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Post by stratcat on Oct 7, 2014 10:28:36 GMT -5
Christopher Ingraham The Washington Post, October 6, 2014 @ 12:43pm www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/06/heavily-armed-drug-cops-raid-retirees-garden-seize-okra-plants/?tid=hpModule_9d3add6c-8a79-11e2-98d9-3012c1cd8d1e&hpid=z12"Georgia police raided a retired Atlanta man's garden last Wednesday after a helicopter crew with the Governor's Task Force for Drug Suppression spotted suspicious-looking plants on the man's property. A heavily-armed K9 unit arrived and discovered that the plants were, in fact, okra bushes. The officers eventually apologized and left, but they took some of the suspicious okra leaves with them for analysis. Georgia state patrol told WSB-TV in Atlanta that "we've not been able to identify it as of yet. But it did have quite a number of characteristics that were similar to a cannabis plant." Indeed! Like cannabis, okra is green and it has leaves. Okra busts like these are good reason for taxpayers to be skeptical about the wisdom of sending guys up in helicopters to fly around aimlessly, looking for drugs in suburban gardens. And that's not to mention the issue of whether we want a society where heavily-armed cops can burst into your property, with no grounds for suspicion beyond what somebody thought he saw from several hundred yards up in a helicopter. Marijuana eradication programs, like the one that sent the helicopter up above the Georgia man's house, are typically funded partly via the Drug Enforcement Agency's Cannabis Eradication Program. Many of these funds come from the controversial asset forfeiture programs, which allow law enforcement officials to seize property from citizens never even charged - much less convicted - of a crime. The Cannabis Eradication programs have historically inflated the size of their hauls by including non-psychoactive "ditchweed" in their totals of plants seized. In past years, ditchweed accounted for up to 98 percent of seized outdoor plant totals. According to the ONDCP, ditchweed still makes up an unspecified percent of outdoor plants seized. It is also unclear how many of the seized plants are actually okra."
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Post by kctomato on Oct 7, 2014 11:39:26 GMT -5
So that's what DLD is doing with okra
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Post by meandtk on Oct 7, 2014 13:32:20 GMT -5
Well, there's not that big of a difference between pod and pot.
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Post by paulf on Oct 7, 2014 18:01:22 GMT -5
The difference is pot makes the user high and okra makes the eater sick.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Oct 8, 2014 9:04:57 GMT -5
Pfft, again with the okra hate, Paul! But back on topic, I had three cultivars of okra this summer, and one of them had deeply divided leaves with a basic shape similar to cannabis. Even before reading that story, it had occurred to me that a person not terribly familiar with plants might mistake that variety of okra for cannabis. I don't think I'll grow that variety of okra again...I don't want some guy in a helicopter to send cops with guns to break down my front door and terrorize my kids because of my okra plants.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Oct 8, 2014 9:06:27 GMT -5
But really, you'd think that * Georgia* cops would know okra when they see it. Sheesh!
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Post by paulf on Oct 8, 2014 15:09:02 GMT -5
I guess I should switch to the other veg I will not eat......brussels sprouts.
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Post by spacecase0 on Oct 8, 2014 17:49:11 GMT -5
in any war there will be collateral damage, the war on drugs is the most stupid war possible. they are getting way out of control with it, it just needs to end.
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Post by coppice on Oct 9, 2014 5:26:22 GMT -5
Part of this 'problem' is town police departments get to keep the proceeds of said drug busts. At times even when no drugs are found.
This is literally becoming a licsence to kill.
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billh
Pro Member
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Post by billh on Oct 9, 2014 6:00:25 GMT -5
coppice I can't agree more, feds encouraging the locals and yes these war on everything is getting old. As for the okra I'd be tempted to plant okra everywhere and then put a billboard up pointing at the sky reading okra. Sorry for the rant
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Post by coppice on Oct 9, 2014 15:11:04 GMT -5
Will they shoot me for the valerian plants I have growing in a front bed?
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Oct 10, 2014 1:06:48 GMT -5
Maybe not, but watch out if you plant poppies...
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Post by daylilydude on Oct 12, 2014 3:31:55 GMT -5
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Post by gixxerific on Oct 13, 2014 5:50:09 GMT -5
I hope they don't see my borage forest. They will think it's fuzzy and blue must be weed.
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tomato
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Posts: 144
Joined: October 2012
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Post by tomato on Oct 15, 2014 1:45:55 GMT -5
Does not help that most of the "weed" they confiscate is "ditchweed". Meaning hemp plants that have gone native. Riverbanks through the Missouri and Mississippi drainage have boat loads.
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reubent
Pro Member
Posts: 389
Joined: May 2011
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Post by reubent on Nov 5, 2014 18:21:03 GMT -5
gives the law guys something to do, rob people, put em in jail for nothing, and that's all. doesn't improve society a bit. Other than the small issue of the way cannibis affects the mind. which is why I've never used it and won't. But it's not a danger to society like some of those drugs that make people commit crimes. There are legal drugs much worse than cannibis.
Those countries where cannibis is legal have very low usage. Making it illegal is what makes people want to use it. It's that thrill of doing something forbidden.
Pot gives a high, (mentally) okra gives a high, (energetically) good food to work on. I like it fried, and boiled as well, slimy as a slug, no big deal, that's just the way it is, I love slurping slimy okra slugs!! LOL! pickled is ok too. raw is fine as well. I grew up eating it out of mammas garden bout two miles north of the georgia line. And my mother grew up eating it in Wisconsin. Her mother met okra in southern indiana and took it with her when she married a wisconsin farmer. She'd make okra/egg patties for my mothers school sandwiches. The other kids didn't have a clue what okra was. Did ya hear about that russian experiment where they drained the blood from a dog until it was too weak to stand up? then gave it a transfusion of raw okra juice. Dog revived and was just fine.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Nov 6, 2014 12:12:42 GMT -5
Okra...fills the tummy, nourishes the body, soothes the soul, grosses out people with low slime tolerance, lures ill-informed narcotics officers...and now we learn that it can be used for blood transfusions in dogs! Is there anything it can't do??
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