SACRAMENTO – The Assembly Public Safety Committee on Wednesday gave unanimous, bipartisan support to a bill by Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast) to crack down on offenders who pollute the environment and endanger the public by growing or manufacturing illegal drugs on forest lands.
“This bill is not about the legal production or use of medical marijuana under California law,” Chesbro told the committee. “This bill is about protecting those who work in the woods and those who hike, hunt or fish on public and private forest lands from the increasing violence from illegal drug operations. It is also about protecting these lands from pollution and diversion of waterways.”
Madeline Melo testified in favor of the bill and talked about her late husband Jere’s work and the tragic end of his life as well as the overall impact illegal drug production has had on the region.
Melo’s husband, Fort Bragg City Councilman Jere Melo, was inspecting forest land near the Noyo River for illegal marijuana grows when he was killed last Aug. 27.
The suspect in Melo’s murder, Aaron Bassler, also was believed responsible for killing Mendocino Land Trust conservationist Matthew Coleman two weeks earlier near Westport.
AB 2284 would increase the penalties for those violating the law by growing marijuana, operating a meth lab or any other illicit drug manufacturing on forest lands.
Under a very limited scope, the bill also would allow law enforcement to pull over and question drivers transporting irrigation piping onto or through resource lands.
AB 2284’s focus is on public lands and large scale industrial timber lands, not on homeowners or small property owners.
“Last year during ‘Operation Full Court Press’ more than 50,000 pounds of garbage was removed from national forest lands from illegal marijuana grows,” said Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman, who testified in support of AB 2284 at Wednesday’s hearing. “This bill will hopefully prevent these materials from being brought onto public lands.”