Yorks cops bust Bradford guinea pig farm

Yorkshire cops have apologised after swooping on a suspected Bradford cannabis "hothouse", only to find a couple of pampered guinea pigs languishing by an electric heater. Six officers in three vehicles descended on Pam Hardcastle's house after a police chopper's dope-busting camera picked up a suspicious infrared hotspot. …

[slooth]

Fail!

If drugs were legalised and you could get them via prescription (thus generating revenue for the govt), we could save millions of quid in man-hours and expensive copper choppers. Maybe then they can tackle real crimes.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm just happy

That nobody was hurt physically, mentally or financially by the police in this instance.

[Graham Marsden]

"No guinea pigs...

"... were tasered during this operation" a Police Spokesman announced...

[Anonymous Coward]

The police should have looked harder

I always wondered what Guinea Pigs are up to, they always look so chilled out and contented....

[SlackerUK]

don't be daft...

By prescription? that would get them £7 a pop (or free if your on benefits).

To generate an answer to the national debt - package up spliffs in packs of 10 or 20, and sell them from machines in pubs and clubs (and re-instate smoking in licensed drinking establishments). Tax them in the same way ciggies are and hey presto a major influx of revenue.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Lit Up"?!

How hot must those (only 2!) animals have been for the garage to Light Up on a copper chopper's FLIR?

Or are WYP talking bollocks (for a change).

May I suggest some intensive retraining for the guy who 'spotted' it.

Anonymous, because I also grow errr... guinea pigs in my garage

[Skippy]

The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.

Keep in mind that garages are rarely insulated, it would leak heat non-stop.

[Anonymous Coward]

The garage would probably be relatively cold

With a couple of heat lamps sitting in the corner of it, it would certainly be "lit up".

[Haku]

Sunbathing

Having owned guineapigs as a kid, I can tell you they love the heat, in the winter quite often at least one of them would lie flat down in front of the gas heater just inches away from the flames.

[Anonymous Coward]

I see what you're all saying...

...but compared to an ACTUAL dope farm? No.

[Anonymous Coward]

Mother explains all

>The coppers, however, pressed on with the operation, and having gained entry to the facility, "took one look at the guinea pigs, then left".

And what would they be expected to do? Believe her and walk away? I'll bet no criminal has thought of lying before.

[Citizen Kaned]

war on drugs

isnt working. stop trying to criminalise people for smoking something less harmful than alcohol and tobacco (yes, some people have a brain meltdown but plenty of studies can prove that those people would likely have underlying problems anyway). nice use of our tax money plod

also anyone with half a brain on a scan would tell you that an electric heater boots out far more heat than a HPS light. did they think they had found some 3000w grow lamp that would light a garage? arent these guys even slightly educated in what they are trying to catch?

maybe if you spent more time investigating burglaries (took them a month to come to swipe for fingerprints when it happened to me) they might get the public more on side.

[Anonymous Coward]

Absolutely,

How many times have I seen someone out their face on tobacco driving eratically?

Oh - that'd be none.

How many times on drugs? More than I care to remember.

This fallacy that it's less harmful than tobacco is pathetic.

[Squirrel]

drugs

You must live in a dodgy area; all the bad drivers (read: weaving/swerving/retarded) are using phones, reading or fiddling with other gadgets or controls.

You occasionally see the odd one weaving down the road without obvious cause and it turns out to be an elderly person.

"This fallacy that it's less harmful than tobacco is pathetic" - medically, it is. It doesn't have nicotine, and much less quantity of tar and carcinogenics when burnt. Most regular and intelligent folks vapourise it to get the caniboids out without the by-products.

[Anonymous Coward]

RE: Absolutely

You're pathetic.

It's called driving under the influence of a controlled substance. Whatever the substance. It's all the same.

[Wize]

@AC 11:14

"How many times have I seen someone out their face on tobacco driving eratically?

Oh - that'd be none."

Except when they drop a lit ciggy on their crotch.

[Anonymous Coward]

How many people posting about the evils of drugs?

have got in a fight on a friday night after drinking too much.

Not too many stoners fight..... they struggle to switch the TV over after a big camberwell carrot.

Make it legal Nick like the electorate asked you too on your 'big society' website. Oh yes that's right Lib Dems= empty promises

[Anonymous Coward]

@Wize

>Except when they drop a lit ciggy on their crotch

That would still be none as studies have shown smoking shrinks your willy so nothing to burn.

