Marijuana.com

xxdr_zombiexx

Marijuana grower killed in trap set to prevent theft
The Globe and Mail | Thursday, May 6, 2004 - Page A6

Val-des-Monts, Que. -- A 37-year-old man found dead in a cottage in this western Quebec community amid more than 100 marijuana plants died as a result of a bizarre accident, police say.

Autopsy results show the man was killed in a trap that appeared to be set to keep thieves away from his crop, police said yesterday.

The body of the man, whose name is not being released, was discovered in the entrance of his cottage by his brother early last month. He died of a gunshot wound.

[zombienote: Yes...marijuana prohibition is largely responsible for this. People who want to have or grow marijuana are assailed both by criminals and the police and this man apparently felt the need to protect himself form "grow-rips".

We will never know how he would have dealt with his security needs if he didn't need to fear cops as well.]

__________________
Alien Space Signal

There's no money for your issue so long as we're squandering $50 billion a year on the DrugWar. Ben Masel

Fear became the ultimate tool of this government - V.

 

Cassius

Are you suggesting that he chose a firearm because he had to fear cops as well as would-be robbers? That he would have chosen a less deadly trap if he didn't have to fear cops?

What if a cop WAS the one that entered, and got shot. Wouldn't he get in quite a bit of trouble for that, even though his trap pulled the trigger and not him?

fight4rights

If marijuana was legal he wouldn't have to booby trap his crops to keep thiefs out.

Just another casualty attributed to the WoD.

__________________
"Those who do no harm to others should not be harmed by others..." Ethan Nadelmann
"Revolution is not a right, it is an obligation." John Locke
"Do SOMETHING besides argue emotions against the law, because it simply isn't a rational way to affect any type of change whatsoever. No offense intended, but your opinion on things is a moot point unless you take actions to change the law, rather than ramble about how unfair or injust it is." troublemaker_42
"'Just say no' to drugs, except those marketed by big pharmaceutical companies." Ignorant Politicians

jaman

the guy sounds like a real ass hole .

__________________
freedom to grow , freedom to smoke .

Mr. President , please relieve us of our dependency on foreign oil !

Legalize hemp production !

Niteshift

I'm sure that my legitimate point will be lost in the flaming sure to follow........

But this isn't about the drug war.

Every year, people are prosecuted for rigging booby traps to their legitimate, licensed businesses or their homes and causing the death of someone.

It's based on a simple principal of law. You can't just kill people on "auto-pilot".

First, stealing his crop is theft. Most states don't allow you to kill someone for theft. Even if they did, ask yourself this: Is the value of that crop equal to the value of the life being taken?

Second, killing under the law is allowed under certain, specific circumstances. A booby trap doesn't have the ability to decide on those circumstances. All it does is react without thinking or knowing.

And booby-traps often kill or injure the wrong person, as in this case. But what if it wasn't him. What if that house caught fire and that booby-trap killed a fireman trying to save the house?


Booby-trapping is done by all sorts of people, totally unconnected with the war on drugs. Some of them, I can even understand the frustration that lead to it, but I can't condone the actions.

But to just blame this on the WoD ignores the unethical and reckless actions taken by the man who set it.

__________________
A burning desire for social justice is never a substitute for knowing what you're talking about. -Thomas Sowell

Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is muzzle flash.

 

Plainsman1963

No, this isn't a casualty of the WOD, imho.

This is an ignorant, despicable person who was willing to harm/kill another human being over growing some weed.

Karma came and bit him on the ass, didn't it?

__________________


"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." - Claire Wolfe

Posting Guidelines

Hiz Highness

Gotta ride the fence on this one.

The man was wrong to rig a lethal trap on his premisis for reasons outlined by Niteshift and others.

However if cannabis were legal there wouldn't be any real incentive for people to grow-rip. This man could have grown his plants peacefully in his own home, as could any other Quebecan.

-HH

fight4rights

I don't think it is right to hurt people for a profit.

My point was that if marijuana was legal, it wouldn't be so profitable, so people would be less likely to steal it, and the grower would be less likely to booby trap his crops.

It is the grower's fault for making the trap, but the death would have been prevented if marijuana was legal.

Niteshift

My point was that if marijuana was legal, it wouldn't be so profitable, so people would be less likely to steal it, and the grower would be less likely to booby trap his crops.

It is the grower's fault for making the trap, but the death would have been prevented if marijuana was legal.

I still don't think it's quite that simple.

Some of the booby-trap cases I've seen involved a guy who booby-trapped his auto parts store, one who did a mailbox, one who booby-trapped his house and one who booby-trapped a clothing store.

Auto parts, clothing, mailboxes and homes are illegal. But those people had been burglarized and decided to take that drastic step.

We all know people steal LEGAL things, so the mere illegality of pot isn't the cause. Likewise, we know that people steal out of greed more often than any other reason.

So who is to say that if pot were legal, people wouldn't still try to steal his gear to grow their own.....or sell to someone else? We can't. We can't even say that would be less likely.

This guys mindset was "if you steal from me, you'll get killed". That's just wrong.

xxdr_zombiexx

No Im not implying he was rigging it for cops. I can see how one would think that though. It's not worded as clearly as it should be, though I do directly imply the booby-trap is for protection against grow-rips, not raids which is what police do.

The problems with booby-traps are all manner of public service workers, firemen, paramedica, and the police.

The guy wants to grow pot and has to worry about getting busted - that's one thing on his mind, and he knows there are criminals who specialize in finding and raiding grow-ops, and I am sure these criminals can somehow "divinate" the concealment.

He goes to lengths to conceal from the cops, only to betray to crooks what's up, thus the booby-trap.

But all this particular mess is due to reefer madenss.

And I have to agree with Plainsman - conspiracy to kill somebody over weed is simply ridiculous and among the lowest forms of human behavior. THAT is not part of marijuana prohibition. it sociopathic. Stealing weed is low, killing for it is evil.

There will always be some dumb@$$ who will steal anything that isn;t nailed down, but, when relegalized and cannabis becomes more commonplace, and the value plumments, the overall desire to invade a home simply to steal it will diminish appreciably.