Hi everyone,
I'm new to this site and thought I would pass along something that just happened to me recently. First about me, I am single again mid-forties guy with a nice home in an average neighborhood with no criminal record at all. I work all the time at a job I've been at for the last ten years and rarely have guests over to my house. I might go to the bar once or twice a month but I'm really a boring lol person now just trying to save money after starting again (divorce). I don't use any illegal drugs (not worth the trouble work/law ect.) but have absolutely nothing bad to say about them or the people who do. Alcohol and nicotine are the worst legal and I use those lol. This war on drugs and the taxpayer money spent on this stupid crusade makes me angry. Why am I here then? Well one of my hobbies is cooking and I'm looking into gardening produce/herbs for the increased wonderful taste they provide over grocery store products. I've yet to set up any indoor or outdoor garden other than tomatoes and peppers on my deck in planters. Hence I've been cruising around all garden grow sites and surprisingly found Marijuana growers very helpful as well.
Ok sorry to go on but I thought the background would make the story even more shocking. Around July I purchased a portable air conditioner unit (not window type) for a room my central air did not keep cool. It's my office so I spend 50% of my time at home there and I needed it cool. Anyway the unit was used and didn't have the window adapter for the unit's vent so I drilled a hole and installed a dryer type vent. It all looked very good and clean from the outside like it was there all the time. About six weeks ago I heard a knock on the door and when I opened it found myself starring at six police officers in plain clothes with badges/guns on their hips. Stunned I asked what's up and before I knew it they had pushed past me into the entry of the house. Then they explained they had an anonymous tip from a neighbor (don't' know the ones on the side of house where vent is) I was growing weed and had to investigate. "Can we do a search?" they kept repeating and I explained that was ridiculous and I didn't want them doing so. One officer noticed three five gallon pails in the corner of the entry (I work for a company that uses these for their products) and said that reasonable suspicion had just gone to probable cause and they could search as these chemicals could be used in drug manufacturing lol. After this four of them went running all over my house while two stayed with the dangerous suspect acting like they were my friend. I thought it was rather funny how these new "friends" kept trying to talk me up about drug usage, how it wasn't a big deal, and how they were so understanding of the culture. After forty-five minutes nothing was found and they said "ok you are fine now, sorry we had to check this out" hahaha wtf! I know I was fine before but now I'm so pissed off I can hardly talk. As they were leaving I noticed they had a manila folder and inside was a xerox copy of my drivers license among other papers I couldn't read. What those papers were I'll never know but it wasn't a consent form to search. They never asked me to sign a consent form for search.
I respect your wishes to grow what you want but beware of the story above and what can happen. Apparently any tip from anyone the police receive about an individual has to be followed up on. After my experience I will never again open the door for the police... period! Once the door is open they can say anything is probable cause it appears. If they have a warrant they will kick the door down regardless and without notice I would assume. DON'T OPEN THE DOOR! I know it may appear odd or embarrassing to the neighbors if they keep banging or walking around the yard but it's better than having your rights violated like I did. My naive thoughts of police sure have changed after they violated my rights. Police will stop at nothing to "get their man" including breaking the law themselves to get their recognition. I should have remembered a story from long ago about a friend from HS who ended up a police officer in a suburb. I hadn't seen him in ten years or so and ran into him at a store. We started talking hunting, how I wanted a pistol for target practice fun up at the shack, and he mentioned a gun he had for sale. I went to the police station to buy it and he was just coming back in from making a bust on some kids drinking in a park or something. It was like some football locker room after winning the big game ... high fives and blah blah. At the time I had remembered doing the same when kids with this guy and was totally turned off by it. I never tried to contact or see him again but it didn't really register. I just chalked it up to "that guy sure has changed" and has no compassion left at all for those poor kids. Hopefully I'm smarter now and will voice my thoughts against civil servants who abuse the law or have no compassion for those who while breaking the law are generally good non-violent persons.
Best of luck and I hope to get some good information on hydroponics here!