[g e]

Then by your logic

Mobile phones should be a controlled substance, presumably

I have no idea when an erratic driver is stoned (do you have some kind of portable gas chromatograph or sensitive spectral analyer or something?) but I can damn well see when the feckers are on the phone.

We are all dying to know how you know these drivers are stoned not sleepy/drunk/moronic

[Martin H Watson]

...and why do you want to analyse a spectre...?

You said "I have no idea when an erratic driver is stoned (do you have some kind of portable gas chromatograph or sensitive spectral analyer or something?) but I can damn well see when the feckers are on the phone."

[Saganhill]

You know nothing

About the effects of Marijuana.

[Citizen Kaned]

really?

you sure they werent pissed or just bad drivers?

i take it you stopped and asked each driver which narcotic they were on?

tobacco kills thousands every year. death rate attributed to cannabis over the last 2000 years - zero.

[Anonymous Coward]

Check you assumptions

Jared Loughner smoked a lot of dope. I'm not sure the amount of deaths indirectly attributed to marijuana use can be assumed to be exactly zero. I also have personal experience from riding with stoned drivers that it makes them worse drivers while simultaneously convincing them that they are driving really well -- but then I suspect alcohol does that as well.

[Anonymous Coward]

Brain Meltdown..

It is claimed that the stronger skunk varieties of cannabis are liable to cause 'Brain Meltdown' and that these varieties are becomeing more and more common. Yet clinical levels of schizophrenia and psychosis have remained steady. You do the math. As an aside canabis is harmful to your well-being. there needs to be a new word for the weeded uber lazy.

This daft woman needs to be fined for wasting energy, and generating excessive pollution (at the power station) who on earth puts an electric heater on full power in an uninsulated garage? an anti frosting heater ok, but to be pumping out that much heat (see IR image) is lunacy.

[Anonymous Coward]

Daft Woman ?!? Needs to be fined?!?

You need to be fined for making such idiotic suggestions.

Also, Skunk (resin) as sold on the street, is mainly made up of all types of crap, and brain rotting chemicals you wouldn't believe, if it is legalised and produced properly under controled conditions then.

A), it wouldn't be produced at such high strengths

B), it wouldn't contain all the shit that gets put in currently

C), The illegal drug trade falls on its face

D), Jobs created

[Jimbo 6]

@AC 11:53

Skunk =/= 'soapbar' resin,

in the same way that

25-year-old-malt-whiskey =/= Kestrel Super Lager.

If you're confused about the difference you must have lead an impressively sheltered life.

[Martin H Watson]

And along those lines...

are you saying you'd make shooting people legal to boost the undertaking business? What a daft idea.

[Anton Ivanov]

The garage is behind, the heat comes from a shed

If the colouring is standard (brighter for more intensive) the heat is coming from a small shed next to what looks like a standard bolted panel-kit garage. So she is not wasting that much energy after all. However, this also means that the Yorkshire cops have made all that fuss because of a 2mx2m shed where one can grow at most a handful of plants.

As far as the clinical levels of schizophrenia and psychosis - they will show effects from cannabis if a statistically significant part of the population overindulges in it to the point where it can be triggered. At the moment that is simply not the case.

[F111F]

Darker Areas, not Lighter

...show heat loss. Notice the chimneys and windows on the buildings surrounding, they are darker, showing heat escaping. Also, the article said it was a "garage" not a shed.

My question: Why not simply look in the window? Don't most garages have a window or two? It would be "in plain sight" and if the police couldn't see the pets, they would see that there was no cannabis production. I'm guessing they coppers didn't even try, and just decided to inconvenience everyone by calling the homeowner home from work to grandstand a "raid".

[Anonymous Coward]

The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.

It's a negative image, look at the windows and chimney stacks of the houses compared to everything else

[Anonymous Coward]

re: Brain Meltdown (above)

1) weed doesn't cause mental health problems as pointed out. (figures remain stable)

2) it does causes people to be 'Stoned' ie totally chillaxed, lazy whatever. (not agressive)

3) wasting enrgy is daft.

I dont understand why its down voted so much. any replies?

[JohnG]

....less harmful than .... tobacco....

