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Cops Make Major Hibiscus Bust (thinkng it's marijuana)
Fox News ^ | 08/04/2004 | staff

Posted on 08/04/2004 5:55:39 AM PDT by BJClinton

Texas cops thought they'd made a major drug bust when they raided a home northwest of Houston last Tuesday. After all, it looked like there were huge marijuana plants growing in the front yard.

"All of a sudden, they burst in with their guns loaded, pointing at me, screaming, 'Get on the floor! Get on the floor!'" northwest Harris County resident Blair Davis told KHOU-TV.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: barneyfife; hibiscus; marijuana; pot; wod; wosd
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To: BraveMan

I suppose the cops thought he was growing the cantaloupes and watermelons to eat after he got the munchies.


61 posted on 08/04/2004 6:37:34 AM PDT by Chewbacca (I am single, because I like to work for a living, but not be forced to work for a living.)
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To: OXENinFLA

I stand corrected - I had never seen that variety of hibiscus before. Although the leaves are still different enough that if they were serious about busting drugs, they should be able to tell the difference.

(Plus I didn't know that marijuana had big pretty flowers like those)....


62 posted on 08/04/2004 6:37:34 AM PDT by TheBattman
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To: BJClinton

What I found odd; was the plants were growing the front yard.


63 posted on 08/04/2004 6:37:34 AM PDT by freekitty
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To: BJClinton

I had some Texas Star Hibiscus in my back yard a few years ago. My Border Patrol father in law asked me the same question. When they're not in bloom they do look a lot like pot plants to the untrained eye :^)


64 posted on 08/04/2004 6:38:31 AM PDT by Liberty Valance (It's a mighty world we live in but the truth is we're only passin' through)
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To: Brilliant
It's hard to tell how popular it is on FR. There are a few hard core drug warriors here that really get in people's faces when some sanity is proposed to relieve the failing WOD. My position is that all drugs should be "legalized" and regulated and that we treat drug addicts like drunks. We have been dealing with alcoholics since the beginning of time, and we can do the same with druggies. Most "alcoholics" function in society well.....it is not unreasonable IMHO to think that a pot-head would not do the same. As I see it, there are two solutions to the WOD....either we get REALY tough...like summary execution for dealers AND users....or legalization.

I am reasonably sure that somebody will give me advice as to where I can put my opinion...but nobody so far has suggested anything that will work better. The status quo...business as usual...is clearly not working....

65 posted on 08/04/2004 6:38:53 AM PDT by B.O. Plenty
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To: Brilliant

Heck....the government should also legalize the production of industrial HEMP. Great fiber that could be grown easily and replace cotton production, provide alternative crops for areas that typically produce corn and soybeans, low water consumption, replace wood fiber for paper.....NEED I SAY MORE.


66 posted on 08/04/2004 6:39:53 AM PDT by pointsal
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To: Brilliant; tacticalogic

I couldn't care less either way. What I do know is that if weed is illegal it drives up the cost and we have to pay for the law enforcement. That sucks. If tobacco is legal and people get lung cancer, I have to pay for it through my crappy medical plan I have to have for the one time every decade my thin, relatively healthy 26 year old body gets ill. That sucks too.

We're screwed either way. You can't just legalize weed and expect the cash to flow. Taxes are crap no matter what, even if you don't participate in the taxed product's use.


67 posted on 08/04/2004 6:39:55 AM PDT by ruiner
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To: thoughtomator
" I don't see where the moral authority to make the slippery-slope argument can come from."

In my opinion, it has nothing whatsoever to do with moral authority. It has everything to do with economic power....follow the money, and all that. Besides, "suspicion" of drugs has served as an excuse to get past so many of those pesky Consitutional barriers to search and seizure and forfeiture. Of course, these days, there isn't even much of a pretense of Consitutional consideration. I mean, if the WOD, as it currently exists, was abandoned, look at all the people who would have to find legitimate work.

68 posted on 08/04/2004 6:39:57 AM PDT by sweetliberty ("A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left." (Eccl. 10:2))
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To: asgardshill
Har!

I'd have never known that it had any hallucinogenic properties.

I want a plant that ferments the fruit as it grows and has it's own spout,then I'll start gardening. :O)

69 posted on 08/04/2004 6:40:41 AM PDT by Free Trapper (ALF & ELF - Future Bog People)
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To: Brilliant

Mary jane isn't a narcotic.


70 posted on 08/04/2004 6:41:43 AM PDT by Rebelbase (Bush is Hell on liberals and terrorists.)
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To: B.O. Plenty

Read my suggestion at #48 re something better. Regulate it to death. Squeeze the profit margins for private suppliers by continuing to seize their supplies, and then stealing their market by making small amounts of what you seize available to people who can prove they are addicted anyway, but only on condition that they submit to treatment.


