16 December 2013

Macgregor grow house goes down

| johnboy
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grow house

ACT Policing executed a warrant in Macgregor on Sunday (December 15) seizing approximately $230 000 in cash and more than 80 Cannabis plants.

These arrests are part of an eight month investigation in which detectives from Criminal Investigation’s Drug and Organised Crime Team had been observing illicit drug dealing activities of a known drug person of interest.

Police believe one of the men is a major supplier of cannabis in the Canberra region.

During their investigation police witnessed two men meet briefly at a house in Macgregor yesterday.

After one man left the premises, police conducted a traffic stop on his vehicle seizing over two kilos of cannabis. Police then arrested the 64-year-old Scullin man and charged him with trafficking in cannabis.

Shortly after, a 43-year-old Dunlop man left the premises and another traffic stop was conducted and police seized approximately $230 000 cash from the vehicle.

Police executed a search warrant at the Macgregor premises and received information which indicated the house next door was a grow house. Police executed another search warrant on the house next door and located more than 80 cannabis plants at the house.

The 43-year-old man was then arrested and charged with trafficking in cannabis and Receive/Possess Proceeds of Crime.

Police will be opposing bail for both men and they will face the ACT Magistrates Court this afternoon (Monday, December 16).

Anyone with information regarding illicit drug dealing in the community is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or via www.act.crimestoppers.com.au. Information can be provided anonymously.

[Courtesy ACT Policing]

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PBO said :

rhino said :

Tymefor said :

What are these negatives? Nobody has ever died from marijuana. Toilets have killed more people.

I’m going to stop you right there:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2442411/Brazilian-man-crushed-death-weed-cannabis-trafficking-chase.html

There has been one death directly attributed to marijuana but not through use.

Otherwise, it is relatively harmless.

That is attributable to marijuana being illegal. If it wasn’t illegal, that death would not have occurred.

rhino said :

Tymefor said :

What are these negatives? Nobody has ever died from marijuana. Toilets have killed more people.

I’m going to stop you right there:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2442411/Brazilian-man-crushed-death-weed-cannabis-trafficking-chase.html

There has been one death directly attributed to marijuana but not through use.

Otherwise, it is relatively harmless.

MrBigEars said :

Perhaps if there was a way to stop f***wits being f***wits, we could move on as a society.

That’d certainly be the ultimate solution.

Drugs are bad, mkay? But the vast majority of the problems attributed to drugs are the direct result of prohibition, not of drugs. The prohibitionists probably think that banning drugs is the best way to deal with the problem, though, if so, you can only shake your head at their (wilful?) blindness to the overwhelming evidence.

rhino said :

Tymefor said :

while agree on most of the points in the pro legalisation debate. I feel, as a community, we already pay for the negative side of alcohol abuse. Abuse of alcohol can lead to hospitalization, violence, both domestic and public, more dangerous roads and increases in crime. Marijuana use would be abused aswell.

so considering we already pay for one drug, why should we pay for another?

Especially when, unlike alchohol, marijuana is not enjoyed and used safely by the majority of the community.

Are you trolling?

Prohibition showed us that banning alcohol did more harm than good. Yes alcohol is quite bad for us in a sense, but it’s less bad than prohibition.

As for abusing marijuana, what would that entail? Most likely sitting peacefully in front of the tv or computer or eating something quietly at home. The studies and research all show that marijuana is vastly less harmful than alcohol or cigarettes. Plus the idea that it can’t be abused because it is illegal is also false. It’s just that marijuana “abuse” doesn’t really exist in the way that alcohol abuse does.

And the idea that alcohol is “enjoyed safely by the majority of the community” is a bit of a stretch when the data shows that it’s far less safe than marijuana.

“National” Prohibition in the US was successful in that it reduced consumption of alchol, reduced alcohol related diseases, and reduced alcohol related crime in the jurisdictions where it was implemented.
However, people who still drank, drank unregulated hooch in unregulated speakeasys (easies?), thereby concentrating illicit wealth into the hands of a few of the many organised gangs, who went on to ruthlessly control the activities of the other gangs, which actually reduced organised crime).

I’m undecided about decriminalising marijuana, but I suspect the argument is more nuanced than drugs good/drugs bad.

Perhaps if there was a way to stop f***wits being f***wits, we could move on as a society.

Tymefor said :

Are you trying to say there are no negatives to a community that allows the use of marijuana…..

of course there are!! what im trying to say is. I don’t want to have to contribute towards fixing those problems when I already contribute towards the problems from alchohol

What are these negatives? Nobody has ever died from marijuana. Toilets have killed more people.

Assuming there were negatives, they would exist today anyway because it’s not hard to get marijuana. So you already have that cost. On top of that cost today you also have policing costs, court costs, imprisonment costs, increased crime etc and reduced respect for the law etc. All of these vastly outweigh any costs of using marijuana (which are costs whether it’s legal or not).

Tymefor said :

rhino said :

Tymefor said :

while agree on most of the points in the pro legalisation debate. I feel, as a community, we already pay for the negative side of alcohol abuse. Abuse of alcohol can lead to hospitalization, violence, both domestic and public, more dangerous roads and increases in crime. Marijuana use would be abused aswell.

so considering we already pay for one drug, why should we pay for another?

Especially when, unlike alchohol, marijuana is not enjoyed and used safely by the majority of the community.

Are you trolling?

Prohibition showed us that banning alcohol did more harm than good. Yes alcohol is quite bad for us in a sense, but it’s less bad than prohibition.

As for abusing marijuana, what would that entail? Most likely sitting peacefully in front of the tv or computer or eating something quietly at home. The studies and research all show that marijuana is vastly less harmful than alcohol or cigarettes. Plus the idea that it can’t be abused because it is illegal is also false. It’s just that marijuana “abuse” doesn’t really exist in the way that alcohol abuse does.

And the idea that alcohol is “enjoyed safely by the majority of the community” is a bit of a stretch when the data shows that it’s far less safe than marijuana.

Are you trying to say there are no negatives to a community that allows the use of marijuana…..

of course there are!! what im trying to say is. I don’t want to have to contribute towards fixing those problems when I already contribute towards the problems from alchohol

The basis sentiment of your argument Tymfor is sound however, you’re already paying for use of the drug through policing resources, courts, gaols etc. And probably a lot more than if it were a legal product. Moreover, its current status raises no revenue.

poetix said :

I look forward to the legalising Laudanum once again…

Absinthe has been banned, and legalised, in quite recent times.  What the green fairy makes of being sold at Dan Murphy’s is another question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe

Dan Murphy (yes, the Dan Murphy) was a criminal who did time in Pentridge Prison.

I look forward to the legalising Laudanum once again…

Absinthe has been banned, and legalised, in quite recent times.  What the green fairy makes of being sold at Dan Murphy’s is another question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe

Blen_Carmichael9:27 pm 17 Dec 13

BimboGeek said :

American experience with native cactii also indicates that mescaline can be used responsibly and Native American spiritual practitioners strongly frown upon people who eat peyote “for fun” instead of as part of a spiritual ceremony.

There you have it. These spiritual practitioners don’t just frown upon people who eat peyote for fun, they “strongly frown” upon them. I suspect this deterrent may be effective for little would-be peyote papooses, but I’m thinking the adolescent/adults may be more inclined to tell the spiritual practitioner what he can do with his filthy look treatment.

Drugs have only been ilegal for the last 100 years or so and for almost the entire history of the human race they were legal and guess what we still managed to develop technology and put a man on the moon lol.

A nice single malt whisky , or whiskey, your choice, is much smoother on the throat.

rhino said :

Tymefor said :

while agree on most of the points in the pro legalisation debate. I feel, as a community, we already pay for the negative side of alcohol abuse. Abuse of alcohol can lead to hospitalization, violence, both domestic and public, more dangerous roads and increases in crime. Marijuana use would be abused aswell.

so considering we already pay for one drug, why should we pay for another?

Especially when, unlike alchohol, marijuana is not enjoyed and used safely by the majority of the community.

Are you trolling?

Prohibition showed us that banning alcohol did more harm than good. Yes alcohol is quite bad for us in a sense, but it’s less bad than prohibition.

As for abusing marijuana, what would that entail? Most likely sitting peacefully in front of the tv or computer or eating something quietly at home. The studies and research all show that marijuana is vastly less harmful than alcohol or cigarettes. Plus the idea that it can’t be abused because it is illegal is also false. It’s just that marijuana “abuse” doesn’t really exist in the way that alcohol abuse does.

And the idea that alcohol is “enjoyed safely by the majority of the community” is a bit of a stretch when the data shows that it’s far less safe than marijuana.

Are you trying to say there are no negatives to a community that allows the use of marijuana…..

of course there are!! what im trying to say is. I don’t want to have to contribute towards fixing those problems when I already contribute towards the problems from alchohol

obamabinladen3:52 pm 17 Dec 13

Why are illicit drugs illegal? I’m an adult I make my own decisions if I want to have a drink i’ll have a bloody drink, if I want a cigarette i’ll have a bloody cigarette, if I want to get high i’ll bloody well get high. Who am I hurting? Eating takeaway makes you fat so are we going to ban maccas?
Pain killers can be addictive are we going to ban pain meds?

Decriminalise drugs regulate the industry and use the tax to help put our economy back in the black!

Experience in Fiji and Jamaica shows us that kava and cannabis are no more likely to be abused than any other substance, that the community is well aware of the difference between occasional use and dangerous addictive use and that the latter is discouraged. Just as we have seen with alcohol, and to a lesser degree with tobacco which a small number of people do smoke only on weekends or when stressed for several years and then quit, although the cigarette is so far removed from its traditional mode of use that it’s a wonder anyone manages to achieve this!

American experience with native cactii also indicates that mescaline can be used responsibly and Native American spiritual practitioners strongly frown upon people who eat peyote “for fun” instead of as part of a spiritual ceremony. European use of hallucinogenic mushrooms similarly limits its acceptability to only very occasionally.

These substances are self-limiting in the damage they will cause because people are better at taking care of each other than the police and courts are at protecting us from our own childish impulses. They are also powerful medicines or spiritual aids if administered properly. Making them illegal is nothing but counter-productive.

Tymefor said :

while agree on most of the points in the pro legalisation debate. I feel, as a community, we already pay for the negative side of alcohol abuse. Abuse of alcohol can lead to hospitalization, violence, both domestic and public, more dangerous roads and increases in crime. Marijuana use would be abused aswell.

so considering we already pay for one drug, why should we pay for another?

Especially when, unlike alchohol, marijuana is not enjoyed and used safely by the majority of the community.

Are you trolling?

Prohibition showed us that banning alcohol did more harm than good. Yes alcohol is quite bad for us in a sense, but it’s less bad than prohibition.

As for abusing marijuana, what would that entail? Most likely sitting peacefully in front of the tv or computer or eating something quietly at home. The studies and research all show that marijuana is vastly less harmful than alcohol or cigarettes. Plus the idea that it can’t be abused because it is illegal is also false. It’s just that marijuana “abuse” doesn’t really exist in the way that alcohol abuse does.

And the idea that alcohol is “enjoyed safely by the majority of the community” is a bit of a stretch when the data shows that it’s far less safe than marijuana.

while agree on most of the points in the pro legalisation debate. I feel, as a community, we already pay for the negative side of alcohol abuse. Abuse of alcohol can lead to hospitalization, violence, both domestic and public, more dangerous roads and increases in crime. Marijuana use would be abused aswell.

so considering we already pay for one drug, why should we pay for another?

Especially when, unlike alchohol, marijuana is not enjoyed and used safely by the majority of the community.

Felix the Cat said :

So because drug taking is too hard to enforce and prohibition isn’t working we should legalise it?

No because it is morally, legally, and socially wrong, and counter productive, that is why.

Felix the Cat said :

Maybe we should legalise rape and murder while we are at it.

You’ll be first in the barrel then

Felix the Cat said :

So because drug taking is too hard to enforce and prohibition isn’t working we should legalise it? Maybe we should legalise rape and murder while we are at it.

Was your family raped and murdered by someone on a pot binge, bud?

Felix the Cat said :

So because drug taking is too hard to enforce and prohibition isn’t working we should legalise it? Maybe we should legalise rape and murder while we are at it.

Yes, because drugs directly affects other people than those taking them and is wholly comparable with rape and murder.

Oh wait, no they’re not similar in the slightest….

Good long form argument on legalisation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8yYJ_oV6xk

The philosphical argument that bears consideration is that in every other case the purpose of the police is to protect citizens from each other.

In the case of drugs they try to protect people from themselves, by doing harm to to those people.

Nice post curmudgery. That seems to include all of the reasons. None of which are very good reasons in the scheme of things.

Well, according to the ABS in 2011, it was the fastest growing sunburb in all the ACT. So it makes sense to have a couple of grow houses there.

Felix the Cat12:19 pm 17 Dec 13

So because drug taking is too hard to enforce and prohibition isn’t working we should legalise it? Maybe we should legalise rape and murder while we are at it.

We do this because the Americans do it. We do it because the Brits do it.
Solidarity. Hands across the sea. Mates.

We do it because the lessons of the Prohibition era don’t apply to us.

We do it because it’s become an industry that needs servicing – it has bosses and budgets; it has customers and cash-flow. People have built their careers on this stuff. There’s a body of knowledge. You can’t just throw it all away.

We do it lest the media asks an awkward question that might affect a poll.

We do it because any alternative might involve intelligence, courage and the ability to see past next Tuesday.

We do it because successive governments still believe they’re in charge of a penal settlement.

We do it because we’re stupid. That’s why we do it.

Seems to me that majority of grow houses busted (at least, in the last few years) is in Macgregor.

Good work the police!

rhino said :

shauno said :

The only issue they have there is increased tourists coming over from the UK to get high.

I don’t see this as a big problem really haha. “Oh no, a larger tourism industry! What a distaster!” lol. I reckon if we legalised it here, we might also get more tourism and i’d see that as a good thing really.

they’d flock here by the boatload… o, wait.

shauno said :

The only issue they have there is increased tourists coming over from the UK to get high.

I don’t see this as a big problem really haha. “Oh no, a larger tourism industry! What a distaster!” lol. I reckon if we legalised it here, we might also get more tourism and i’d see that as a good thing really.

Tooks said :

rhino said :

Not really sure why they bother busting people doing this.
Wouldn’t the cost of this police operation be greater than the cost of…people…smoking weed and eating peacefully in their homes? lol

I think they bother cos it is still illegal. Or should they only enforce laws you agree with?

And I’ll get in before anyone asks: yes, I believe it should be legal.

If I were them, I’d allocate my resources by the biggest threat. They don’t have teams of police guarding busy streets at lunch time on week days making certain that nobody crosses the road when the pedestrian crossing light isn’t green. That’s illegal but not enforced. This is probably on par with that in terms of danger to society. I’d allocate less resources to it, that’s for sure.

buzz819 said :

Ben_Dover said :

I bet they don”t care what a couple of keyboard warriors think…

If it were just; “a couple of keyboard warriors” then you may have a point. But as its a reasonably large percentage of the society they are supposed to be serving who find these “busts” at best silly, at worse as having the opposite effect to which they were aiming to achieve, then again; I wonder if the police get fed up with having their “successes” in this filed roundly laughed at, criticised, and parodied?

Ben_Dover said :

I wonder if the police get fed up with having their “successes” in this filed roundly laughed at, criticised, and parodied?

I bet they don”t care what a couple of keyboard warriors think…

I wonder if the police get fed up with having their “successes” in this filed roundly laughed at, criticised, and parodied?

I’m firmly of the opinion that pretty much all currently illicit drugs should be legalised, quality controlled, taxed and distributed by public servants wearing threadbare grey cardigans and cheap polyester trousers from government controlled “High There” centres.

This would eliminate the “rebellious rebel outlaw bad dude tuff guy” aspect of being a user, which I know was an aspect that attracted some of my more stupid friends when I was young. It would also reduce crime caused by people stealing things to fund their habits, almost entirely eliminate accidental overdoses, vastly reduce opportunities for crims to corrupt cops, politicians etc via lack of funding, increase gummint revenue through the tax take and probably a whole lot of other good things too numerous to mention here. I reckon that whatever downsides there may be are far outweighed by the positives. I’m open to alternative viewpoints, but that’s how I feel at the moment. And I say all that having known a bloke who died of a smack overdose, and having seen the consequence of his death echoing through his friends and family for for nearly 20 years now.

Having said all that, the current situation is what it is. Which means that the people growing this stuff in the house next to you are very likely to be highly anxious and stressed, desperate to stay out of the slammer and armed with some collection of shitbox firearms that they don’t know how to use but may still go bang.