Uh - no. Cannabis gives users more tar than tobacco, more carbon monoxide and more carcinogens. There is plenty of evidence for this, and whilst your local pusher may disagree, he may have a vested interest to protect.

[Destroy All Monsters]

Implying that cannabis is banned because it's "more harmful"

...as opposed to Christian value pushing and ass-covering inertia.

[Tom 13]

Well, let's check some AMA research

"Marijuana smoking, like tobacco smoking,

may be associated with increased risk

of lung cancer. Marijuana smoke contains

cannabinoid compounds in addition to

many of the same components as tobacco

smoke. For instance, benzopyrene, a carcinogenic

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon,

is found in both tobacco and marijuana

smoke and has been implicated in mutations

related to lung cancer.4-7 Furthermore, experimental

studies support an association

between marijuana smoke exposure and

lung cancer, with lung cancer cell lines demonstrating

tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-

induced malignant cell proliferation8,9 and

a murine model suggesting that THC promotes

tumor growth by inhibiting antitumor

immunity by a cannibinoid-2 receptor

mediated pathway.10 Although the

preponderance of in vitro data supports a

biologically plausible association, limited research

exists that suggests anticarcinogenic

cannabinoid effects.11-13 Given these

contrasting data, we chose to systematically

evaluate the association between smoking

marijuana and lung cancer."

http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/166/13/1359.pdf

The study concludes that more study is required. But given how difficult it has been to convince people that smoking is bad for their health, I expect the results will eventually be the same: smoking kills whether it is tobacco or weed, and weed actually has more carcinogens.

[Saganhill]

Wrong!

Not according to the test done in the 60's and 70's by the US FDA. There are the same as tobacco.

http://www.lycaeum.org/paranoia/marijuana/facts/mj-health-mythology.html

[Anonymous Coward]

Tempest in a teapot

Marijuana is worse for you per weight of substance smoked. In evaluating the health risks, it is generally assumed that pot smokers consume only a small fraction of the amount of burning weeds that tobacco smokers consume. If a pot smoker tried to keep up with a fag smoker on a puff-for-puff basis, they'd soon bear a striking resemblance to Ozzy Osborne.

[Citizen Kaned]

pusher?

they do not exist.

stop reading the daily fail for your world insights.

also skunk is a strain of cannabis. there are plenty of strains that are weaker than old school resin. FLO is a nice example. i guarantee that 99.9% of smokers have never smoked actual skunk, since hardly anyone grows that strain.

[irish donkey]

Shock horror

'Victimless crime feels the full strength of the law'

Meanwhile thieves and scum stealing everything from everybody isn't worth investigating as it's so common.

So how many other less news worthy crimes were ignored so they could go in mob handed.

So the question is will she lose her job on the bases of soft evidence.

[Code Monkey]

Why take her out of work?

They only suspect she's growing weed. She's not likely to do a runner so why subject her to the embarrassment of showing up at her place of work?

Stupid, stupid plod.

[bluesxman]

RE: Why take her out of work?

You'd prefer that they kicked the door in? Sounds oddly considerate. Perhaps they thought they'd been given a bum steer and exercised uncharacteristic caution. Or they failed to get a warrant, in which case she could have told them to "go forth and procreate" anyway.

[Anon the mouse]

How can.....

.... the copper visit the family if they are removing their details from the system?

[Richard 33]

Just make it legal already

Because it being illegal has obviously not worked.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure

And make murder legal too because that hasn't worked either.

Nor has stopping burglary, abduction, money laundering.

Make them all legal - save on police time.

[Anonymous Coward]

I love the downvotes on this

because the whole legalise it argument is crap - the idea that if drugs are legalised the mob will shrug their shoulders and walk away supposes there is no criminal involvement in cigarettes or alcohol or fuel or any of the other legal areas of life. It's just nonsense

[Laurent_Z]

Look here Anonymous Guy

There is a part of capitalism that is not that discussed, and that is price equilibrium vs Taxes.

Whenever taxes reach a certain point there is an incentive in doing without them.

Like @ 10% tax the risk is so much higher than the gain.

@ 20%tax you can already guess that you can both sell your wares 20%less that your counterparts, but if you play 'nice' you just sell at street price and keep the taxes for you, and as you are not selling at less than street price you are almost golden as no one sees anything (except from the tax dude.)

Now can you remind me of the level of tax on cigarettes ?

You want to kill grey market on ciggies or alcohol ? make them affordable in the legal market. QED.

[Nigel 11]

Greener dope farms?

Surely even the dumbest criminal has by now worked out that the police are using IR cameras to find their farms, so they need to use only premises with roof insulation to the highest standard. Presumably also high-efficiency (LED?) lighting so that their farm doesn't overheat.

So the good news should be that illegal dope-growing is reducing its CO2 emissions and rising fast in the "green" stakes!

[Anonymous Coward]

this.

The Potato Council has a cool gadget they use to illustrate this point using an insulated box with pound-shaped gaps in the insulation and a thermal imaging camera, so when you look at the box with the thermal camera you see pound signs where the heat is escaping.

[Paul_Murphy]

I would have thought..

That a roof-mounted heat-exchange system would be one way of doing it - run a load of pipes with water in all over the top of the 'garage' (or the premises in question) to soak up the ambient heat and then run the 'hot' pipe through a freezer, or in front of an air-con unit or into a ground-sink or whatever else comes to hand - free hot showers for the residents comes to mind.

Anyway - at least the terrorists haven't won yet!

hmm

ttfn

[bluesxman]

RE: I would have thought..

Since you mentioned the T-word, it reminded me of this:

http://mnftiu.cc/blog/images/war.008.gif

[Haku]

There's a war being fought...

...and the people on drugs are winning it.

/Bill Hicks

[Anonymous Coward]

Plants don't like LED lighting

I'm reliably informed that cannabis plants need special bulbs - LED won't do. Cultivating the plants takes quite a lot of electricity.

[Dave Bell]

Chorophyll

I'm not sure of the exact spectrum that chlorophyll absorbs to power the growth of plants, but remember that the green we see is what is not absorbed. And green plants do reflect a lot of red light. Maybe there could be a more efficient source of the right colours of light than a simple hot-filament bulb, but it is going to be something special.

[g e]

Don't forget Jenny

and a diesel generator so the leccy bill ain't suspect, too

[Pypes]

LED Lights...

Can I just step in to try and dispel this myth that LED's are somehow blessed with super high efficiency . They are in lumens / watt terms comparable to tungsten halogen, which while considerably more efficient than conventional incandescent bulbs, are still far less efficient than LPMV and sodium lamps.

You can get LED grow lights BTW, but I never understood why growers didn't opt for fluorescents. You can get 4' luminaries from wickes for about £10, and you could have 3 of them in your little grow tent for about 100w of consumption. You want more light? Add more strips. If you want to be fussy about the spectrum then the aquarium set has plenty of fluorescent bulbs with a variety of special purpose spectra, including plant growth.

But I'm guessing most pot growers arn't electricians.

[Mad Mike]

Stupidity

The method most commonly used for spotting cannabis farms is to ask the electricity/gas suppliers for addresses which are using far higher amounts of energy than might be expected for a property that size. Growing cannabis is extremely energy intensive and generally it is electricity that is used for heating, the hydroponics and lights etc. Obviously, there are other reasons why a house might use very large amounts of electricity (such as servers!! - IT angle), this ploy at least reduces the targets considerably. It means someone can turn up on foot with a thermal camera and confirm the prescence of a lot of heat, generally over a sizeable area, say the roof. Then, investigations proceed if found.

This is quite efficient and certainly a hell of a lot better than flying a helicopter with thermal imaging gear around an area looking for anything 'hot'. It also provides a secondary piece of supporting evidence, the electricity (usually) use.

Shows nobody knows how to waste taxpayer money like the police. Absolute bunch of planks.

[Lionel Baden]

THANKS !!!

now the Plod will be comming round my house because

i dont own a low power TV we have 3 computer of which 1 is on all the time another is on 2/3 of the time and the last one is sparodic but at least once a day.

my wife is at home all day using electricity. cooking music cleaning etc ect Were 4 people living in a 2 person apartment therefore using more leccy than normal.

so i then expect a visit every 4 months shall. Or should they not bother comming again after the first visit ?????

[Anonymous Coward]

The title is required etc

Is your wife cooking music, or music cleaning?

[bluesxman]

RE: Stupidity

Because the more serious grower would not think twice about bypassing the electricity meter for their grow room (and you'll struggle to run the all important lights from the gas supply). No meter, no big bill, no attention.

[Anonymous Coward]

@bluesxman

Or tapping the street lights.

Can't remember if El Reg ran that story but to summarise. Some growers decided to tap the elecricity from a lamp post. It was reported that the lighting in that street was much dimmer than in surrounded streets. When the electricity company investigated they found the cannabis farm.

[Anonymous Coward]

that's

my ex up the spout them, a person who never knew how to turn the heating down or off

[Keith Williams]

Stupidity

Municipalities surrounding Vancouver are sending in Safety Inspectors to review excessive use of electricity in homes. Usually with police officers sitting outside in their police cars. if they "notice" any evidence of illegal activity they can then go outside and report this information to the police, who immediately bust the homeowner. If there is no Pot found, then the town charges the homeowner for the inspection. Upto $5200 'cost recovery' for a 1/4 hour of work.

Indications of illegal cultivation include spilled soil or fertilizer, empty rooms (it was preped to be painted for a soon-to-arrive baby) and other items.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/war-on-grow-ops-in-bc-has-unexpected-casualties/article1866458/

Also, if I were a pot grower, I would keep guinea pigs in a shed, heat them excessively and after the cops came and vetted the place, switch to growing pot.

[Anonymous Coward]

RE: Stupidity

So how is this thermal imaging gear going to get to look at the roof of a building if it isn't on a helicopter, tall ladders? Since it's already installed on the helicopter to catch burglars & car thieves and find missing people, it sounds like a good use of taxpayers' money to do some targeted flyovers when the aircraft isn't otherwise engaged; the alternative would be purchasing a load of lower-spec equipment, training a load of people to use it, and those people still not being able to get in a good position to make best use of it because they are not airborne.

Besides, if I ever get the plod at my door I'd rather it be on the basis of a thermal image and not the triennial screw-up at Eon. I'd probably let them look and allay any suspicion, how very avant garde.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah right

>>

West Yorkshire Police Inspector Darren Brown offered: "I would like to apologise for the distress this may have caused. However, I would point out that these tactics are essential in tackling drugs across the district."

<<

Ah yes.. the infamous Hamster crew.

>>

Hardcastle concluded: "My neighbours told me police were everywhere. Everybody was asking what I had done wrong. It is embarrassing."

<<

If I were a lawyer, I'd help her sue the bastards. Nothing spells "look at me next time something goes all f***ed up, your kid falls over, or you lose something valuable" more than a police hit squad on your lawn

[Anonymous Coward]

Will the good Police Inspector Darren Brown please explain

how tactically cracking down on guinea pigs is somehow "are essential in tackling drugs across the district" please? Inquiring readers want to know.

Maybe we should just follow up with a FOI request for clarification on the matter.

[G R Goslin]

Least of her worries

A visit from the police is likely to be the least of her worries. The next visit will be from the Green Police, who will want to speak to her about her excessive carbon dioxide emissions.

[MrCheese]

The irony being...

The same square arceage of cannabis plants absorb FOUR times more CO2 than trees, it's called green for more than one reason ;-)

[Mudslinger]

in four dimensions now?

Square acreage? (I'll assume that's what you intended to write).

An acre is an (obsolete) measure of area. Area is two dimensional. Square acreage is going to be much too difficult for most of the Sun's readers.

[Anonymous Coward]

RE: Least of her worries

WTF are you talking about?

[Number6]

Oh dear...

Must be more careful when firing the 6kW kiln in the garage, lest we get a knock on the door.

[Anonymous Coward]

time to stop the fascism?

Nah, it's always easier to do police work when everybody is a suspect.

TURN OFF THAT HEATER CITIZEN.

[Bonce]

If...

If I were a grower, I'd set up a barn full of guinea pigs and heaters, wait for the inevitable bust and apology, insist my details were kept on the police database as a guinea pig lover, and then start growing!

[Mage]

Guinea Pigs?

Guinea Pigs can take -15C, maybe less. Just can't take SUDDEN changes in temperature. So no wonder they suspicious.

We had them living outdoors for about 12 years. They live "wild" all the way from Tropical Amazonian swamps to snow line of Andes in Peru. Very versitile. But bringing them into Central Heating from Cold Outdoors can kill them. Even though they can cope with 30C summer.