71 posted on 08/04/2004 6:42:14 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: af_vet_rr

From some experience working with state and local law enforcement:

Many, if not most, of the cops who become Narcs are the cowboy or hotrod types. They like to break down doors and scare people. They like to play with the toys the special units get. Small town swat-type units have a tendency to get over excited.

Sounds like these boys got a tip from someone who saw the 5 finger leaves, drove by with binocs, saw it for themselves, called Barney, Earl, and Bubba, and went Rambo.


72 posted on 08/04/2004 6:45:05 AM PDT by MagnumRancid
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To: Free Trapper
My wife had a "wood rose",I think is the name,that caused several people to think we had MJ in our back yard.

That's interesting... since the seeds of the wood rose are a powerful psychedelic.

73 posted on 08/04/2004 6:45:12 AM PDT by bikepacker67 (Sandy wasn't stuffing his socks, he was stuffing A sock.)
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To: angkor

Stop being logical! Knock on the door? Narcotics officers wouldn't consider such a move because it could endanger them to common sense.

Heck they might even start checking addresses to make sure they have the right building. Narcotics officers, motorcycle cops and the DEA are a special breed that America needs because of their finely honed bad attitude toward citizens rights.


74 posted on 08/04/2004 6:46:49 AM PDT by B4Ranch (----http://www.firearmsid.com/----"Wise men learn more from fools than fools learn from the wise.")
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To: Free Trapper
"My wife had a "wood rose",I think is the name,that caused several people to think we had MJ in our back yard."

Back before they started sterilizing the seeds of the wood rose, an Hawaiin import, they were gaining some popularity as a hallucinegenic....and a very nice one, I might add.

75 posted on 08/04/2004 6:47:43 AM PDT by sweetliberty ("A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left." (Eccl. 10:2))
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To: ruiner
The world is full of substances, practices, beliefs ... that are dangerous to those who engage in them. I am undecided on marijuana legalization. I am very clear on my believe that the truly slippery slope is in allowing the government to pass and enforce laws to protect us from ourselves.

Should we allow the government to regulate our salt intake on the premise that society has a stake in our doctors bill when we have a heart attack? Should there be a 'fat police' to monitor our refrigerators to protect us from type II diabetes?

Should guns be illegal because they are dangerous? How about that meat cleaver in your kitchen?

Not wearing a seat belt is extremely dangerous but it doesn't land you in prison.

Tobacco, like marijuana, is a naturally occurring plant that has been in use for thousands of years. If Tobacco were ever outlawed we would have the same gang violence and turf wars that are presently induced by marijuana trade. Its not as simple as the fact that it causes cancer. The smokers inflict cancer on themselves. I choose not to smoke.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness includes, in my estimation, the freedom to pursue courses of action that may potentially endanger ones self. It is not for the government to decide which risks we take on.
76 posted on 08/04/2004 6:49:42 AM PDT by cdrw (Freedom and responsibility are inseparable)
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To: Brilliant

>>I'm not interested in relaxing the drug laws generally--just marijuana.<<

I'm not sure it is a good idea. Last winter, here in Reno we had a motorcycle cop killed when a young girl whose reflexes were slowed by using marijuana was unable to hit the brakes fast enough.

Probably for cancer patients would be okay. The rest of us don't need to get high just for the fun of it.


77 posted on 08/04/2004 6:50:11 AM PDT by B4Ranch (----http://www.firearmsid.com/----"Wise men learn more from fools than fools learn from the wise.")
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To: angkor

"Even more to the point, why didn't they just knock on the front door and ask him what the plants were? Why the SWAT approach?"

Because the "perps" might've had time to flush all the hibiscus plants.


78 posted on 08/04/2004 6:52:04 AM PDT by myheroesareDeadandRegistered
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To: justshutupandtakeit
"The 9/11 Report says that on 9/11 the FBI had twice as much manpower devoted to fighting the War on Drugs than it did fighting the War on Terror. What does that tell you?"

It tells me that our priorities are seriously out of whack and that our government is schiziphrenic. Of course, it didn't take that little detail to tell me that. I suspect the money to fight terrorism domestically is below any number of other pet government "programs."

79 posted on 08/04/2004 6:53:07 AM PDT by sweetliberty ("A wise man's heart inclines him to the right, but a fool's heart to the left." (Eccl. 10:2))
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To: B4Ranch

Yes, but alcohol kills too. The question is whether marijuana is worse. I think the answer is "no" so I wonder why we are spending so much of our precious resources trying to suppress it.


80 posted on 08/04/2004 6:54:00 AM PDT by Brilliant
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