C. Eradicate Marijuana Cultivation
Remote marijuana grow sites on public lands pose a significant threat to public safety and the environment.
The cultivation of marijuana frequently entails the diversion of water resources, the clearing of
native brush, and the use of banned pesticides. In a 2012 study, researchers documented poisonous
chemicals and toxicants at an abandoned marijuana cultivation site situated within territory inhabited
by fishers, a rare forest carnivore declared a candidate species for listing under the Federal Endangered
Species Act.81

At the Federal level, the effort to eliminate marijuana production on our public lands is led by the Public
Lands Drug Control Committee. The committee aligns policies and coordinates programs to support
field-level eradication operations, investigations, and intelligence and information sharing. Central to this
process is the work of the public lands agencies, which identify and document the marijuana threat in
the areas under their jurisdiction. This information will inform the development of the Domestic Cannabis
Cultivation Assessment, a comprehensive, national-level strategic assessment of cannabis cultivation and
marijuana production in the United States.
D. Stop Indoor Marijuana Production

Because of pressure from marijuana eradication efforts, many cultivators have been forced to abandon
large outdoor cannabis plots in favor of easier-to-conceal indoor cultivation. The detection of these
indoor grows has proven challenging for law enforcement. In 2012, DEA and partner agencies seized
more than 2,500 indoor grow operations, with more than 302,000 plants eradicated.