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Dear People With Pot Houses,
Four more houses whose sole purpose was to harvest marijuana were raided by police in the San Gabriel Valley. This means at least a dozen homes have gotten popped in a month out there.
So either there are thousands of homes in the SGV growing weed, or the few who haven't gotten raided yet should learn from the mistakes of the others.
Here are some things we've noticed.
- Most of the homes have been bypassing and/or stealing electricity from the electric companies. That's an easy way to be discovered. Only buy houses with solar panels. Or put solar panels on the roof that will power the lights.
- The neighbors are noticing houses that no one lives in. If it's true that these homes are yielding a street value $50 million worth of weed, lets assume the guy who grows it will make about $10, $15 million. Isn't it worth it to only make $9 million and keep one of the rooms habitable for someone to live in the house? Is it impossible to find a guy willing to live in a house alone for 6-8 months for $100,000 if he a) never invites anyone over other than the homeowner b) never tells anyone about the house c) cuts the grass gets the paper and makes himself seen on the block.
There are guys willing to drive trucks across Iraq for Halliburton for $100k taxfree, if you can't find a housesitter for your weed crop here in LA, we have to wonder if you're trying.
The best part about the LA Times story about the latest discovery was this statement from a retired teacher in Pomona:
The number of indoor marijuana plants seized in California has nearly quadrupled in the last three years, from at least 54,000 plants to nearly 200,000 in 2006.Love,Nationwide, the number of seizures of indoor marijuana plants jumped from about 236,000 in 2001 to 401,000 last year.
But Frances Cummings, a retired special education teacher from the Phillips Ranch area of Pomona, said the way to reduce the number of so-called grow houses in the suburbs is to decriminalize marijuana.
"These are sophisticated businesses," Cummings said.
"If marijuana was decriminalized, we could take it out of the neighborhoods."
LAist
photo by pablo666
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How about writing an article commending the cops rather than one giving the criminals (lame) ideas?
Oh yeah, probably cause you like pot and want it to be legalized. Yay for our nation of pot heads =/
GA, you are a disgrace to people with those initials.
also you dont have to be a "pot head" to see that our limited law enforcement could be better used actually solving crime and protecting people from violence. you know, things that actually effect others.
Ok Tony, I love how you think that pot only affects those who are using it. You don't realize that pot dealers are criminals (dangerous criminals) ...and that having them grow their stuff in my neighborhood brings other forms of crime into my neighborhood. How can you not realize that these are the same people that commit murders, assults, robberies, etc. Get that image of a peace loving, hippie pot grower out of your head; this is not the kind of person that the cops are busting. And the problem isn't limited to houses in the valley. If I were to accidently stumble across some illegal pot farm while out enjoying my national forest, I would likely end up burried in a deep hole after having wonderful ak47 bullets sprinkled throughout my body. Not to mention the adverse effect that these farms have on wildlife. The fact of the matter is that pot is NOT legal and that as long as it is NOT legal, it will be run by criminals. If it were legal, I would not care if you smoked yourself silly everyday; do whatever you want to your body. But as long as it remains illegal, don't go around pretending that it does not effect others. When you buy your stash from your local dealer, you are supporting crime. And when Mr. Hiker ends up burried in a hole next to a rotting Bambi out in the forest, realize that you contributed to that.
By the way, "you" does not equate to Tony ... it equates to Joe Pothead.
Happy Smoking