I'm new to this site and thought I would pass along something that just happened to me recently. First about me, I am single again mid-forties guy with a nice home in an average neighborhood with no criminal record at all. I work all the time at a job I've been at for the last ten years and rarely have guests over to my house. I might go to the bar once or twice a month but I'm really a boring lol person now just trying to save money after starting again (divorce). I don't use any illegal drugs (not worth the trouble work/law ect.) but have absolutely nothing bad to say about them or the people who do. Alcohol and nicotine are the worst legal and I use those lol. This war on drugs and the taxpayer money spent on this stupid crusade makes me angry. Why am I here then? Well one of my hobbies is cooking and I'm looking into gardening produce/herbs for the increased wonderful taste they provide over grocery store products. I've yet to set up any indoor or outdoor garden other than tomatoes and peppers on my deck in planters. Hence I've been cruising around all garden grow sites and surprisingly found Marijuana growers very helpful as well.
Ok sorry to go on but I thought the background would make the story even more shocking. Around July I purchased a portable air conditioner unit (not window type) for a room my central air did not keep cool. It's my office so I spend 50% of my time at home there and I needed it cool. Anyway the unit was used and didn't have the window adapter for the unit's vent so I drilled a hole and installed a dryer type vent. It all looked very good and clean from the outside like it was there all the time. About six weeks ago I heard a knock on the door and when I opened it found myself starring at six police officers in plain clothes with badges/guns on their hips. Stunned I asked what's up and before I knew it they had pushed past me into the entry of the house. Then they explained they had an anonymous tip from a neighbor (don't' know the ones on the side of house where vent is) I was growing weed and had to investigate. "Can we do a search?" they kept repeating and I explained that was ridiculous and I didn't want them doing so. One officer noticed three five gallon pails in the corner of the entry (I work for a company that uses these for their products) and said that reasonable suspicion had just gone to probable cause and they could search as these chemicals could be used in drug manufacturing lol. After this four of them went running all over my house while two stayed with the dangerous suspect acting like they were my friend. I thought it was rather funny how these new "friends" kept trying to talk me up about drug usage, how it wasn't a big deal, and how they were so understanding of the culture. After forty-five minutes nothing was found and they said "ok you are fine now, sorry we had to check this out" hahaha wtf! I know I was fine before but now I'm so pissed off I can hardly talk. As they were leaving I noticed they had a manila folder and inside was a xerox copy of my drivers license among other papers I couldn't read. What those papers were I'll never know but it wasn't a consent form to search. They never asked me to sign a consent form for search.
I respect your wishes to grow what you want but beware of the story above and what can happen. Apparently any tip from anyone the police receive about an individual has to be followed up on. After my experience I will never again open the door for the police... period! Once the door is open they can say anything is probable cause it appears. If they have a warrant they will kick the door down regardless and without notice I would assume. DON'T OPEN THE DOOR! I know it may appear odd or embarrassing to the neighbors if they keep banging or walking around the yard but it's better than having your rights violated like I did. My naive thoughts of police sure have changed after they violated my rights. Police will stop at nothing to "get their man" including breaking the law themselves to get their recognition. I should have remembered a story from long ago about a friend from HS who ended up a police officer in a suburb. I hadn't seen him in ten years or so and ran into him at a store. We started talking hunting, how I wanted a pistol for target practice fun up at the shack, and he mentioned a gun he had for sale. I went to the police station to buy it and he was just coming back in from making a bust on some kids drinking in a park or something. It was like some football locker room after winning the big game ... high fives and blah blah. At the time I had remembered doing the same when kids with this guy and was totally turned off by it. I never tried to contact or see him again but it didn't really register. I just chalked it up to "that guy sure has changed" and has no compassion left at all for those poor kids. Hopefully I'm smarter now and will voice my thoughts against civil servants who abuse the law or have no compassion for those who while breaking the law are generally good non-violent persons.
Best of luck and I hope to get some good information on hydroponics here!
