The marijuana indoor grow situation is completely out

[cboy4]

of control in suburban Sacramento.

I suppose most people would not really like to live next to a pot house, but I'd rather the cops spend more time arresting the identity thief, the internets predator or the neighborhood burglar.

You know...the criminals who really threaten me..

Incidentally, I don't smoke pot, but I'm all for its legalization.

It's ridiculous that California's prisons and jails are busting at the seams because of minor drug offenders.


http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=26328

[mdmc]

1. heckuva job

all those that oppose ending Prohibition make me :puke:

[Selatius]

2. Legalize it/regulate it like cigarettes. It will help clear out the prisons of non-violent offenders

The three prison cells these people will occupy would be better occupied by real criminals such as murderers.

[Bombtrack]

40. I hold no hope for America doing something so liberal that no other country does it

Atleast I've never heard of any other government treating Marijuana like America and most countries treat tobacco. It's mind boggoling why not.

[JuniperLea]

3. theres been a rash of pot house busts in LA

i think they must have turned somebody on the inside.

[Don Claybrook]

4. These aren't the Cheech & Chong types, sez the fed

This is organized crime, he goes on to say.

ok, fine. Organized crime used to sell alcohol during prohibition. How much alcohol does organized crime sell now?

And why is that?

[Kutjara]

12. "Organized crime" is just another scaremongering word like "terror."

They want you to think that Tony Soprano is personally growing weed to sell to our kids. Sure, the people who bought the house and set up the equipment were organized, but then so are three guys who plan to rob a bank. Doesn't mean they're part of a crime syndicate or any other stable organization.

[Ariana Celeste]

the short time i spent in jail recently,

damned near everyone in the women's block was in for some sort of drug related charge. these weren't hardcore dealers. pot possession, paraphernalia possession, public intoxication, underage drinking, a couple of meth possessions. there are only two i can remember that were in for non-drug related offenses

was a different story in the men's blocks, but the overwhelming majority were still in for drug related offenses.

[ThomWV]

52. On The Men's Side Its All Related To Alcohol

Its pretty amazing on the men's side too. Everyone's story has alcohol involved somewhere. Another common theme, and I don't mean anything at all by this, its only something that really stood out to me, was that bad relationships - either marriage or girlfriend - figured in about half the jail (not prison) inmates I was with.

[Ariana Celeste]

58. that was normal with the women's block too

relationships I mean. even in my own case.

being there and seeing it all on my own really opened my eyes. there's a lot of people locked up who don't belong there, a lot of people who just need some help. whether it be counseling or some help getting off the drugs.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

5. What kind of idiot neighbors did they have?

[Kutjara]

8. Curtain twitchers.

The suburban disease.

[orpupilofnature57]

22. Mrs. Kravitz on ' Bewitched '

[cboy4]

45. LOL! That made me laugh. Yes, it was probably a modern day,

busy body Mrs. Kravitz!

[Clark2008]

50. See my post below.

One can easily detect drug dealers without being nosy. My husband smokes out doors and I'll sometimes go out with him. We're not being nosy. Just sitting on our porch, but we can see what goes on across the street (the various cars driving up, not staying long, etc.) and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out they're dealing. One doesn't have to be a "curtain twitcher" or nosy in any way.

Now, that said, the difference between us and those neighbors in the article is that we simply don't give a rat's ass about pot as long as our neighbors aren't running a meth lab.

[orpupilofnature57]

55. Good realistic Neighbor!!!

[Bombtrack]

41. Yenta dickheads

[Kutjara]

6. Another soft target for our brave public servants.

They busted two houses about five miles from me here in SoCal the other day and the local TV news couldn't stop crowing about it. You'd think someone had captured Osama Bin Laden the way they were highfiving each other. The biiiig news was that the grow house was...please look away now if you're easily shocked...OPPOSITE AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!1!!1! This revelation produced a very meaningful look from the reporter. She also kept repeating that the plants seized were worth about $6-7 million. So that obviously meant that the evil pot growers had sold seven million bucks worth of dope to local kids...or something. Of course, this was never said outright, but the juxtaposition of facts and portentious looks filled in the blanks.

So another crowd of herb growers are on their way to the big house for the next 20 years, and we can all rest easy now that we have yet again protected...all together now...THE CHILDREN.

[formercia]

7. The quickest way to end Organized Crime pot growers.

legalize it. Take the profit out of it. end of story.

[underpants]

9. Not taxing the largest cash crop in almost every state

SOME PEOPLE say that that doesn't make much sensi

[formercia]

14. ATF can do just like tobacco and alcohol

allow small amounts to be produced for personal consumption tax free and tax commercial growers. The system is already in place. They could even modify existing reporting requirements with little effort.

[A Simple Game]

16. SOME PEOPLE would be right.

SOME PEOPLE know that you could tax it more than booze and tobacco together and it would still be cheaper to buy than it is now.

SOME PEOPLE know that small farms that now lay barren could be started back up to grow this crop. There are thousands of acres in my area alone that could be used for this crop.

SOME PEOPLE know that I could go on and on about the benefits of legalizing the #1 cash crop in this county.

[Clark2008]

51. LOL!! That made me think of a funny story.

When I was reporting, there was a DA in my district (I covered cops, crime, etc. for the local newspaper) and they caught some guys trafficking some pot into the county from Mexico.

The DA, serious as a heart attack, looked at me and said, on the record, "I don't know why anyone would want to traffick pot into this area from Mexico. Our homegrown stuff is much better."

:rofl:

He probably was correct, too.

[mark414]

10. legalize it and these things will disappear tomorrow

[Little Wing]

11. So they had neigbors who were never there. Isn't that a slice of heaven in itself?

Fucking idjits . The house will go on auction, and some freepers will move in and set up a chicken farm. They'll be begging to have an empty house next door again.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. Yeah, but the new neighbors probably won't be minorities.

Which was probably the neighbor's problem to begin with.

[cboy4]

15. That's a good point. No barking dogs or screaming kids.

How perfect!

Watch now. They'll get gang members moving in, and then really have something to complain about!

[walldude]

17. 800 plants.. and nobody smelled it?

Must have been some shitty weed...

[Bombtrack]

42. I used to have about 100 plants growing in my house at any time for a year, the smell didn't escape

the floor they were in, much less go next door.

[jmowreader]

18. Gordon Taylor never saw a Cheech and Chong movie

Cheech and Chong made five movies during their stoner period:

Up in Smoke: Cheech and Chong inadvertently enter the marijuana-smuggling business by driving a van made entirely out of marijuana from Tijuana to Los Angeles.
Cheech and Chong's Next Movie: The duo play welfare bums who can't even draw welfare.
Nice Dreams: Cheech and Chong are the Really Good Humor Men. They package marijuana in ice cream containers and sell it out of a retail truck.
Things are Tough All Over: Playing both themselves and their Arab employers, Cheech and Chong drive a limousine (with nine million dollars tucked under the driver's seat) from Chicago to Las Vegas, trading auto parts for gasoline. Hilarity and attempted murder ensues when they trade the driver's seat for a fill-up.
Still Smokin': The duo are invited to a ceremony in Amsterdam. This one contains lots of footage of them smoking weed in public in one of the few cities where they let you.

This is the point of this post: While all Cheech and Chong movies feature marijuana use, only two focus on the buying and selling of marijuana--Up in Smoke and Nice Dreams--and in both films, there is a metric shitload of weed around. Up in Smoke featured a large-scale marijuana polymerization plant that was processing grass by the ton--they were making vehicle bodies out of it, for God's sake--and in Nice Dreams the pot farmer had converted an in-ground swimming pool to a marijuana plantation.

This onesy-twosy shit that Gordon Taylor described as "cheech and chong" is diametrically opposed to the reality of Cheech and Chong.

[RedCappedBandit]

19. umm pot is bad

no.. really..

[orpupilofnature57]

21. Only if you live in a completely Sober universe.

[RedCappedBandit]

24. A what?

:p

[orpupilofnature57]

25. You'r fooling around , huh.

[RedCappedBandit]

27. Yeah..

My first post was a joke. :)

[SeattleGirl]

20. My neighbor (who is now in jail) got busted for having over 500 plants

However, what they also found were a number of unregistered weapons and a bunch stolen credit cards. The pot? Meh. The weapons and credit cards? Lock him up!

[orpupilofnature57]

23. I wonder why they were doing that? Give the people what they want!

The booze business and Pharm farms would take a beating is a big , WHY.

[tridim]

26. I'd love to live next to a "pot house"

Cannabis is a beautiful plant, and it sometimes even smells like candy as it matures. ;)

Regardless, if pot were legal there'd be no reason to set up massive grow operations in secret houses. Everyone could grow 2 or 3 plants for themselves in their indoor or outdoor garden.

[Blue_In_AK]

33. You have to really grow more than two or three

to assure that you will have some females. Don't ask me how I know this.

[tridim]

34. If it were legal, anyone could buy female clones down at the local nursery.

That's similar to what med users/growers do now in California.

Of course, once you have a few solid female mothers, you can take your own clones and have an endless supply of starter plants for the rest of your life. Don't ask me how I know this either. :)

[Blue_In_AK]

36. You are correct, sir...

Of course, there is always the fun of saving a couple of pollinating males and doing little horticultural genetic experiments. A person (not me, of course) might enjoy sampling the random results. :hippie:

[symbolman]

49. That's funny

I mention "Matanuska Thunderfuck" in my book (see below), a big hit in the 70's up there, though I wouldn't know why :)

When it gets published I'll have to send you a copy.. it's all about driving cab on Two Street in Fairbanks, eventually fleeing to take a job flyin around in choppers in ANWR, crashing, being chased by bears and villages, but it's got a twist.. got some hollywood interest in it, should know something in a month or so in that regard :)

No Chechako here my friend :)

[Blue_In_AK]

54. Oh, fabulous!

I would LOVE to read that. Things have calmed down somewhat up here since the '70s, but sometimes I miss those days. (The marijuana is still good, though. :smoke: ) And legal.

[Karenina]

35. Cannabis is SUCH a lovely, friendly, benign plant!

As a teenie hippy, I smoked it. The guys coming back from Viet Nam brought ALL KINDS OF GOODIES with! The REAL "one hit, no shit" stuff from Afghanistan, Thailand and places we flower power adolescents never heard of! When the current propagandists spew their "25X more potent" shit, I just laugh. What could they know? Amis have been smoking OREGANO for decades. :rofl:

Fast forward 15 years, pregnant in Santa Monica. We had a garden, I no longer smoked but had fun cultivating some lovely plants obscured by a circular stand of irises. When the buds appeared, I just smelled them and went happily about my merry way. My friends reaped the benefits.

Fast forward another 15 years, I'll take a hit if it's being passed around and look back at NEVER having had to confiscate car keys or control aggressive behaviour, ALWAYS needing to keep soda in the fridge, chips in the pantry, extra blankets in the cupboard while wondering, CAN WE COLLECTIVELY BE SO STUPID ABOUT OUR "BEST INTERESTS?"

[scarletwoman]

37. Wonderful post!

Well, I've been smoking pot on and off for just about 40 years now. Years of my youth smoking it daily, years of childrearing of smoking it rarely if at all, middle-aged years of going months without, then having some for awhile, then months without again...

I've always considered it my friend and plant ally. Even just aesthetically speaking, it IS a "lovely" plant!

I never hid my own or my friends' pot-smoking from my kids. I taught them that marijuana is an herb -- NOT a "drug" -- and the importance of distinguishing between herbs and drugs. (I studied herbalism for several years while my children were growing up.)

It's absurd that pot isn't legal when alcohol is. There's no rational premise behind it whatsoever.

sw

[Karenina]

39. The "rational premise" is $$$ for the overlords

prison profits and the DESTRUCTION of a rational society. Throw in a little enforcement by racial constructs and by golly, we've got a landslide!

I dealt with pot the same way as "naughty words" with the kids. "Okay, you KNOW mommy uses these words. They are NOT considered appropriate in polite society, especially coming from children and Ms. S (director of the kindergarten) will FUCKING FLIP OUT if she hears them uttered by you in any way shape or form." NEVER had a problem.

