At least someone's making money ...

There is one business that's booming in these slack economic times, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

An excerpt:

Mexican drug traffickers have expanded their marijuana-growing operations in California parks as state and local governments have tightened spending and slashed jobs and services. ... law enforcement officials say the traffickers, taking advantage of the fact that there are fewer sheriff's deputies and rangers monitoring parks, are cultivating more pot than ever before. This year's multibillion-dollar crop is on pace to be the largest in history, said state officials. "It's a huge problem," said Gordon Taylor, the assistant special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration ...

Photo:

Members of the CAMPS team (Campaign Against Marijuana Planting) load the remains of a marijuana garden from the forest above Lake Shasta on Wednesday, July 8, 2009. Illegal pot farming on public lands is a problem throughout California, the growers clear-cut forests and cause environmental problems from garbagee, irrigation pipes, hazardous wastes and pesticides. Gardens sometimes contain as many as 30,000 plants. It is a major problem in Shasta and Lake counties, where forest pot farming has become a major scourge that state and federal drug enforcement agents are struggling to control. (By Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle)