Buzzby

Residents Asked To Weed Out Pot Farms
Jonathan Bunn | LocalLondon | 08/09/2005

RESOURCES are being stretched as police try to deal with the scale of cannabis production in Newham.

Now residents are being asked to use their noses and report to police if they detect a powerful and unusual odour coming from a house.

Vietnamese gangsters are believed to be responsible for the 82 factories discovered in the borough since April, each one capable of producing £500,000 worth a year of the powerful Skunk strain.

Police have arrested 25 people during raids on the factories, which are housed in rented accommodation across the borough, and believe people are being smuggled into the country specifically to maintain them.

Water and electricity supplies are tampered with to avoid charges for the extensive lighting and irrigation needed to grow the drug.

An assessment of the impact on the area is being carried out, but the production is understood to form a significant proportion of the drug on Newham streets.

There have been cases of local criminals breaking into the factories to steal the produce after smelling the strong odour.

Police have confirmed they are trying to develop international agency co-operation to deal with the gangs involved, who are also believed to have connections with organised crime in Canada.

Newham is thought to be targeted because of the high volume of relatively cheap rented accommodation.

Det Supt Dave Anthony said: "This is causing a great problem with resources at a difficult time and is giving rise to widespread criminality throughout the borough.

"Any landlords who have been approached by people paying cash for properties forsix months should get in touch. Also, this is a very pungent smelling strain, so if members of the public notice anything unusual in their street they should do the same. We need as much help as we can get as dealing with this problem, which is very re-source intensive. We have to move all the plants, secure the premises and deal with the safety problems associated with large amounts of electricity being diverted."

Home Office guidelines state that people who have been trafficked are treated as victims of crime, but police say they will be dealt with as criminals as they are actively engaged in the production of an illegal drug.

Skunk cannabis contains high levels of THC, the drug's active ingredient, and some experts have called for it to be upgraded as more dangerous.

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king cola

"Any landlords who have been approached by people paying cash for properties forsix months should get in touch. Also, this is a very pungent smelling strain, so if members of the public notice anything unusual in their street they should do the same. We need as much help as we can get as dealing with this problem, which is very re-source intensive. We have to move all the plants, secure the premises and deal with the safety problems associated with large amounts of electricity being diverted."

I'm gonna say that if someone gets paid cash they will accept it. It doesn't always mean the person is going to grow pot on their property just because of how they paid for rent. They will probably take the cash and if they get suspicious later on of something going on that shouldn't then they will probably report it. The downside to that is if someone turns a rented house into a large grow operation they damage the apartment by drilling holes here and there, re-wiring everything, etc.

They wanna deal with the problem they could start by legalizing it. If it's legalized and regulated it would be grown in actual warehouses instead of in rented houses, not to mention it would get rid some buisness for gangs. It won't stop all the problems because theres other things that would still be illegal but if pot were legalized it would stop problems caused from that one product being banned like the things they talk about in this article associated with illegal growing.

Mamabudz

Be on the look out for this lady:
Link

Buzzby

Does this have something to do with this thread? It's a pic of two people sharing a joint (or a cigarette).

Mamabudz

From the Movie Saving Grace... about a woman in Great Britain who ...well...here you go ...

I "highly" reccomend it...

It's a hoot