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It seems the suppressed housing market and the glut of cheap housing it has created is responsible (along with prohibition-era marijuana prices) for a recent trend of suburban indoor marijuana growing.

For the most part the growers blend in to these communities by keeping a normal outside routine and no one in the neighborhood knows that marijuana is being grown.

Fans of the hit TV show “Weeds” might have seen this concept in one of the early seasons of the show as the characters used an empty suburban house for a large indoor grow operation.

With helicopters and other agents of technology being used to sniff out growing operations, it makes sense that more growers are moving their large outdoor grows away of the prying eyes of those who wish to do them harm.

The internet is full of videos and articles with advice for this need breed of grower. For instance, odor control and maintaining a reasonable electricity bill are essential elements of not getting caught.

In other words, everything must give the impression that nothing illegal is happening in the house.

As we should have learned during alcohol prohibition last century, one of the main reasons prohibition doesn’t work is because people will always find a way to make a profit. The more illegal something is, the more it is worth. The more it is worth, the more people who try to get into the market.

That’s why people making alcohol in their bathtubs was common in the 1920’s and would seem ludicrous today when you can go to just about any store and buy some beer. Hell, the CVS’ and Walgreens’ in my area sell liquor now less than 200 feet from where they sell the Percocets.

As long as marijuana is illegal, people will figure out new ways to grow it and conceal it. Prohibition is pointless.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com