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 rawtoxic
Registered: 10/06/02
Posts: 2,044
Loc: smokey mountains
Last seen: 12 days, 3 hours
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 Pot growing moves to suburbs [MI]
#6542400 - 02/07/07 09:47 PM (1 year, 6 months ago) |
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Pot growing moves to suburbs
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=70161
LATHROP, Calif. - Rick Estrada didn't think it particularly odd that he never saw his next-door neighbor or that curtains were always drawn. On his block of new homes, everyone was a recent arrival. In fact, some homes still sit empty, owned by investors hoping to "flip" them at a profit.
Never in his darkest dreams did Estrada think the two-story house a few feet from his contained an indoor marijuana-growing operation that authorities believe is the latest wrinkle in drug traffickers' efforts to hide their illegal business.
NOT SO HARMLESS: Marijuana can be addictive, some say
"We came from San Jose to get away from that stuff," says Estrada, 42, a medical clinic supervisor with a wife and three young children. "Now here we are and it's right next-door."
Estrada watched on Jan. 12 as federal drug agents busted into the unoccupied, stucco-clad house, hauling out enough marijuana plants to fill a truck, along with high-intensity lights, fans and other indoor hydroponic growing equipment.
Agents that day raided five other houses nearby in Lathrop and one in Tracy, both suburban cities full of commuters to San Francisco Bay Area jobs. In August and September, 41 houses were busted in Elk Grove, Sacramento and Stockton.
Gordon Taylor, a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agent in Sacramento, says investigators believe the houses are linked to an organized crime syndicate based in San Francisco's Chinatown.
'Relative anonymity'
"They're purchasing homes and plunking down marijuana factories smack dab in the middle of our residential neighborhoods," Taylor says. "Our theory is they're picking newer neighborhoods because of the relative anonymity. They know the neighbors don't know each other as well as they would in established neighborhoods."
Suburban pot-growing was found elsewhere - Merrillville, Ind.; Westminster, Md.; Kankakee County, Ill. - though on a smaller scale than in Northern California and not necessarily tied to organized crime. Last summer, agents broke up more than 50 "grow houses" and arrested 35 people in St. Lucie County, Fla., an enterprise "with tentacles that stretched" to New York, the DEA says.
In December, New Hampshire state police seized more than 10,000 plants in a four-bedroom, neo-Colonial house in the quiet town of Derry. Last month, police in Bellevue, Wash., seized 300 plants in a grow house and arrested three men.
The prevalence of illegal marijuana cultivation in California - more plants are seized in the state annually than in any other - is due partly to "medical marijuana laws that have created a permissive attitude," Taylor says.
"Couple that with the fast profits that can be made and relatively lax penalties a person faces under California marijuana laws, and you're more or less inviting organized crime to enter the industry."
California voters legalized medical marijuana in 1996.
TV shows such as Showtime's Weeds, about a single mom who makes ends meet selling pot in a fictional California suburb, seem to legitimize an illegal drug, Taylor says.
Indoor pot seizures in California have skyrocketed, according to DEA figures, from 54,569 in 2004 to 196,000 last year, although it's unclear whether tougher enforcement or more growers is the reason. The Northern California suburban busts since August have netted 23,602 plants with an estimated $94 million street value, the DEA says.
Critics say the DEA overstates medical marijuana's impact on illegal activities and inflates the value of seizures to justify its budget.
"On any given day, millions of Californians are smoking marijuana, so the medical-marijuana piece of that is relatively small," says Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance, which promotes alternatives to the war on drugs.
The presence of organized crime in the pot business is nothing new, Nadelmann says. "They've been involved on and off for many years."
Raising awareness
What is new is the size and sheer audacity found in the suburbs. The operations followed a similar pattern, according to Taylor and court documents in the recent cases:
Growers paid up to $750,000 for houses in new subdivisions, usually obtaining 100% financing and putting no money down. They gutted interiors and used every inch to grow pot, knocking down some walls and cutting holes in others to run water lines and ducts. They installed irrigation systems with timing devices and brought in water tanks, pumps, generators and power packs. They built scaffolding to raise plants 2 feet off the floor.
To avoid suspicion from large power usage, growers bypassed a utility's electric meters and created their own circuit boxes. No one lived in the houses. After neighbors tipped off police last summer that garbage cans weren't being taken to the street on trash day, the growers started putting the cans out. They also hired gardeners to cut the lawn.
Taylor says tips from neighbors led to many of the busts, but most residents were unaware. Feelings are mixed over whether their neighborhoods are now safe.
"It still seems like a nice neighborhood," says Richard Johnson, who moved here a month ago. "It happened, they're gone, so hopefully it won't happen again."
Samantha Malone says she's moving.
"I have babies. I don't want to be around that," she says. "Who's to say it's all taken care of anyway, or it's not going to happen next month."
Rick Estrada says that since the busts, "the neighborhood is more aware. We're going to be a lot more alert to what's happening and who our neighbors are. We're going to notice if no one's ever home."
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dickpayne00
your mom
Registered: 01/15/07
Posts: 72
Loc: Florida
Last seen: 4 months, 17 days
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Re: Pot growing moves to suburbs [MI] [Re: rawtoxic]
#6543350 - 02/08/07 05:53 AM (1 year, 6 months ago) |
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damn the media, filling our minds with lies about marijuana
NOT SO HARMLESS: Marijuana can be addictive, some say
WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF SOURCE IS THAT?
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The butcher with the sharpest knife has the warmest heart.
