Part 1, a continuing series: Crabtree 'was' and 'still is': Prelude

The Crabtree Nature Preserve Marijuana Drug Bust "was" and "still is" the largest operation ever discovered in the United States! 

It took place in the Crabtree Forest Preserve near northwest suburban Barrington in 2007. 

In a time when many Lake County residents wish to think of their community as the closest thing to Paradise, the Crabtree Nature Preserve Marajuana Drug Bust disrupts their thinking because it "was" and "still is" the largest Marijuana Growing Operation ever discovered in the United States!  

Most certainly Barrington area residents would hate to think that Mexican Drug Czars or even one of their neighbors are behind this yearly tens of millions of dollars illegal operation!  

Yet not a day goes by when there aren't media accounts about marijuana drug busts in Cook County and Lake County and their bordering Counties.   

It is true that Chicago is a primary gateway city for the importation of drugs from Mexico. According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington, D.C., Chicago has been listed as a high intensity drug trafficking area. 

As such Chicago is a major transportation hub and distribution center for illegal drugs throughout the Midwest due to its geographic location and its transportation infrastructure for the retail sale of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. 

It is, however, marijuana that remains the most widely available and abused drug in Illinois for all ages.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_National_Drug_Control_Policy

Most of the drug busts occurring in Cook County and Lake County involve marijuana shipped in cars and trucks and marijuana grown in homes and apartments.

Unfortunately the public perception is that marijuana is an innocent drug, no more harmful than cigarette-smoking among high school students. Marijuana continues to be a popular choice for folks of all ages. 

Marijuana competes with designer drugs, powder one sniffs, and the time-honored alcohol beverages from home-made wine to beer. 

Marijuana really is a weed and easily grown, so it will retain a position in society, a seat at the table, so to speak.

An article by Cassie Goldberg published on May 1, 2012, is a must read for all parents, especially those with children at the high school level.    A National  Study shows that : 1.) Teen "Heavy" Marijuana use is Up 80 Percent Since 2008;  2.) One in Ten Teens report using Marijuana at Least 20 Times a Month";  3.)  Only half of Teens, 52 Percent, now say they see "Great Risk" in using Marijuana regularly. http://www.drugfree.org/newsroom/pats-2011  

A  subsequent article will alert Patch readers to the harmful effects marijuana smoking has on an undeveloped teen brain.  

There are members of the Illinois General Assembly who are determined to see Illinois become the 18th state to legalize marijuana, despite all the hard facts that point to marijuana use leading to the hard drugs of cocaine and heroin.  Legislators in Springfield came tantalizingly close to passing a medical marijuana bill last year.

Video of the vote shows that the bill came within about three votes of passing, close enough that it can be called for another vote.  In fact, the bill could be passed in November when legislators return for the so-called veto session.

Lake Forest High School has not escaped the uptick of marijuana use by its high school students.    

Although Lake Forest Patch readers might not remember the elaborate marijuana-growing operation discovered in the summer of 2007 in the Crabtree Nature Preserve near Barrington, curiosity should be forthcoming. 

Described as the largest illegal cannabis cultivation scheme ever uncovered, it became National and International News, was reported on morning and evening newscasts for a week.

Why has nothing since been reported?

Although the elaborate Crabtree Forest Preserve operation happened four years ago, law enforcement has allowed the entire situation to just die.  No Drug Czar or Kingpin was apprehended.

We expect that all stories have beginnings and endings.  There is a beginning to the Crabtree Nature Preserve Drug Bust, but no ending, yet!

How and why was the Crabtree Nature Preserve site selected?  How were signs of its existence totally missed?

There must those who do care in that justice has not been served among local Patch readers.

The story begins when at 10:00 in the morning on a beautiful Saturday morning in the summer of 2007, residents heard the loud sounds of a helicopter and an airplane flying circles over the Crabtree Nature Preserve.

The entire perimeter of the Crabtree Nature Preserve was rimmed with police cars.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED IN FOLLOWUP ARTICLES:

This was the largest Marijuana peration in the United States, not the second largest, not the third largest!  

*  Who are these Drug Czars?
 
*  Where do these Drug Czars live, in Mexico, in Texas, in California, in Chicago, in Barrington, in Inverness, where?

*  Who in Washington D.C., Illinois, Cook County, Lake County, and the Barrington area might not want the Drug Czars caught?  

*  Why does it seem that law enforcement in Washington D.C., Illinois, Cook County, Lake County, Barrington, and Barrington Hills are not doing their level best to investigate this matter, to apprehend the Drug Czars?

*  Why were no guns found, when in any drug operation, participants always carry guns?

Part 2:  Crabtree as the largest drug bust ever in the U.S.