indoor Indoor Grow: Are you afraid of LEO

AJ Drew

AJ Drew

My grow room is pulling about 4,000 watts right now.  Electric bill is high enough that we wont turn on the AC till the room is near empty.  As I can afford it, my indoor grow will move towards aquaponics but for now the trays have solo cups with organic potting soil which I bottom feed.  So I don't visit the hydroponic stores often.  Just for lighting goods and electrical parts.  But as I move to aquaponics, I will probably be there more for grow stone and what not.

Should I be afraid of flash bangs flying threw my windows and machine gun armed jack booted agents falling from the sky?  Should you be?

Maybe a more important question, how does a person make sure LEO doesnt get the wrong idea?  After all, the folk from the raid linked below are both former employees of the CIA.  Now if it is happening to former CIA employees, imagine how often this happens to folk who aren't as press worthy.

“With little or no other evidence of any illegal activity, law enforcement officers make the assumption that shoppers at the store are potential marijuana growers, even though the stores are most commonly frequented by backyard gardeners who grow organically or start seedlings indoors,” the couple’s lawsuit says.
 
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2013/03/29/kansas-couple-indoor-gardening-prompted-pot-raid/
 
Abnormally high electric bills have been known to raise an eyebrow and alert law enforcement, so it has been known to happen, having unwanted visits at odd times of the day or night.
 
ajdrew said:
My grow room is pulling about 4,000 watts right now.  Electric bill is high enough that we wont turn on the AC till the room is near empty.  As I can afford it, my indoor grow will move towards aquaponics but for now the trays have solo cups with organic potting soil which I bottom feed.  So I don't visit the hydroponic stores often.  Just for lighting goods and electrical parts.  But as I move to aquaponics, I will probably be there more for grow stone and what not.

Should I be afraid of flash bangs flying threw my windows and machine gun armed jack booted agents falling from the sky?  Should you be?

Maybe a more important question, how does a person make sure LEO doesnt get the wrong idea?  After all, the folk from the raid linked below are both former employees of the CIA.  Now if it is happening to former CIA employees, imagine how often this happens to folk who aren't as press worthy.

“With little or no other evidence of any illegal activity, law enforcement officers make the assumption that shoppers at the store are potential marijuana growers, even though the stores are most commonly frequented by backyard gardeners who grow organically or start seedlings indoors,” the couple’s lawsuit says.
 
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2013/03/29/kansas-couple-indoor-gardening-prompted-pot-raid/
Click to expand...
 
just post pictures of your grow on facebook and linkedin and then you can be sure the DEA will query the shared data from the NSA/GCHQ/Israel/NZ/Australia before wasting the gas and risking their lives ...
 
When I read the thread title, the first thing that sprung into my mind was this video:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0bsPkDanHk
 
You could move to DC. They just made it legal for small personal grows. A local bar even hosted a highly publicized canibus seed swap last week.
 
Takes a whole lot more than an electric bill change to get in trouble with the man.  It could raise alertness levels if reported but way more things needed before the door gets busted down.  My neighbors see my grow room lit up through the blinds before and after dark starting each Feb, still are now.. LOL  They also stop by and remark about the garden and pick some tomatoes to take home.  Most only want to share my jalapenos and Serrano peppers though.  The weird looking ones scare them.
 
It was a big deal here for a while. A dea agent staked out a local hydro store and was following people home and obtaining warrants on nothing more than the fact that it had been successful in turning up busts in the past. Of 3 raids performed only one turned up anything and all they found was a pipe. They toted that as a success.
 
ajdrew said:
My grow room is pulling about 4,000 watts right now.  Electric bill is high enough that we wont turn on the AC till the room is near empty.  As I can afford it, my indoor grow will move towards aquaponics but for now the trays have solo cups with organic potting soil which I bottom feed.  So I don't visit the hydroponic stores often.  Just for lighting goods and electrical parts.  But as I move to aquaponics, I will probably be there more for grow stone and what not.
Should I be afraid of flash bangs flying threw my windows and machine gun armed jack booted agents falling from the sky?  Should you be?
Maybe a more important question, how does a person make sure LEO doesnt get the wrong idea?  After all, the folk from the raid linked below are both former employees of the CIA.  Now if it is happening to former CIA employees, imagine how often this happens to folk who aren't as press worthy.“With little or no other evidence of any illegal activity, law enforcement officers make the assumption that shoppers at the store are potential marijuana growers, even though the stores are most commonly frequented by backyard gardeners who grow organically or start seedlings indoors,” the couple’s lawsuit says.
 
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2013/03/29/kansas-couple-indoor-gardening-prompted-pot-raid/
Click to expand...
fuck em if they invade your privacy!
grantmichaels said:
http://youtu.be/6wXkI4t7nuc
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isn't it the people's right to exercise their rights! 8).
While some people watch tv for their knowledge, I go on the hot pepper for mine!
 
i hope they do knock the door down , like to see the look on their eyes when all they find is peppers !  could use a new door anyway !     :onfire:
 
Nuclieye said:
Takes a whole lot more than an electric bill change to get in trouble with the man.
Click to expand...
There is the thing, according to at least two former members of the CIA it doesnt even take that.  Just visit a grow store and that seems to be enough.