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Varman
Stranger
Registered: 07/16/06
Posts: 168
Last seen: 4 months, 24 days
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Re: Pot growing moves to suburbs [MI] [Re: dickpayne00]
#6543374 - 02/08/07 06:16 AM (1 year, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
dickpayne00 said:
damn the media, filling our minds with lies about marijuana
NOT SO HARMLESS: Marijuana can be addictive, some say
WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF SOURCE IS THAT?
it must be a great source i mean ..... "some say"
they must know what they are talking about!!!!!
wow people get blurred stories from the media... i hate it
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"Its A circular vortex..."
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odd_one
Friendly
Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 45
Last seen: 4 days, 6 hours
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Re: Pot growing moves to suburbs [MI] [Re: Varman]
#6543414 - 02/08/07 06:44 AM (1 year, 6 months ago) |
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I was thinking the exact same thing. No legit writer makes claims without citing a source. That's just bad writing and I'm surprised it made it past the editors.
Journalistic propoganda at it's best!
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Mr_Spliff420
Skitso
Registered: 01/18/07
Posts: 35
Loc: dream scape
Last seen: 1 year, 4 months
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Re: Pot growing moves to suburbs [MI] [Re: odd_one]
#6543453 - 02/08/07 07:23 AM (1 year, 6 months ago) |
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How are they getting busted? Thats what I want to know. And so many of them, wtf?
"In August and September, 41 houses were busted in Elk Grove, Sacramento and Stockton."
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Every thing I type is a figment of my skitso dreams, I have never actually done any of the things I may type about, nor will I ever do them.
I don't remember when it was that I fell asleep. It must of been long long ago. I don't remember for what time I set my alarm clock, I'm not sure how long I've been dreaming now. But I guess thats whats important, that I am dreaming. I think I want to wake up, but I am never sure. I just hope I will remember this dream when I do, I just hope I will remember who I was, this little bug on earth.
Known as "can_a_bus_dream" at http://futurehi.net/index.html
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rawtoxic
Registered: 10/06/02
Posts: 2,044
Loc: smokey mountains
Last seen: 12 days, 3 hours
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Re: Pot growing moves to suburbs [MI] [Re: Mr_Spliff420]
#6543668 - 02/08/07 09:41 AM (1 year, 6 months ago) |
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"Taylor says tips from neighbors led to many of the busts, but most residents were unaware. Feelings are mixed over whether their neighborhoods are now safe."
Must have missed that part.
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xaeviax
Registered: 03/18/06
Posts: 380
Loc: An altered state of mind
Last seen: 11 hours, 56 minutes
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Re: Pot growing moves to suburbs [MI] [Re: rawtoxic]
#6543733 - 02/08/07 10:26 AM (1 year, 6 months ago) |
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Those people are stupid. They act like California is the only place marijuana cultivation takes place. Why would you move from your neighborhood because there was a grow op busted down the street. I got news for you, no matter where you go, there will be marijuana whether you like it or not!
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Im a man with dank in my plan. Ive got an irie scent rolling off my veins.
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jeverden
Mushroom Hunter
Registered: 05/10/06
Posts: 1,082
Last seen: 4 days, 5 hours
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Re: Pot growing moves to suburbs [MI] [Re: xaeviax]
#6544505 - 02/08/07 03:33 PM (1 year, 6 months ago) |
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They act like a grow house is as bad as a meth lab. Damn so much meth is cooked in the apartment complex area I live in, so many busts so much meth garbage outside in the woods, but you know that grow house must have been toxic. I agree with not citing the source being bullshit. A college paper would never fly that I have to write saying some say, fucking insane. If someone says an elephant flys it could be included in a newspaper article as evidence now? What has the drug war came to? I don't even smoke pot and I say legalize it.
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All of my posts are purely fictional and for hypothetical purposes.
Edited by jeverden (02/08/07 03:35 PM)
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Ganja420Boy
Registered: 11/15/06
Posts: 73
Last seen: 1 month, 19 days
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 Re: Pot growing moves to suburbs [MI] [Re: jeverden]
#6544559 - 02/08/07 03:49 PM (1 year, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Samantha Malone says she's moving. "I have babies. I don't want to be around that," she says. "Who's to say it's all taken care of anyway, or it's not going to happen next month."
LOL , I bet every neighborhood has at least 1 grow opp.
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 EntheogenicPeace
Scholar
Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 2,206
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Re: Pot growing moves to suburbs [MI] [Re: rawtoxic]
#6544910 - 02/08/07 05:40 PM (1 year, 6 months ago) |
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[Malone says she's moving. "I have babies. I don't want to be around that," she says. "Who's to say it's all taken care of anyway, or it's not going to happen next month."]
Dumb bitch... I know, whoever bought that house should be thrown in jail. If there isn't enough room just let a pedophile out & he can move in next to her. Then she won't have to worry about her precious babies being exposed to the dangers of plants... taking carbon dioxide & converting it to oxygen... what a neighborhood hazard.
...I wonder if she's hot? If so it might be worthwhile for any of you reading this post who live near her to pose as a DEA agent. She'd be on her knees sucking your dick so fast...
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EntheogenicPeace
Scholar
Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 2,206
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Re: Pot growing moves to suburbs [MI] [Re: rawtoxic]
#6544931 - 02/08/07 05:49 PM (1 year, 6 months ago) |
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[Taylor says tips from neighbors led to many of the busts, but most residents were unaware. Feelings are mixed over whether their neighborhoods are now safe.]
Ah... the perils of living in a wealthy, gated, & (predominantly) white community. I'm very sympathetic to their plight. I think that all of us with more fortunate & safer circumstances than these people should do what we can to assist them in their struggle.
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