Gotta Love the Drug War

[Sandman]

Ridiculous...

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20040326-9999-news_7m26wrong.html

March 26, 2004

CARLSBAD – Dina Dagy admits her family could do better when it comes to conserving energy.

Her children don't always shut off the computers when they're done. The family of five leaves its outside lights on so that their runaway boxer might find its way home. And it's not uncommon for them to do two or three loads of laundry each day.

But it never occurred to Beryl and Dina Dagy that their high electric bills – which run from $200 to $300 a month – would cause them problems with the law.

The Dagys' home was one of 25 raided Friday as part of a six-month investigation into a countywide ring that was growing marijuana inside rental homes. Homes were targeted largely based on unusually high utility bills, which often result from the 24-hour use of grow lights, according to court records.

No pot was found in the Dagys' home.

Dina Dagy was volunteering in her son's second-grade classroom when police arrived at her Ivy Street home.

"Their investigation was just so flawed," Dina Dagy said yesterday as she sat in the two-story home the family bought a year ago.

The Dagys want a written apology from the Carlsbad Police Department, which conducted the search, and have sent letters to city, county and state officials in hopes that other families won't go through the same ordeal.

Carlsbad police Lt. Bill Rowland said he planned to speak with the Dagys, and his investigators apologized to the Dagys the day of the search, but he did not commit to a written apology.

That's because the Dagys' high electricity bill was not the sole reason for the search, Rowland said. He noted a drug-sniffing dog showed interest in the home when it was taken there before Friday's search. A search warrant affidavit was reviewed by the District Attorney's Office and a judge signed the warrant.

Misha Piastro, spokesman for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego, said that although the DEA headed the investigation that led to 24 county arrests and the seizure of thousands of high-grade pot plants, the Carlsbad search was more of an offshoot of the larger investigation.

Before the raid, investigators reached Beryl Dagy on his cellular phone to ask if someone would let them inside to avoid knocking down the door, Rowland said. He then called his wife at the school.

Dina Dagy arrived to find police surrounding the home. Neighbors watched as she stood outside and detectives combed through the house.

They found plenty of toys, but no pot.

So how did police zero in on the home?

In his sworn affidavit, Carlsbad Detective Mark Reyes states an unidentified, confidential source told a county Narcotics Task Force agent that someone might be growing pot in the house.

Investigators subpoenaed utility records, which showed the Dagys used 1,584 kilowatts of electricity in February, and 1,616 kilowatts in January, the affidavit states. That's three to four times the amount used in neighboring homes during the same period, according to the affidavit.

Also, surveillance of the home showed that the Dagys placed their trash cans on the curb outside their home the morning of the Thursday pickups.

Why is that a big deal? Some narcotics offenders wait until the last possible moment to put their trash on the curb because they know that investigators retrieve evidence from trash, the affidavit says.

Dina Dagy admits that their San Diego Gas & Electric bills are high, but "I didn't realize it would target us as marijuana growers."

Rowland said detectives maintain there was probable cause to search the home.

Dina Dagy isn't convinced.

"They were wrong and I want them to say they were wrong," she said.

[Frogm4n]

The war on drugs is such a joke. Educating people better about them is far more effective.
Plus makeing pot legal( it has less harmfull effects then a 6 pack of beer) would save the tax payers alot of money.

[mora]

Well that's nothing, they didn't kill anyone.

[Saurdaukar]

Originally posted by Frogm4n
The war on drugs is such a joke. Educating people better about them is far more effective.
Plus makeing pot legal( it has less harmfull effects then a 6 pack of beer) would save the tax payers alot of money.

Please list the benifits of legalizing marijuana that outweigh the negatives.

[Wlfgng]

the money spent on the 'war on drugs' could be better spent

trying to stop the 'marijuana menace' is a joke.

the pot-heads take care of themselves...
hell they have no motivation, motor skills, money, etc...

[capt. apathy]

war on drugs?  most of our politicians can't even drive a car on drugs, now they want to fight a war.

[Eagler]

they fit the profile:
"That's three to four times the amount used in neighboring homes during the same period, according to the affidavit."

so they goofed one up, how many successful raids were there? they will be compensated by legal action before it is all over

 I bet their electric bill was lower the next month ...

druggies unite!

[mora]

Originally posted by Saurdaukar
Please list the benifits of legalizing marijuana that outweigh the negatives.

Sure there are negatives about MJ but the legalization won't magnify them. And besides you won't be getting rid of the stuff with your current methods. So there isn't any negatives to put in the scale.

[type_char]

Drugs are for wacos. Only wacos do drugs. Each year, thousands of wacos do drugs.

[FUNKED1]

Our tax dollars at work.  

[FUNKED1]

Originally posted by Eagler
druggies unite!

Look out, here comes Aneagler Bryant with another ad hominem onslaught.

[Mickey1992]

"In his sworn affidavit, Carlsbad Detective Mark Reyes states an unidentified, confidential source told a county Narcotics Task Force agent that someone might be growing pot in the house."

A tipster said they might be growing pot.  They then pulled the electric bills and found they used 4 times as much electricity as their neighbors.  A drug dog alerted to the house.

It's called probable cause, get over it.  At least they had the decency to call the owner to try and get in the house before they tried to kick the door in.

Most large law enforcement agencies have their own trash trucks they use to pick up the trash of suspected drug houses to avoid suspicion.  I am surprised San Diego didn't just pick up their trash.

[bong]

LOL, high rollas.

[Eagler]

amazin how the dopers defend their dope in these threads - LOL

[capt. apathy]

so they goofed one up, how many successful raids were there?

none, the 'war on drugs' are in no way a sucess.  the only reason that pot is illegal (when compared to alcohol, and tobacco), and largely unavailable as medication (in most states, even though it is often the best medication available),  is that it can be manufactered by the people who consume it. with such a small investment of time and money, it gets the hand of big-bussines out of your pocket a bit.  completely unaceptable.

for example how much $$ woud the pharmicuticle companies loose if I could grown my own pot for my medication, instead of paying for the for the morphine and muscle relaxers?  (techically I can grow it here in Oregon.  but even if prescribed by a physician, you won't pass a piss test when ou return to work.  the lawmakers in this country would rather have me on morphine, than a more effective, safer, less adictive drug, that would lower the cost of health-care)