Tomato Grower Wrongly Caught Up In Marijuana Roundup

[Beer-B-Q]

Be Carefull what you use to grow tomatoes with...

You might get a visit from a Swat Team...

http://www.kmbc.com/news/27622269/de...404212011&ts=H

Tomato Grower Wrongly Caught Up In Marijuana Roundup

'The Last Time I Checked, It Wasn't Illegal To Grow A Tomato Plant' Man Says

POSTED: 7:43 am CDT April 21, 2011
UPDATED: 8:11 am CDT April 21, 2011

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- Hundreds of marijuana plants were seized by police officers on 4/20, a day celebrated in the drug culture to use marijuana. But when Independence, Mo., police showed up at one man's door looking for marijuana, they found something else.

Independence police found a growing operation Wednesday afternoon: a tomato growing operation.

"What I saw today was not protection," the man told KMBC's Cliff Judy. "That was harassment, all because of where I made a purchase."

Independence police said the Missouri Highway Patrol monitors stores that sell hydroponic growing equipment, and they use those sales to track down illegal marijuana growing operations. That information is what led them to the man's door.

"The last time I checked, it wasn't illegal to grow a tomato plant, but it makes you wonder," the man said.

Photos: Tomato Growing Operation

The man asked KMBC News not to identify him because he is an emergency responder and his job would be put at risk for speaking out.

"What is anybody going to think now?" the man asked. "I'm probably going to be pegged now as a person who was growing something, but they couldn't figure it out."

The man told Judy that he supports fighting drugs and has no problem with the officers who came to his home. But he also said he thinks labeling him as a possible drug dealer because of buying hydroponic equipment is profiling.

"I understand that a lot of people use hydroponic equipment for illegal ways, but that's just like saying everybody who buys a gun is going to be a criminal and murder somebody," the man said.

Independence police said the same tactic that took them to the man's home led them to a different part of Independence Wednesday morning where they busted an active marijuana growing operation.

Police said in addition to the Independence bust, hundreds of marijuana plants were seized throughout the Kansas City metro on Wednesday.

Copyright 2011 by KMBC.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Fire it up]

Independence police said the Missouri Highway Patrol monitors stores that sell hydroponic growing equipment, and they use those sales to track down illegal marijuana growing operations. That information is what led them to the man's door.

I have heard that some cops do things like that.
Maybe they should quit being dicks and go out and actually catch bad people doing bad things instead of sitting on their asses parked in front of a legitimate business.

[GratefulDave]

I have heard that some cops do things like that.
Maybe they should quit being dicks and go out and actually catch bad people doing bad things instead of sitting on their asses parked in front of a legitimate business.

Word up brother.

[Texas-Hunter]

I have heard that some cops do things like that.
Maybe they should quit being dicks and go out and actually catch bad people doing bad things instead of sitting on their asses parked in front of a legitimate business.

Are you kidding??? That requires them to get out and do there job trying to catch folks F'ing up..

OK, Rant Off

[ALX]

When i had me grow room for veggies going full bore years back they checked me out do to utility bill...

They still fly over garden in copters every year....Cant blame them i guess...Heck...i went school with most police round here anywho...

[Slanted88]

That IR ball we hang on the chopper's do like to see the heat element...Cat's guttin old trailer's & got a lil inside farm on...

[Fourthwind]

The pot growers used to hang red Christmas ornaments on their plants to try and fool the helicopters looking for crops. May still do it, but this story just shows you how out of control the government is getting.

[ALX]

That IR ball we hang on the chopper's do like to see the heat element...Cat's guttin old trailer's & got a lil inside farm on...

Big Hydro outfits in balmer city in these parts.... Makes harder....

Me field maters still get them Cats eyes up...even though we friends...

[Slanted88]

Big Hydro outfits in balmer city in these parts.... Makes harder....

Me field maters still get them Cats eyes up...

Cat's Eye's down...purty blue when outside...

[ALX]

Cat's Eye's down...purty blue when outside...

...Me old mum had hawk eyes in day....Never slipped one by her in regular garden...{:

[Bearcarver]

If he would have had a pack of home smoked Bacon to go with those maters, the cops would have known better.

Bear

[DeejayDebi]

It is unfortunate but it happens. I don't blame the police if it is working for them and they are getting drugs off the street I am all for it. The unfortunate thing is that it doesn't always work.

The thing that gets me is we have Indian (as in from India) people selling bongs and pipes and papers and that sort of thing in the gas station markets and that's legal because of some religous thing (supposidly). If you get caught with that stuff on the street and you are not Indian you get busted for drug paraphanalia (or however it's spelled). Yet it is sold openly to anyone that wants it. I never saw so much drug stuff in my life! I don't know what your supposed to smoke in it but I know that's not what most of it is used for.

I also know their some very stoned kids buying that stuff and the stuff they smoke in hydroponically grown super pot. I saw my 14 year old nieces eyes roll up in her head after smoking that stuff and when the pot got to expensive she switched to much harder and dangerous things. Thank GOD she has finally after 3 trips to rehab servived and stayed clean.

I understand it seems harsh to have the police do these things but I have one dead 21 year old and one live 23 year old that got real easy access to that stuff and if it keeps this shit off the street for one day, and one kid survives I am all for it.

Sorry > off my soap box ...

[someAZdude]

Marijuana is a gateway drug. That's right.

It is a gateway drug simply because people lie to kids about it.

At some point, kids are going to try it. When they do they will see that there is very little danger in giggling their butts off and eating a whole bag of cheetos. Next they think "well all that crap about weed was BS so other drugs are probably fine too".
Next thing you know, they are trying meth.......and it all goes down from there.

I'll never lie to my kids about that stuff. I will educate them. I explain the dangers and the differences between drugs. This includes alcohol and tobacco. They're gonna do what they do so no sense fooling yourself about it.

[Fire it up]

Simple points of fact.
Marijuana is not addictive, not at all.
We ALL have cannabinoids in our bodies and when smoking or ingesting marijuana the cannabinoids actually fill in blank receptor spaces in our brains which help the synapses to fire better.
Marijuana has never killed a single person in recorded history.
Marijuana helps with and even cures many ailments, even cancer.
Marijuana was first made illegal because of William Randolph Herst running smear campaigns in his papers claiming that the "Devil Weed" cause black and Mexican immigrants to rape white women.

If you are a God loving (or fearing) individual how can you possibly believe that something that helps so many and hurts none (except when the cops get involved and destroy lives over it) that it is a bad thing and not put on this Earth to help?

If someone went into the rainforest today and brought out this plant that had so many wonderful health benefits, physically as well as mentally with virtually no negative side effects, it would be hailed as a miracle drug.

I can't wait for the day when the rest of the country will wise up, realize it's just a plant and stop believing the outright lies we are told about it in school. Stop wasting billions of tax payer dollars and essentially forcing Mexican cartels to import it through use of violence and focus solely on real drugs. Bad drugs, addictive and harmful substances.

I love my vodka, drinking is what I do but that is absolutely shown to be addictive, impair your judgement and reaction time AND is bad for the body but yet that is completely legal and weed isn't.

It's a damn shame...but thank God many States have started to realize it isn't a harmful substance and are working towards either medicinal legalization or out right fully legalized laws.

I would like to state that I do believe young children should not use marijuana except in the worst case scenarios (like the Father who used it to cure his Sons cancer about a year ago) because young brains are still developing and there hasn't been a study done on what, if any, effect it would have on the developing brain.

[davidmcg]

Ya know, I do my best, I really do about speaking out on these "events" and "subject matter". I mean, I really do. But sometimes, like now, I just have to.

Well listen, I am a retired cop, this is my opinion. Take it for what it is.

A couple of things. We are all taxpayers, at least, it would sure seem we are. We all expect more from our tax dollars than what they truly buy. We all believe in laws and regulations. Sometimes, we expect more from what that money buys and represents than possible. Cops, like me and hundreds of thousands more across this country are no exception. We expect and accept the public critiquing us. But no one, and I can guarantee no one, critiques us like we critique ourselves. There is no way to prove this to any of you, unles you have ever been or still are a cop.

So, all of us, cops and civilians see a problem with some particular criminal activity. We ask, why is it allowed to happen. Sometimes, because there are not any laws or regulations that adequately fit a problem or situation. So in that case, somebody contacts a lawmaker, generally at the state level, but sometimes at the federal level to write a new law or regulation to help resolve the matter.

Thats what happened in the case a fore mentioned here. Now, was that regulation and/or law perfect to track the purchase this equipment? No of course not, no law or regulation is ever perfect. Our criminal justice system is not perfect and never will be.

So a purchase of some type triggers an electronic notation. After that an investigator will take a look at what triggered it and do some checking. Yes, that involves some level and type of profiling. But what is more important than that, is that an investigator looks at all the data, follow up reports and renders a decision based upon everything known at the time. After that, the investigator writes an affidavit for a warrant and presents it to a judge. The judge reads it and asks several questions and then he also makes a decision whether or not to allow a warrant.

Along this path, several things can go wrong to point in the wrong direction and sometimes they do, but not very often. In this case, I am not personally informed on, in this case it would appear that the man in question was not doing anything wrong. it won't be a first. But in many cases, when a warrant is issued and a search reveals all is good and legal, down the road something sometimes turns up that the original information was correct, but the location was wrong.

Back to this case. After the search was conducted, the action did not end there. There would have been several follow up investigation at different levels of the investigative and judicial departments to learn what was incorrect and plug those lessons in to prevent further instances like this.

So before anybody goes and get any more bent out on this, think of this.

If it were your neighbor and there was sufficient suspicion that something was wrong, but no action taken, would you be concerned and/or upset? If you say no, you should be concerned. Regardless of where you live and work, this case does involve you. Your federal tax dollars are used to support, develop and maintain the database that was involved in this case.

Now, it may not change any of your minds in relation to this or any other law enforcement investigation or action, but I have a question. Have any of you, where it is available, applied and attended your local pd or Sheriffs Office Citizens Academy? If you have, then you have witnessed first hand the abilities of law enforcement and the constraints imposed. If you have not attended and it is available, why not? The information provided and feedback to law enforcement is tremendous. Some of you also might be surprised but even the FBI has a civilian academy.

So next time something like this happens, ask a few questions. Why were they there, is there ample evidence that this activity is historically known to involve criminal activity? The media, well, they do like to make things sound inticing and sensationalize events for ratings and air time to sell commercials don't they?