US Senators Introduce Bill to Fight Marijuana Growth on Federal Lands

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US Senators Dianne Feinstein and Orrin Hatch introduced legislation to increase fines for marijuana production on federal and trespassed lands, as well as to establish new fines for water diversion and trees cutting to cultivate the drug, the senators said in a joint press release.

“Drug traffickers, motivated by greed, cannot be allowed to poison our lands and pollute our waters to produce illegal drugs…Our bill seeks to increase penalties and fines to combat the damage caused by these criminals,” Senator Feinstein was quoted in the release on Thursday.

US Forest Service reported that drug trafficking activity had been confirmed in 21 US states and is particularly active in California, where 95 percent of 620,000 marijuana plants removed in 2014 used to grow, according to the release.

“The illegal growth of marijuana on public lands has taken the dangers of international drug trafficking and wrought havoc on our beautiful lands…This important legislation will give prosecutors the tools they need to address these problems,” Senator Hatch was quoted as saying in the press release.

Cannabis is fully legal only in the US states of Washington and Colorado. Over half of the country’s 50 states have decriminalized marijuana possession or legalized it for medical use with a prescription.