As adults, my kids have told me that "back in the day" they noticed I went from stressed to relaxed after they smelled the smoke emanating from my room. Contrast that to the horror the smell of alcohol has induced in so many children who never knew WHAT would come next...

[scarletwoman]

43. Of course -- but "rational" only to THEM, not to real human beings.

I like your "naughty word" analogy alot!

And you make a heartbreaking but excellent point:

Contrast that to the horror the smell of alcohol has induced in so many children who never knew WHAT would come next...

sw

[Gregorian]

28. Especially when nicotine kills 1200 per DAY.

It's a war against alternate perceptions. And an angry government that is out of the revenue loop.

If there were a drug war, nicotine would be illegal.


I don't smoke any more. But when I did, I was getting A's in calculus.

[ellisonz]

29. I wanna be an indoor pot grower...

:o

[Jack Sprat]

30. Of course it is. The marijuana illegality has

become more absurd with the passing of time. Sometimes, I think that the only way to get everyone's attention on this is to demand the prohibition of alcohol if marijuana is not legalized along with it. Suddenly, it would have everyone's attention.

[ToeBot]

31. The CCPOA still running the entire judicial system in California? n/t

[LeftyMom]

56. Of course.

*sigh*

[Cooley Hurd]

32. Fucking Harry Anslinger!

30 years after that prick's death and it's STILL illegal!:grr:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J._Anslinger

[Unvanguard]

38. They did nothing wrong, and to imprison them is completely unjustified.

It's past time to legalize marijuana and marijuana production.

[uppityperson]

44. I want more time spent on DUIs, DVs, violent crimes. Not MJ busts.

Only reason marijuana was included in "war on drugs" was to puff out the numbers to provide validation (see how many people are drug users? See?)

[Clark2008]

46. My neighbors sell pot - we're pretty sure.

You know the tell-tale signs: all kinds of differnt cars pulling in the driveway at odd hours, honking the horn, not staying long, etc. Not sure if they're growing it, but it wouldn't surprise me.

It doesn't bother us as long as they're not running a meth lab, which is dangerous to the community. I couldn't give two shits.

I don't smoke pot. Don't like it. But, cannot, for the life of me, figure out why it's illegal. It's a plant. It screws people up less than alcohol and medication and it's natural. Big whoop.

[cboy4]

48. I can totally understand why people wouldn't necessarily enjoy

the stuff being sold next door to them for the reasons you've cited.

However, I don't suspect people would need to act that way if pot was legal...

[Clark2008]

53. Of course not.

And, like I said, our neighbors' clients coming and going doesn't really bother us. They don't drive fast or act reckless, really.

I wouldn't want a meth lab next door, but someone selling some joints to a select clientele (they're all adults and seem to be the same 10 or 12 cars) isn't really causing a problem. It would be the same if pot were legal and we lived next to a convenience store that sold it.

[cboy4]

47. ****And even though a medicinal marijuana initiative/law

was approved by California voters, the DEA still routinely raids medicinal marijuana clinics.

It's outrageous how they terrorize cancer patients and others who use marijuana to deal with devastating pain.




http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/18/national/main2369758.shtml

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 18, 2007
(AP/CBS)

Fast Fact

The DEA, which does not recognize California laws legalizing medical marijuana use, has recently increased its enforcement.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?

<snip>

(AP) Federal drug agents raided 11 medical marijuana clinics, seizing several thousand pounds of processed marijuana, along with weapons and money, authorities said.

Several people were detained, although no arrests were made after five dispensaries in West Hollywood and six others in Venice, Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley were searched Wednesday, said Sarah Pullen, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

[kdpeters]

57. Something makes me uneasy about the facts their leaving out

So, were they trying to say the exhaust fan, tall bushes, and some wires were good enough for a search warrant?

How did they get the search warrant in the Forest place? That's the piece I want to know and the piece they keep leaving out. Something is rotten in the state of California.

[Warren DeMontague]

59. Our tax dollars, hard at work.

Yippee. :eyes: