Grow marijuana, save a life!

The Problem

In this war on drugs, it has become apparent to me that stupidity and greed have always been at the forefront. The smart guys are the drug dealers. They make billions yearly while entire police departments and federal authorities pat themselves on the back because they found a ton of marijuana or raided a marijuana grow op(eration).

It's sad because they pose in these photos with huge smiles on their faces not realizing their "contribution" to the drug war amounts to absolutely nothing. That ton doesn't even scratch the surface. That indoor grow op or large field of cannabis means nothing. Those millions of plants, hundred thousand users, thousands of dealers, and hundreds of homes adds up to only 5-10% of the total drugs that get into the hands of waiting consumers.

That's barely enough to put a dent in the pricing of marijuana and other drugs. And, believe it or not, that's less than the expected loss for drug dealers. The drug dealers have more faith in the police catching them than they deserve. Anyone who's invested 10 minutes in the debate already knows the absolute lack of usefulness of local police and federal authorities. It's pitiful.

Truthfully, there are some truly dangerous people on both sides of this war from overzealous cops that murder old ladies in their own home (Kathryn Johnston or Alberta Spruill) to drug cartels that are responsible for mass graves. The typical marijuana user is truly caught between a government-issued assault rifle and drug cartels' mad men.

Talk about being stuck between a rock and hard place! Incredible.

The Solution

While the best option at this point in time is to legalize and regulate drugs, especially marijuana, it doesn't seem as though that will happen anytime soon. Very few politicians have the guts or the brains to make the right or smart decision. And, most are being paid off anyway. $50,000 to a senator's "campaign" is more important than saving the lives of innocent people, so it seems.

(only marijuana is important to me at this point)

While we wait for hard working organizations to fight for common sense drug policy, the solution, albeit temporary, is for the users to grow their own marijuana. The reasons for growing your own marijuana are numerous but I am interested in saving lives. If you grow your own marijuana, you save your own life as well as the lives of friends and family by:.

• maintaining quality control over the substances you may use or distribute (ie. lacing - roach spray, cocaine)
• running a small grow op that will fly under the radar of overzealous, violent police/feds who want the big busts
• not supporting violent drug cartels

Just a bit of advice

Growing marijuana is not hard to do. All you need are the seeds. From that point, any garden shop and tomato growing instructions will help you grow marijuana. There are books available along with DVD's and online guides and forums with so many supportive growers that are willing to help you. You don't need a college course in botany even though some schools in California offer that kind of education.

In fact, I'll help you. Start here: Anthony's Marijuana Growing Advice

Don't be afraid to start your own small, personal marijuana grow op. Here are some risks of growing marijuana and why you won't be at risk with a small op:

• Snitching: the #1 rule of marijuana growing is not to let others know.
  
  • However, so many people grow, use, support marijuana that telling people what you do becomes a non-issue. In fact, many of my friends know that I grow. It's a recipe for disaster but even the ones I've mad angry over the years haven't turned on me or turned me in. I can even count a New York City police officer as one of the people that knows I grow. He smokes marijuana as well so he can't wait to try out my next crop. It's amazing. He smokes every where and every day and whips out his badge like a get out of jail free card. This is because most NYC cops smoke marijuana as well.
  • Then again, shit happens. So, keep your mouth shut. The only person who can snitch on you is YOU!
• Electricity: a dead giveaway is your electric bills sky rocketing overnight.
  
  • However, a small marijuana grow op naturally uses a small amount of electricity - a bump that always goes unnoticed. Remember police are looking for big busts. So, a 200-400-watt per day bump is not going to alarm anyone. It's the 1000-watt per day bumps coming from small apartments that raises eyebrows. Even homes can get away with a 1000-watt bump because homes take up considerably more electricity on average. The bigger the house, the more you can get away with.
• Smell: we all know marijuana has a strong odor.
  
  • However, with a small grow op, all you need is a typical room air purifier. This won't raise the kind of suspicions a large carbon scrubber (activated carbon air purifier, usually custom made) would raise.
• Noise: a dead giveaway for a large grow op is the noise from humming fans to whirring electrical ballasts to water and air pumps.
  
  • While a small grow op will need all of these items to function properly, they would be considerably smaller, causing considerably less noise. A simple air conditioner can cover any "unusual" sounds coming from a small marijuana grow op.
• Heat: A tactic used by police/feds to find marijuana grow ops is the use of infrared sensors. They look for the high heat signatures that come from high intensity discharge (HID) lights.
  
  • By nature, a small marijuana grow op will either not use HID lights or use smaller versions of them. They do not generate the type of heat that would alarm a police department that uses that kind of technology (search: FLIR). For example, a 125-watt compact fluorescent light (CFL), while inferior to HID lights, is nearly cool or mostly warm to the touch while a similar HID may burn your finger.
• Paper Trail: Police may look for purchases in your financial records that may lead them to clues you're growing. Imagine spending $10,000 at a garden shop and not purchasing any seeds. However, a small marijuana grow op can cost as little as $300 and lower depending on how small you want to grow.
  
  • You can also NOT leave a paper trail by paying cash for everything. It's a small grow op so carrying upwards of $500 isn't going to attract attention.
  • Another idea is to spread your risk. Instead of buying all items from one place, purchase from different places and have friends purchase items for you. You can also spread your purchases over time.
  • Create a list of all the items you think you need. Find a different store that may carry specific items. For example, Home Depot carries light timers. Pathmark carries plant fertilizer. Kmart carries flowerpots. Pet stores carry air stones and air pumps as well as tubing.

I don't want to say that a small marijuana grow op is completely secure. Nothing is ever completely secure. However, you're much better off with a small marijuana grow op. Besides that, you learn how to grow marijuana.When it's legal, you can definitely opt to grow on a larger scale.

Last word

Small grow ops can be small in height or number. For example, we could grow quite a few plants in small space using 100 watts of CFLs or we can grow maybe 4 to 6 plants up to 5 feet high in a closet using only 250-400 watts of HID light. Other methods exist for maintaining small marijuana grow ops as so many people do it this way to stay under the radar. And, they do it because it works.