Police State USAINDIANA — A number of Hoosiers are facing charges and potential jail-time for merely possessing ginseng plants without government permission.
According to media reports, a total of 25 residents were caught up in a government crackdown to ensure compliance with the state’s onerous regulations on the natural plant, desired for its roots.
Indiana dictates every aspect of ginseng cultivation, including the issuance of a state license to “deal” ginseng; prescribing the dates of permissible harvesting; specifying the required plant characteristics before harvesting; controlling where and how it can be grown; controlling when and how it can be harvested; and controlling when, where and how it can be sold.
“It is ILLEGAL to buy, sell, or possess any ginseng out of season without written authorization from the Department of Natural Resources, Division of Law Enforcement,” states an official brochurefrom the Indiana DNR.
Individuals are only allowed to harvest ginseng between September 1st and December 31st each year (some restrictions apply). Selling ginseng is only permitted by licensed individuals between September 1st of the current year through March 31st of the following year (some restrictions apply).
Penalties for violating the various prohibitions on ginseng range between Class A and Class B misdemeanors, with maximum penalties of 1 year and 180 days in jail, respectively. Indiana Code 14-31-3 covers ginseng regulation and enforcement.
The recent police crackdown involved state conservation officers “acting on tips” regarding unlicensed ginseng growers, and with search warrants they shook down citizens for contraband plants. Officers arrested or cited individuals in Clark, Harrison, Martin, Orange, Scott, and Washington Counties. Names of those facing charges, as so far released, includes:
- Derek Durden, 40, Hardinsburg, possession of ginseng during closed season.
- Kyle Sneed, 34, Paoli, possession of ginseng during closed season.
- David Pittman, 56, Paoli, possession of ginseng during closed season, theft.
- Dustin Walton, 33, Hardinsburg, possession of ginseng during closed season, theft.
- Parker Mullins Jr. 18, Hardinsburg, possession of ginseng during closed season.
- William Yockey, 37, Eckerty, possession of ginseng during closed season, resisting law enforcement.
- Michele Reitz, 43, French Lick, possession of ginseng during closed season.
- Starla Enlow, 32, Shoals, possession of ginseng during closed season.
- Randy A. Stidham, 44, Austin, possession of ginseng during closed season.
- Randy L. Stidham, 26, Austin, possession of ginseng during closed season.
- George Stidham, 68, Austin, possession of ginseng during closed season.
- James McCurry, 43, Hardinsburg, possession of ginseng during closed season, theft.
- Devon McCurry, 19, Hardinsburg, possession of ginseng during closed season, theft.
- Daniel Arnold, 30, Salem, possession of ginseng during closed season, theft.
The plant is desired around the world and has a number of professed medicinal benefits, including stress relief, immunity support, blood sugar control, among other things. Its rarity, usefulness, and black market restrictions enable ginseng to fetch prices between $500 and $1000 per pound.
The black market has also driven people to commit property crimes such as stealing ginseng and secretly growing/harvesting ginseng on land belonging to someone else (to obscure blame for unlicensed cultivation). Of the listed charges this week, theft was a minority — most people were charged just for possessing ginseng out-of-season.
Setting aside the property violations, would people in a free society be imprisoned for merely possessing a naturally-occurring plant?
http://www.policestateusa.com/2014/indiana-ginseng-harvest-crackdown/
It’s time Derek Durden went Tyler Durden WTF Ginseng out of season, Licensing? This world is more disturbed than I thought
Of course it’s illegal to cultivate ginseng without a license – it would cut into big pharma’s and the Rockefellers’ profits. Without licensing, it’s also illegal for farmers to even give away food that they raised and produced, which would cut into big ag’s profits and states’ revenuing profits on the people.
I wonder how tight the fascist noose has to get before the sheep stop their mindless bleating and start waking up.
There area similar laws in Indiana regarding Goldenseal harvest, growing, etc. I’ve been researching the laws because I was hoping (living in the woods) I might find some to harvest. So far no luck.
“Dozens of Indiana residents arrested for harvesting ginseng plants too early”
But thousands of illegal immigrant invaders crossing the Southern Border get no jail time. I see how it is. Great priorities!
Sorry folks but I have to agree with the licensing on this one. Where I live wild ginseng has been poached to the point that it’s almost extinct. Problem is some people are so greedy that they grab ALL they can and sell it and don’t care whether or not there’s any left to reproduce. I am big into foraging and found this out a while back. It’s sad but true that there are people that HAVE to be watched to get them to do the right thing. As much as I hate policing, I think there is a need for this one. By the same token, I think it’s criminal the way builders doze down miles of forests in order to build houses that sit empty forever but they do it because it’s lucrative. If I had my way, that would be reined in. I am always at odds with myself between wanting some things regulated, and most things not.
So because some greedy idiots take nearly all of the wild population of ginseng, and rather than just the greedy idiots being prosecuted, that private land owners should have to get a license to cultivate and harvest it when they want on their own land?
No, I do not subscribe to that line of socialism, and it’s that line of thinking, Ordo ab Chao, that’s made it hellish for small farmers and producers and small business owners in general.
You express your concern that wild ginseng is nearly extinct in your area? Then get a now-required socialist license and support the wild population by growing it yourself rather than punishing everyone for the crimes of a few.
Oh, and BTW, as long as it’s STATES looking out for their environment and not the feds, that’s even better.