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High Times Goes Down

Sweatloaf

Well-known member
Investigators put cameras on hydro shops to help collect evidence too. That was one of the contributors to me taking break at one point.

I remember the Hydroponic Tomato stores in the 1990s and buying anything there with nothing but cashy cash cash. I thought it insane even back then that anyone would have written a check or used a credit card. Cash = not on any customer list.
 

Marz

Stray Cat
"Federal drug agents arrested 119 people today and raided retail stores in 46 states that sell specialized horticultural equipment that investigators say is used for growing marijuana indoors."

"Officials of the Drug Enforcement Administration said that agents entered 22 businesses selling horticultural lighting and watering equipment and that 8 or 9 were closed."

"Agents also seized business documents like shipping records and customer lists that could lead to indoor marijuana growers, the officials said. Charges Are Unclear."

 

Mr. J

Well-known member
"Federal drug agents arrested 119 people today and raided retail stores in 46 states that sell specialized horticultural equipment that investigators say is used for growing marijuana indoors."

"Officials of the Drug Enforcement Administration said that agents entered 22 businesses selling horticultural lighting and watering equipment and that 8 or 9 were closed."

"Agents also seized business documents like shipping records and customer lists that could lead to indoor marijuana growers, the officials said. Charges Are Unclear."

Yes and those customer lists came from the hydroponics stores that they raided. Nothing about High Times subscribers.
 

moose eater

Well-known member
Why would the DEA need High Times to tell them about the people who advertised in their magazine? Couldn't they just look at the magazine and see who advertised in it? What would High Times know about the people advertising in their magazine that would be incriminating?

It's not like High Times was selling the growing equipment so I'm not understanding what their connection is to the people who purchased grow gear from their advertisers and who were eventually busted for growing. Is it being implied that they're guilty for not warning the advertisers that the DEA was asking about them?
The government and their agents are as lazy as anyone else. If you can coerce someone into giving you from their rolodex what it would take 2-4 agents and a shitload of time to gather from hardcopy, they will take the easy way out... like most humans... But they're also bureaucrats, so it amplifies the whole "I'm lazy" component.

Ask me how many times US Customs has let me slide on a minor technicality that would've earned some Dineros for the Gov., but the agent in my face loathed paperwork.
 

Marz

Stray Cat
Homeland security stole my bongs I ordered from Europe a few years ago.
I'm still pissed over that.
"In May 2003, Tommy Chong plead guilty to charges of "conspiring to distribute drug paraphernalia," after a sting operation in which federal agents in Pittsburgh ordered his bongs over the Internet, thus ensuring that the items were sent across state lines."

They love bongs.


 

moose eater

Well-known member
"In May 2003, Tommy Chong plead guilty to charges of "conspiring to distribute drug paraphernalia," after a sting operation in which federal agents in Pittsburgh ordered his bongs over the Internet, thus ensuring that the items were sent across state lines."

They love bongs.


I've read the female DEA agents and the agents' female spouses use them as dildos. (no, not really, but it creates some imagery if one focuses on the idea...)
 

Marz

Stray Cat
I'm talking about the thread starter suggesting that High Times was responsible for people getting busted in Operation Green Merchant.

What are you talking about?
Indirectly, High Times was responsible for the arrest of several people. The list got busted in their facilities.

If you have trouble understanding this, study logic, because your reasoning is very flawed.

PS - Do I think High Times is to blame for this? NO, again, NO. If you have trouble understanding my point about the feds, go back to the second paragraph. If you have a problem with the creator of the thread, quote him in your post, not me.
 

moose eater

Well-known member
Advertising in a cannabis magazine is pretty solid circumstantial evidence that the grow gear wasn't being intended for tomatoes and petunias.

I strongly suspect any pressure laid on High Times for a list of advertisers came from that corner of the proverbial ring.

Again, most gov hacks are lazy... like the rest of the species, but maybe more so. Thank God.
 

Mr. J

Well-known member
Indirectly, High Times was responsible for the arrest of several people. The list got busted in their facilities.

If you have trouble understanding this, study logic, because your reasoning is very flawed.

PS - Do I think High Times is to blame for this? NO, again, NO. If you have trouble understanding my point about the feds, go back to the second paragraph. If you have a problem with the creator of the thread, quote him in your post, not me.
Their facilities? What are you talking about?

Operation Green Merchant targeted hydroponics stores and the people who bought things from those stores.

Those stores were legitimate businesses that paid taxes and had brick and mortar storefronts in actual geographic locations. They didn't need High Times to tell them about it.

To suggest that High Times was even indirectly responsible, just because some of those businesses advertised in High Times, is stupid and makes no sense at all.

Furthermore nobody can provide any evidence that they actually gave the DEA any records at all or that this supposed evidence was used to convict any growers.

If you have an actual point to make please do it.
 
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moose eater

Well-known member
Bearing in mind that back in those days, merely loaning someone a shovel, a garden hose, or some soil, with the knowledge they intended to use them/it to cultivate cannabis, was potentially grounds for a federal conspiracy charge. Yes, boys and girls, once upon a time, Uncle Shmuck hated pot smokers (and especially pot growers) SO FUCKING MUCH, that creative thinking to the point of absurdity was sometimes the norm. And those days aren't that far behind us. In my rear-view mirror, they "appear closer than they are."
 

Tynehead Tom

Well-known member
Investigators put cameras on hydro shops to help collect evidence too. That was one of the contributors to me taking break at one point.
Here in Canada in the late 80's thru into the 2000's the cops would stake out all the hydroponic shops and take pics and license plates. It's how they were able to bust so many growers back then. I was taught to always get someone totally unconnected to growing to buy all my supplies and that was my standard practice the whole time I grew thru all those years. One of the main shops here got popped and they got his customer list and lots of people got raided. Thankfully I never dealt with those guys.
 

RobFromTX

Well-known member
Bearing in mind that back in those days, merely loaning someone a shovel, a garden hose, or some soil, with the knowledge they intended to use them/it to cultivate cannabis, was potentially grounds for a federal conspiracy charge.

And property forfeitures and auction if you got caught cultivating . Texas was one of the last states to stop that bullshit. 2002 i believe
 
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