Legalizing marijuana has downsides and upsides. The toll it takes on public lands is undeniable.
For example, I personally have been shot at from growers here in CA while walking on one of my claims. I have found two substantial grows on my claims (because I had a continual water source). We have found car batteries, fertilizer bags, trash, cans, flashlight batteries and other junk dumped into the creeks. Most of the time, these locations are far from a road and is a real bitch to haul their trash out, which we do every time.
Read this article and see the impacts this industry has on our own public lands.