The real dope on grow-op busts

I don't know why I keep posting on these ridiculous grow busts except that I find this sort of misinformation and flagrant waste of tax dollars so irritating that giving a big ARRRRGH out loud, kind of helps. Take this first item for instance.

On Thursday, an anonymous tip led officers to four plants that were some of the largest they had ever seen. The biggest was 14 feet tall, and together the plants weighed 120 pounds.

The numbers are meaningless. That's wet weight, including the stalks which I would bet on 14 foot plant could be 6 inches or larger in diameter and heavy. Let me reiterate for the non-consumer, the only part of a cannabis plant that has commercial value is the dried flower buds. If the plant didn't have any buds yet, it could be forty feet tall and still be worthless. It's unlikely to be worth 50 grand just because it's big. Then there's this theory.

Deputies have found six different marijuana fields that have enough similarities that they believe the same suspects were growing them. At each one of these fields, there have been 70 to 100 plants. These suspects are truly marijuana farmers, Seawell said.

How many dissimilarities could there be between different outdoor grows? Not to mention that they later admit they have no idea who the suspects are. Deputies further declare the pot would have been sold locally. I guess they use a clairvoyant to tell them that. How do they know it wouldn't be sold in Cleveland? But here, as always is the clincher that sets my teeth on edge.

Deputies work with the North Carolina National Guard and the SBI several times a year to conduct what they call “eradication operations.” The National Guard helicopter is the main investigative tool, Seawell said.

That's National Guard as in taxpayer funded equipment paid for with federal taxes earmarked for national defense, not plant interdiction. I ask you one more time, shouldn't these guys be out there protecting us from terrorists with bombs instead of fooling around on weed patrol?