smog and smoke pollution as well.

[dionysus]

33. if it was mexican schwag, it was a public service.

[Le Taz Hot]

45. +1000

Somebody had to say it. :smoke: Ya just can't beat California homegrown.

[HopeHoops]

12. In other news, helicopters and ultralights are filling the airspace and crashing in a mellow way.

[Soylent Brice]

19. lol

[sarge43]

44. ....

:spray::applause:

[sarge43]

13. Duuuuuuude. n/t

[rug]

14. Oh, the humanity!

[jmowreader]

15. They sold tickets to this, right?

I figure the public has every right to be there to observe all of this dangerous drug being destroyed in a lawful and controlled manner.

And it IS a dangerous drug after all--it leads to rape, assault, recidivism and even murder. If you mix a regular soul who has done nothing wrong other than smoke some marijuana and throw him in prison for possession, bad things are going to happen to him that wouldn't have were it not for the Drug Conviction on his record.

[TransitJohn]

16. Good riddance!

Friends don't let friends smoke schwag!:smoke:

[dionysus]

32. you win the thread!!!!

[TroglodyteScholar]

17. Noooooooooooooo!!!!

[ixion]

18. *sigh* what a waste...

:(

[frylock]

20. jesus wept

[Warren DeMontague]

21. Given that it's mexico

all those popping seeds are probably hazardous.

[TK421]

22. Looks like his rifle is slipping!

[Canuckistanian]

23. Now, now, there's more where that came from

They can't burn EVERY marijuana plant. Not even close. In some places of the world, you can't get rid of it.

This was just a publicity stunt.

[nadinbrzezinski]

36. 'exactly.

It is about the oh 600 murders in TJ last year.

[Canuckistanian]

41. Just legalize it and half those murders are gone

Why go to a dealer when it's at the corner store?

[nadinbrzezinski]

42. I'm all for legalization

But this was a dog and pony.

They used to burn the shit and then release photos.

[cyr330]

24. What a GODDAMNED WASTE!!!!

It almost makes me physically ill to see all that go up in smoke!!

[Life Long Dem]

25. Up in smoke!

[RadiationTherapy]

26. And then, after a military band played, after speeches by Army and police commanders,

...it was lit on fire.



Authoritarianism.

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. Actually pony show

They used to just do it and release the photos after the fact.

There were oh 600 murders last year in the city.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. I remember being on stand by

For them burns.

Yes, a few times folks did get a case of the giggles, and yes we all paid attention to fire/wind dynamics.

Oh the memories.

Realize the accelerant is gasoline... So it gets hot and going very fast.

[asdjrocky]

29. What a coincidence, I'm setting some on fire right now.

Seriously, who needs Mexican swag? I'm in Cali.

[Hawkeye-X]

40. I love me some Purple Hindu Kush

really mellow.

Trying to find the right Sativia for me to deal with an authoritarian boss...

[asdjrocky]

43. I'm a HUGE fan of sativa.

Blue Cheese is a nice sativa dominant strain. White Widow and Endless Sky, viturally the same strain are both good as well.

[JonLP24]

30. .....

:cry:

[Lucian]

31. Put a giant tent over it and inhale the fumes!

What a waste!

[Bullet1987]

34. There's something both dark and stupid about the picture from the OP

A guy armed with an automatic rifle standing some yards away from a mountain of marijuana lit on fire. Fucking for what? So some guy in CA can't get high? It expresses both the unnecessary reaction from an overprotective and nihilistic government oligarchy and the complete waste of taxpayer dollars. The ignorance is truly stunning!

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. Actually that procedure

Is standard in the US as well when they burn bails.

Oh and the guy from the US good luck getting into the AF base.

[Yeahyeah]

37. Probably about 10% weed,90% hay,kept the rest for the generals to sell.

[slackmaster]

39. I saw the smoke plume from that as I was arriving home from work yesterday

I thought it odd to see a fair-sized fire in Tijuana on a rainy day. I figured it was a junkyard or something.

The smoke was blowing to the east. Some people in the foothills, or maybe Tecate, got a lung full of it.