It’s a bad situation, but until the weed and all others like it become legal, I don’t want villains growing weed or boiling meth or any such shennanigans anywhere near my place.

Sooooo….more power to the cops, but lets get the law changed as soon as we can, so that they can spend their time more profitably chasing real criminal scum, like mongrel bankers and financial advisers.

I agree it should be legal its just a plant for gods sake and enough wasted resources has been spent on this its just a loosing battle. The illegal drug fuelled organised crime has basically destroyed Mexico. Uruguay has just legalised Marijuana and its about time. I have smoked it in the past on my visits to Amsterdam and younger days I cant now though as i get drug tested for work but if people want to grow a few plants in there back yard then just let them the Amsterdam approach has seen it doesn’t have any affect and they have one of the lowest drug crimes in the world because of it. The only issue they have there is increased tourists coming over from the UK to get high.

the picture on the right, is that the bong?

rhino said :

Not really sure why they bother busting people doing this.
Wouldn’t the cost of this police operation be greater than the cost of…people…smoking weed and eating peacefully in their homes? lol

I think they bother cos it is still illegal. Or should they only enforce laws you agree with?

And I’ll get in before anyone asks: yes, I believe it should be legal.

rhino said :

Not really sure why they bother busting people doing this.
Wouldn’t the cost of this police operation be greater than the cost of…people…smoking weed and eating peacefully in their homes? lol

You’re forgetting all the marijuana fuelled violence that is occurring in Civic every Friday and Saturday nights.

PBO said :

28 million people died last year as a direct result of inhaling toxic mari-ju-ana fumes due to it being so addictive and because if you try it once you are hooked for life. Pot addicts usually end up as action bus hobo’s and discount daytime prostitutes if they are lucky, however, most are never that lucky. The most that some of these poor souls can look forward to is AIDS, followed by loud, violently explosive, hot, tourrettes diahorrea which is not as fun as it sounds.

Death comes soon afterwards with the helpless pot addict unable to rise from whatever comfortable pile they have layed themselves down in…..then they pass out and go into a coma.

Now if the plod can get a pot factory off the streets then the hose manufacturers and orchy bottle makers should be the next target. It they can get it off the streets and make the Mr Bigs unable to peddle their wares, then we may be able to beat this scourge of our youth.

Praise baby Jebus!

It’s all true. And I’ve got a copy of Reefer Madness to prove it.

BimboGeek said :

shauno said :

A naturally occurring annual, dioecious, flowering herb. Most commonly found in parts of Asia growing along the side of the road. Its quiet a nice ornamental plant and fast growing.

Much less dangerous than next door’s potato and trumpet vines that keep attacking my camellias.

28 million people died last year as a direct result of inhaling toxic mari-ju-ana fumes due to it being so addictive and because if you try it once you are hooked for life. Pot addicts usually end up as action bus hobo’s and discount daytime prostitutes if they are lucky, however, most are never that lucky. The most that some of these poor souls can look forward to is AIDS, followed by loud, violently explosive, hot, tourrettes diahorrea which is not as fun as it sounds.

Death comes soon afterwards with the helpless pot addict unable to rise from whatever comfortable pile they have layed themselves down in…..then they pass out and go into a coma.

Now if the plod can get a pot factory off the streets then the hose manufacturers and orchy bottle makers should be the next target. It they can get it off the streets and make the Mr Bigs unable to peddle their wares, then we may be able to beat this scourge of our youth.

Praise baby Jebus!

Not really sure why they bother busting people doing this.
Wouldn’t the cost of this police operation be greater than the cost of…people…smoking weed and eating peacefully in their homes? lol

shauno said :

A naturally occurring annual, dioecious, flowering herb. Most commonly found in parts of Asia growing along the side of the road. Its quiet a nice ornamental plant and fast growing.

Much less dangerous than next door’s potato and trumpet vines that keep attacking my camellias.

Collecting gold coins for charity, of course.

You would want to have a solar system to offset some of the costs

Or go for a guinness world record, get actew to sponsor the display, and get the government to send a legion of lollipop men to manage the traffic?

That’s a lot of powerpoints!

A naturally occurring annual, dioecious, flowering herb. Most commonly found in parts of Asia growing along the side of the road. Its quiet a nice ornamental plant and fast growing.

Oh good, I’ll sleep more soundly in my bed tonight after that news.

🙄

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