Moruga - I wouldnt mind the visit because I would like to see the looks on their faces.  Its the flash bang thing that I worry about.  Read not too long ago about one landing in a baby crib and causing permanent damage.  If the kids were not here, I would probably enjoy.  Well as long as the flash bang didnt land by the O2 tanks.  That might not be fun.
 
grantmichaels said:
 
just post pictures of your grow on facebook and linkedin and then you can be sure the DEA will query the shared data from the NSA/GCHQ/Israel/NZ/Australia before wasting the gas and risking their lives ...
Click to expand...
 
 
I think it's as simple as this.  DEA does helicopter flyovers in my area every few months, I'm sure me posting my pepper grows all over facebook and other media sites (such as this one) lets them know what I'm doing when they see all my grow lights on infrared.
 
I'm not doing anything illegal...but they might raise an eyebrow if there was a strange poisoning case or something.  It's not a secret that my house hosts some pretty toxic plants.
 
I have a friend who writes short stories and novelettes and is always searching for weird murder crime related things so he's constantly posting on social media clips from his stories and whatnot in case his search history ever blips the radar.
 
That being said...
 
fuck the police
chocolatescotchbonnet said:
isn't it the people's right to exercise their rights! 8).
 
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If things operated the way they were designed, it would be the government's duty to protect our rights.  The US Constitution doesn't give us rights, it's a document which determines and limits the powers of the Federal Government and dictates what it must protect.  People forget this.
 
We're all born free, our freedom isn't given to us by government, but it is its duty to protect it.
 
BTW: On the video that references the Lacey Act, I think that act is a hoot.  It essentially makes it illegal to do something that is illegal.  What?
 
LOL!
 
 
CARTERSVILLE, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia man says drug suppression officers mistook his okra plants for marijuana.
Dwayne Perry of Cartersville tells WSB-TV (http://bit.ly/1rJ8LMq ) that he was awakened by a helicopter flying low over his house Wednesday and then some heavily-armed deputies and a K-9 unit showed up at his door. They were from the Governor's Task Force for drug suppression and they were out looking for marijuana plants.
What they had seen, apparently, were Perry's okra plants and a shrub at the end of his house.
Perry says the officers ended up apologizing to him.
Patrol Capt. Kermit Stokes says the plants did have characteristics similar to marijuana.
Perry says people keep asking him about the officers at his house, and he worries that his reputation has been damaged.
Click to expand...
 
ajdrew said:
BTW: On the video that references the Lacey Act, I think that act is a hoot.  It essentially makes it illegal to do something that is illegal.  What?
Click to expand...
Well yeah lol
 
It also has a list of species that are illegal to import because of their detriment to environmental factors, such as pythons because of them naturalizing in Florida and the Gulf Coast states.
I am having some misgivings about growing castor plants though, those things look like cannabis on steroids
 
Helvete, have no problem with laws forbidding abuse of the environment or laws to protect endangered species.  The part that goofs with me is the part where it makes it against federal law to violate any state or federal law.  Uh ye, it is illegal to do illegal things.  Maybe now it is double special illegal.

Now what does really concern me is the lack of the word knowingly.  If you buy an illegal chunk of wood from the wood working shop, you broke a federal law.  Seems like you should need intent to do something wrong for such a serious charge.
 
Fact is that I don't give the weather channel (weather.com) credit for anything but trying to act like the rags at grocery store check-out lanes. They are alarmists and beyond ridiculous in most of what they post. Still, I do like their map in motion the best of the other ones I've seen, so I do visit the site from time to time. That said, they have a short video dedicated to this topic. They show an apartment complex covered with snow, save one unit that manages to have NO snow on the roof or sides of the windows. Yep - subsequent drug bust, based on nothing other than the lack of snow. That one did happen to be a drug situation, but it could have been hot peppers, tomatoes, or anything else. 
 
But ok - should you be afraid? No. In addition to the stuff already posted, try just contacting your local police directly yourself and have a friendly conversation with them. Tell them you saw something about grow busts, and invite them over to look at your grow. Ask them if there is something you should be doing to ensure you aren't targeted. Does this stop the feds? Not necessarily, but yeah, it might - people do talk to each other from time to time, cops same as everyone else. 
 
I can't speak for your area or the DEA. But as a police officer that works in the area of one of the largest city's in the US I can tell you the days of looking at electric bills are over.

Hydropinics has become widely accepted in my area as not just being used to grow weed. In fact I even visit a few of the local hydro stores on duty. I have a good relationship with them. The customers I've seen while in there seemed to be people like me growing hydro as a hobby. Sure I've seen a few shady looking people get all nervous when I walk in, but am I about to go through all the trouble of digging to catch some teenager growing a few plants in his closet? No. And no one I work with would do so either.

A few years back I uncovered a large warehouse of Marijuana being ran by two brothers. These guys were burning leaves to cover up the smell. Just so happened we were in a burn ban that year due to a drought. Man the set up they had in there would have grown the shit out some peppers. I mean could have had trees going.

Anyways long story short they got off with a Class B Misd because they had no criminal history. In my state that is equal to driving on a suspended drivers license. Point is I don't think the higher powers that be (DEA, Feds, etc) are to worried about it as much as they used to be. Marijuana is becoming more accepted nationally every year. Seems to me more of the focus these days are on the more lethal narcotics.

Sorry to rant but to answer your question I think you will be fine.
 
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