Tomato Grower Wrongly Caught Up In Marijuana Roundup

[rnjMOM]

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.

http://www.kmbc.com/news/27622269/detail.html

[lovinangels]

That's really kind of awful. Hydroponic equipment is used for lots of things!

[Della529]

 A friend of my FIL's had his okra plants pulled out of his garden by J'ville's "finest".  The cop kept insisting they were MJ plants, but wow did he get a suprise when his seargent showed up and told him he needed to pay the man for destroying his garden.

[rnjMOM]

Quoting Della529:

 A friend of my FIL's had his okra plants pulled out of his garden by J'ville's "finest".  The cop kept insisting they were MJ plants, but wow did he get a suprise when his seargent showed up and told him he needed to pay the man for destroying his garden.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! That is awesome! It was a big deal yesterday in KC. They had traffic stops checking for weed, they bragged about all the grow houses they busted... yet most of them probably have a meth lab next door that continued business as usual...