People keeping pets should research them better. Could avoid visits from "pigs" :-)

Lawn around our bird table regulary spawns Opium Poppy (common flower bed plant) and Hemp from the bird seed. Cannabis is kind of hemp. It's grown also outdoors as a clothing fibre. I don't think much used for rope anymore.

Industrial Hemp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp

"common garden poppy" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_poppy

I'm sure there are interesting mushrooms in the nearby woods. The "lawyer's wig" that grows in our own garden is lovely fried. (Autumn Fruit)

We have "fake castor oil" plant (Fatsia japonica) not this one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil_plant which makes Ricin, but we do get Spurge growing as a weed.

Not just South Americans, but Italians eat Guinea Pigs. I don't think it's for any "mind bending". Supposed to be a bit like rabbit.

[Anonymous Coward]

Guinea Pigs?

Mage, you need to update your info, I've also had guinea pigs for over 12 years and all indoors - information changes as people learn more about them. Central heating does not kill guinea pigs, damp, cold weather does. Outdoor g-pigs even if thy do 'tolerate' -15°C live on average 4-5 years compared to indoor pigs of at least 7-8 years. Helping with a rescue, I've seen enough examples of frostbite and severely underweight pigs due to 'tolerating' the British cold weather.

Guinea pigs are no longer found 'in the wild' as the domestic variety has been bred and inbred for so long that you will not find the colour and breed varieties running wild, even in Peru or any of the South American countries. They breed them domestically indoors or at least under shade and are not meant to live a long time over there so weather is not really relevant, they are a food source.

[JaitcH]

Once upon a time Canada launched an earth resources satellite ...

and during it's validation tests pictures would be taken of anomalies, and other data of interest. For example, different forestry diseases emit different 'signatures' as do trees of different species.

Ground crews were sent out all over to correlate the data for when the satellite went into full service.

One anomaly had them stymied - a hot spot way out in the prairies. Out went the crew and they confidentially determined that it was an illegal still making hooch the old fashioned way.

All was well until some scientist wrote up their experiences with this wondrous new satellite along with all of it's capabilities. He also mentioned. light heartedly, the discovery of the still.

Some time later the RCMP caught up with this item and dispatched a cop armed with a search warrant.

This was the first satellite bust of an illegal alcohol still occurred

[Anonymous Coward]

cut forward to 2030, police apologise to cannabis grower

"Police apologised to a cannabis grower that they had mistakenly identified while doing a anti-global warming helicopter run to detect wasteful households".

[TeeCee]

Guinea pigs "none the worse"?

What? After consuming an entire garage full of top-notch weed before the plod got there?

Those buggers are hardcore. Max rispek 2 tha cavy posse!

[HoRnO]

No one else worried...

That they can just fly a helicopter over someone's house, notice that it's a bit warm and that's enough for a big police raid?

Lets keep in mind that in this case it was pets, so there's no other evidence here that points to anything illegal happening other than.....a warm garage!

I really would love to see the grounds on which this was authorised!

[Anonymous Coward]

reasonable suspicion

The reason they needed her home was a hotspot in a garage isnt reasonable suspicion that a crime is being committed and they need entry by consent.

There was no need to bring her home, her explanation, without any evidence to the contrary would be enough to stop plod in its tracks.

She should be asking the plod to write to all her neighbours and her employer explaining there mistake and re iterating that she isnt the next Pablo Escobar.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: reasonable suspicion And No one else worried...

There is reasonable suspicion and according to other news sources they didn't need consent as they had obtained a search warrant. And it's not worrying that they saw a warm shed and investigated, that was what they up there to do.

>There was no need to bring her home, her explanation, without any evidence to the contrary would be enough to stop plod in its tracks.

Let me see, what would she say when asked "Are you growing cannabis in your shed"

1.) Yes officer, do you want some,special rate for bent coppers. (wink, wink)

2.) No, I'm keeping my guinea pigs warm

Now amongst excuses number 2 ranks in with those that must be true because you couldn't make it up. However, I still think even with a better excuse they would have had a peek just to make sure.

[Just Thinking]

Banning plants

I don't know how society should handle drugs in general. But I can't help feeling that the world would be a better place if someone wishing to grow a bit of weed for their own use was just left to get on with it.

I don't use it myself, more of a homebrew guy myself, which I see as a good analogy. We need an honest discussion of the risks and then let people decide for themselves.

