California's Pot Crop Draws Thieves, Violence

In California's conservative Central Valley, legions of recession-hit farmers are growing medical marijuana legally. But protection from the law can't keep robbers at bay, and there have been at least five confrontations in the last month, two of which were fatal, notes the Los Angeles Times. In one incident, a 70-year-old woman fended off attackers using a machete. In another, a suspected robber was shot in the head.

"I don't know how you could not have known something like this was going to happen," one local said of the violence. "It was like someone put candy in my driveway and told all the kids, 'It's not for you.'" She, like many there, supports the legalisation bid known as Prop 19. "A man died over a plant, next to my floral shop," she said. "Just legalize it already." For the Governator's take on Prop 19, click here.
(More California stories.)