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The house of a Mr. Oliver MacQuat, aged 49 was raiding as he was suspected of running an illegal growth operation from it due to fowl smells and other signs such as no snow on the roof of his property. On the day of the raid MacQuat was sitting down to watch his TV at around 7:30 pm when he heard a knock on his door. He opened the door to find a hefty group of police officers fully armed and pointing their guns at him. The police said that they have a warrant to search his property as he was a suspect of an illegal growth op. MacQuat said that the odour was merely a skunk which he had kept, a pet skunk not the type which you smoke.

MacQuat said that he was placed in handcuffs and was told to sit on a stool while police officers searched his home. “It’s very humiliating to be handcuffed and have people going through your house and you being told you did something you didn’t,” he said, he also said that the skunk smell emanated from the small building after the Jan. 1 weekend, when the weather warmed up slightly. He did carry on to mention that the police officers who placed him in cuffs and searched his home acted professionally and MacQuat was not man handled in any way when they realized that there was no threat from him. “I didn’t struggle. In return they didn’t rough me up or anything,” MacQuat said. He also said that the police officers even wiped off their boots before they entered his home which is defiantly unusual.

His son, Emilio, 18, arrived a short while later. His wife and daughter were not there. “He was really shaken up. None of us slept for about 48 hours,” MacQuat. Said About 30 to 40 minutes after the arrival of police, a senior officer came before MacQuat and told officers the place was clean and that the smell was indeed a skunk. “They were all looking pretty embarrassed. They all apologized and shook my hands,” he said. MacQuat said while he didn’t want there to be a “witch hunt” on police, he would like to talk to them to ensure his name would be cleared. When contacted Sunday, Gatineau police said they did not have anyone available at the time to comment on the incident. While police have told his wife that a lack of snow on the roof of his 150 year old home was another reason they thought there was a grow-up inside, MacQuat said he would like a full explanation from police and preventive measures put in place so this didn’t happen again.

As you may know by now, in a tragic act of insane violence, Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords was targeted for assassination, but survived the point-blank gunshot allegedly fired by Jared Lee Loughner, a 22-year-old man whose rambling internet paranoia calls his sanity into question.  Loughner also allegedly fired into the crowd, killing a 9-year-old girl (born on 9/11/2001, incidentally), a federal Circuit Court judge, a Giffords staffer, and three others, and wounding several more.  

All of us at NORML are shocked and saddened by the event and our condolences go out to all the friends, family, and colleagues of the victims who are suffering so much at this time.

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A gardener who earned £60,000 a year growing “skunk” cannabis in the grounds of an old rectory has been jailed for three and a half years. Mr. Shaun Britcher, a Porsche driving 45 year old was paid £5,000 a month by drugs mastermind Nigel Sanders, who is now on the run. When police raided the rectory they found 400 plants having a street value of £200,000.

Britcher, who was employed by Sanders for six years and had £227,000 in the bank, admitted two drugs offences and two charges of converting criminal property at Exeter crown court. Nigel Wraith, defending, said he was “decent man who succumbed to his activity as a gardener to produce cannabis”. But Recorder Paul ­Derbyshire said he was a “major player”, adding: “This was the ­­cultivation of cannabis plants on an industrial level.”

An 85 year old Calexico man was arrested on suspicion of trying to smuggle 217 pounds of marijuana in a pickup truck at the Calexico Port of Entry, authorities said Thursday. The 1993 Nissan pickup was stopped at about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday for inspection. While interviewing the driver, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer noticed discrepancies with the truck and ordered a secondary inspection.

Officers found 35 packages of marijuana in a compartment in the pickup bed. The marijuana has a street value of nearly $100,000, the CBP said. The 85 year old man has been taken into custody and is being processed on charges of drug trafficking, We still have yet to find out if any leniency will be granted to the elderly man or an example will be made of him.

BOULDER, Colo. -- The location of marijuana growing sites are supposed to be kept secret but the city of Boulder has published a map that shows exactly where to find 60 of them.

Boulder officials said they accidentally posted the map on the city website as part of an agenda briefing for the city council.

The Boulder Daily Camera reported that the map shows clusters of growing operations in north and east Boulder.

State law prohibits local governments from disclosing the location of so-called cultivation centers out of fear that would-be thieves might target large growing operations. State lawmakers also exempted records that contain identifying information about the sites from the Colorado Open Records Act.

What's ironic about the disclosure is that the city council will decide at its Jan. 18 meeting whether Boulder should circumvent the open records act exemption by requiring applicants for medical marijuana business licenses to waive their right to privacy.

(Source)

A man has been charged with operating a hydroponic cannabis set-up worth $400,000 in western NSW. Detectives executed a search warrant about 1.30pm on Thursday at a Yenda property, near Griffith. Police allegedly searched a shed on the property and located 200 cannabis plants worth an estimated street value of $400,000. 

A 37 year old Yenda man was arrested at the scene and charged with various offences relating to possessing, cultivating and supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug. Police expect to also charge him with using electricity without authority. He was refused bail and is expected to appear at Griffith Local Court on Friday.