I don't sign up to the idea that legalising drugs across the board is automatically the best idea, but the risks with "ordinary" cannabis seem to be well within the realms of personal choice. Trying to ban people from growing a particular species of plant is just bound to be a money pit.

Two stories I often see in the local rag which really annoy me. The council gloating about how thye have dragged someone through the courts and fined them £1000 for dropping a single cigarette butt, and the police gloating about how they have found yet another small time weed factory. They have better things to spend time and money on.

[Anonymous Coward]

The reason for the ban of weed

Is nothing to do with risks/health (it is far healthier than cigarettes and booze). It's because it cannot be taxed properly; moreover its easy to convert from plant to smoke, unlike nicotine and tar which are added to the cigarette to make it addictive.

Is weed dangerous? Yes, it could be. But no more (actually far less) than a single cigarette or pint of beer. When it DOES become dangerous is when a) it's run by organized crime and b) it is mixed with unhealthy ingredients to make it go further. If it weren't illegal it would not be so profitable, and if it were not so profitable there would be less organized crime all over it.

Here's a thought. With the amount of people smoking weed illegally anyway, why doesn't the gov simply add in a new tax for the plant and products? It would still be much cheaper than fighting an imaginary war that is already being lost..

[Anonymous Coward]

and even funnier

Getting that £1000 probably cost the taxpayer around £15000 after salaries, court costs, holding costs, etc.. way to go.

What they do here in Ireland is even funnier. The plod fiddle with the traffic lights on intersections that are known to be crowded, then snap up anyone going on the emergency lane to get to the empty lanes going where nobody wants to go... instead of sorting the problem they're out there lining their pockets.

Cynical? Isn't it funny how when they're NOT lining their pockets, even 2km of backlog takes under 20 mins to clear; while when they ARE lining their pockets even 500m takes over 45 minutes to clear? Hardly a coincidence is it...?

[Anonymous Coward]

The insulation for the loft in one part of my house is rather poor....

..despite the best efforts of approved contractors to improve it.

I'd considered putting a couple of servers up there on the basis that overheating would not be a problem. As this would also give me a relatively high electricity usage, should I therefore expect a visit from the plod?

It might make a change, they never normally come when we want them to.

[Chris Campbell]

To paraphase Bill Hicks...

'Bush says we're losing the War on Drugs... Let me get my head around this, there's a War on Drugs, and the people on drugs are winning it?'

Time to give up. (Fail icon for the police)

[NoneSuch]

Perfect Plan

So now when crims want to go unnoticed they:

A) Buy heated guinea pig cage and insert in shed.

B) Wait for plod chopper to fly by and get visited by Flying Squad.

C) Get embarrassing story published, pictures of cute pets and bewildered mother; chuckles all around.

D) After the cops leave, insert grow op lamps.

PS. Can we get rid of the Bill Gates icons and replace with a pair of cuffs. :)

[Lexxy]

Calling Dr. PigThumb...

Hello, I'm Dr. Pigthumb

Have you ever had the problem of running out of Guinea pigs?

and just can't find some - anywhere?

Well try my Dr. Pigthumb grow tips

I'll show you how to grow inside and out

From cavy to clone and the best homegrown

And if you're afraid of those pesky pork choppers in the sky -No worries we'll fix them too

With one of our Dr. Pigthumb 'Sizzlean' screens

To block the nosy pig's vision

Don't believe me? Just ask one of my many satisfied clients here Jed Sanders, How well it works....

[Anonymous Coward]

Guinea Pigs

They actually bother to fly around in a helicopter in this economic client looking for... cannabis??? Are they serious? Park your whirly bird and get busy with fighting crime that actually has a VICTIM. Guinea pigs... ridiculous! How much did it cost the taxpayers to have these yahoos busting these dangerous rodents anyway?Guinea Pigs

[dogged]

Growing weed isn't victimless

One way of doing it is to rent a normal house, paint it white, rip out all doors and non-loadbearing walls, grow weed for six months and then piss off, rent and bills unpaid.

The reason this is a tactic that can make money is, er, because it's illegal. If it were legal to grow your own then the growing of weed would be victimless. As it is, it belongs to organized criminals.

Remember folks, any party that supports prohibition is endorsing organized crime. Which criminal will you vote for?

[Anonymous Coward]

@dogged

>>

One way of doing it is to rent a normal house, paint it white, rip out all doors and non-loadbearing walls, grow weed for six months and then piss off, rent and bills unpaid.

<<

What... on earth... are you yabbing about? How is this related to .. well, anything really?? Someone reneging on a contract agreement is illegal. You sign a contract when you rent. You're responsible for not breaking it. You broke it, ergo you're a douche that owes the owner money. The fact that it was broken for weed growing is immaterial to the discussion.

>>

The reason this is a tactic that can make money is, er, because it's illegal. If it were legal to grow your own then the growing of weed would be victimless. As it is, it belongs to organized criminals.

Remember folks, any party that supports prohibition is endorsing organized crime. Which criminal will you vote for?

<<

Again with the confusion. We're talking about people being singled out for having a heat signature synonymous with a heat lamp. The point of the previous poster was that there was no victim to be found, no crackwhore that singled the house out... purely because a heat signature indicated a heat lamp.

While muggers, rapists, serial murderers and politicians walk freely around in society (ie ACTUAL VICTIMS); you and I are paying for Mr. Plod to fly around in expensive helicopters chasing heat lamps.

[Anonymous Coward]

May I suggest a name for the offspring of said guinea pigs

... Carbon Footprint ...

how the heck can a heater show up on a thermal imager from inside a house?

that has to be one hell of a thermal load.

This gets me worried about those folks running folding farms at home, are they next on the "hit list" ?

AC, because I don't want to get raided due to my experimental thermal neutron source..

[Martin Usher]

The weed's around the back....

So I now need to get guinea pigs to act as decoys for my growing operation?

(Seriously -- there must be a better use for taxpayer's money than this. They're obviously zeroing in on one heatlamp -- if it were plants then it would be one or two, hardly a major crime wave. Haven't the cops got anything better to do? Crime fighting, perhaps?)

[T J]

'Thought' Police FAIL

Not much thinking there from the Thought Police.

Honestly, a 'suspicious hot spot'. Do they have no concept of what Jet-A1 fuel COSTS the taxpayer???

[Anonymous Coward]

Police overreaction?

Perish the thought!

Can I please request a muppet smilie for these occasions?

[Alistair MacRae]

My dyslexia made me read this wrong

I read that "the police took one of the guinea pigs and left"

Still they don't know, maybe there's canabis in them maybe they need to open one up and look?

[Anonymous Coward]

I know how she feels

I was once stopped and searched because some cops thought I was acting "suspicious".

What did I do that was "suspicious"? They said it was suspicious that I happened to be leaving a car park just as they were approaching in an unmarked car (despite the fact they weren't in sight until I was already pulling out of the car park).

They followed me till I got home and then searched me in the driveway of the apartments where I lived. They were so confident they were going to find something they must have requested the paddy wagon as soon as they started following me as it turned up just as they started searching me.

It was very embarrassing being patted down and having everything pulled out of my car by 5 coppers, in front of all my neighbors (who were all peering through their curtains)

Naturally they didn't find anything, but all I got was a mumbled apology as they left.

I understand that the plods have got a difficult job tackling drugs, but it seems a waste of time inventing excuses to search law abiding people minding their own business.

Black helicopter because it's a conspiracy I tells ya </joke>

[Anonymous Coward]

Hope you

Insisted that they clean up after themselves.. messy gits.

[Anonymous Coward]

AC as I'm having a silly 5mins

wont somebody please think of the guinea pigs!

[Dave 15]

Two planks

Ridiculous waste of our money. Police helicopter, pile of policemen, time, effort, interrupting someone from work... all to bust a warm air heater. There are several things that are worrying:

a) There is a lot of real crime, to be honest cannabis really is neither here nor there, in many respects less harmful than many legal substances. Generally of little real worry. If there were a good supply then prices would fall and those making a lot of illegal money from it would see profits tumble and might even leave the scene. Much real crime is uninvestigated - burglaries and assaults included while the coppers wander around in the choppers like this

b) I'd love to know how many hours of police copper time and the hours of officers are spent on such random searches - the cost is I am certain enormous

c) I object to this sort of random spying - smacks of a stalinist police state

Perhaps the police should reacquiant themselves with what the public they are supposed to serve actually require from them