Extremely Paranoid...Please Help!!!

I am new to posting on the board though I have read in the shadows for some time now. I only recently purchased my first seeds from a board sponsor and some equipment over the net. My room is well hidden and known by no one. I do live fairly close to a school it is over 1000 feet but not by much. I made the mistake of ordering the seeds and equipment to the same addy that I live and will grow at and I know now that this may have been a huge mistake however I only intend to grow 2 plants and they will only be for personal use. With the posts that I have read reguarding the confiscation of homes and personal property I have started to get cold feet and am thinking of stopping everything. Does anyone have any opinions on my risks and what have others done in this same situation. Thank you for your input.

I think it comes down to your local laws and regulations. which state do u live in? in certain states u will not have any problem growing your own and usually nobody will come after small timers, such as cali (u must have documents for medical mj though to be safe)

if u have not started on growing yet, and if the paranoia is too harsh on ya, u could separate the material and seeds or dispose of your seeds.
holding grow equipment by itself without any drug related material in the same place does not constitute any crime as far as i know

do u have a trusted friend to whom u can give ur seeds for a while?

Ideal plan if i were u and if i was in no rush for anything would be to use the grow equipment as u would use with mj [while NOT holding the seeds on any property including rental or a car that is related to u], instead grow tomatoes or somethin and see if anything happens in a couple of months due to a possible surveillance of your power consumption

If this is not your own property, i think u should just halt all mj-grow plans indefinitely, thats just way too risky imho

hope u get better tips than above, im sure there are more experienced people out there

Follow your instincts...if you feel like your situation is compromised it most likely is and your brain is telling you that you have loose ends so it's a no go. But also remember alot of people buy alot of growing equipment online for perfectly legal crops indoors, it's a huge hobby as far as orchids, herbs, flowers & vegetables go. Same thing goes with mushrooms! The newest rage is the Aerogardens that soccer moms are growing tomatoes with in the kitchen or in a small cabinet, people can see the light from such set-ups right through the window and I have yet to hear about someone's house getting raided or the door kicked down over something like that IN PLAIN SIGHT.

For the cops to get a warrant based on just you buying growing equipment online it is highly unlikely. Seeds are a different story..you should have definitely ordered them to "current resident" and put your house # on it if you absolutely had to send them to where you live. I think if anyone knew about the seeds though it would have been intercepted prior to you getting them..it's not a cat & mouse game, they don't want to let you have them and dedicate a big investigation to some dude growing 10 seeds in his house..lol Don't take this the wrong way but unless you live in some tiny town in the bible belt I really don't think they are too concerned with you or other very small time grows for that matter.

I myself am just way too fricking paranoid to grow so I know exactly how you feel, like everyone is watching everything you do, and that is no way to live because your every waking thought is about being watched/busted and it's just not worth it...it will wear you down and eat you alive. Peace of mind is priceless. That being said, in the ultra remote possibility you got caught with 2 or 3 plants and were not selling any weed it would be a personal use charge of possession/cultivation (even a misdemeanor in a few states) and if you had a clean record and no prior drug realted convictions you would most likely get off with just probation and a fine or a drug diversion program where it does'nt even go on your record.

Here is the thing....they cannot get a warrant based on just circumstantial evidence..they have to have a signed affidavit of a witness against you or actual physical evidence of a grow, or you selling weed to an undercover cop, etc. Do no throw out anything related to growing..definitely no stems/leaves/soil....nothing. Dispose of it in a canal or dumpster by your house or bury plant material later after you are done growing. You can store this crap in heavy duty contractor grade black trash bags in the room or something. As far as power consumption goes..it takes ALOT of juice to really raise eyebrows at the power company but household voltage spike signatures CAN be read as HID light igniting if they are loooking for that, i.e. a spike every 12 hours and then off for 12 hours..they know this is the flowering cycle of marijuana if LEO was watching you electrical consumption and could possibly in conjunction with other evidence get a warrant, but they would really have to be after you for all this to happen..The voltage spike signature is not an issue with digital ballasts which have instant/constant on regulated current and do not spike. These are the safest (and imo the only) ones to use if you are using HID lights.

I suggest only growing if you need medical marijuana and have a valid prescription until our laws are more friendly towards this matter.

Losing the house, repo of property..all that jazz...it just ain't gonna happen over 2 plants in the USA unless you really have a bad past or other illegal things going on as far as I know.

Remember, cops are not bad guys..they are just doing their job.

From what I can tell alot of people in law enforcement don't agree with current drug laws regarding marijuana. They know that there are other REAL bad guys out there and I'm sure they would much rather spend their time going after them. Hopefully.

Hope this helps..and this is in no way legal advice, I'm no lawyer. Just my humble opinion.

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Originally Posted by FreeDaHerb

but household voltage spike signatures CAN be read as HID light igniting if they are loooking for that, i.e. a spike every 12 hours and then off for 12 hours..they know this is the flowering cycle of marijuana

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This comment confuses me. What kind of spike are we talking about. With a 600w setup, the spike is no more than most of today's PC's use. Are we talking about the time the light is running or the spike in power created by the light igniting? A little more information about this would be appreciated. Thanks

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Originally Posted by Baka123

This comment confuses me. What kind of spike are we talking about. With a 600w setup, the spike is no more than most of today's PC's use. Are we talking about the time the light is running or the spike in power created by the light igniting? A little more information about this would be appreciated. Thanks

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i think the more important issue is the spike occurring on an accurate schedule 12/12 and then shifting later on, remaining on a precise turn on time every day during each phase.

every day @ 6 am for instance it kicks in (600w start), turning off precisly @ 6 pm, Although this can be camouflaged by using a better timing to allow for more distortion on turn on/ turn off times reading, still remains one of the effective ways they suspect people.

I think one of the best ways if u r using lower wattage lights is to have something of equal wattage turn on right when the lights go off (a pc for instance or a tv) and have it turned off when lights go on, this way, it looks as if a (600w) power consumer is running 24/7 which totally looks like a computer running, many many people do not turn their pcs off at all, which i think is the right way to use the pc, prolonging its life.

From what I understand the higher initial voltage spike used to ignite an old style magnetic HID ballast has it's own unique electronic signature which can be detected & clearly viewed by the power company and that capability is in place already on most equipment at the power pole level. (that little box on the main pole) They use this to diagnose various issues via computer like theft of service, damage to lines & transformers, power leaks, etc and it can clearly show spikes in the usage from that pole. There is a unique voltage spike signature for just about everything that requires more current than it normally uses at start-up, much like a electric fingerprint. There was a big thread about this on OG way back but suffice to say digital ballasts are way way way safer and they do not have any spike, they just "softly" increases your overall amperage usage without the tell-tale old HID ballast spike signature. If you live in a house with other lights on, hot water heater, dishwasher, tv, stove, microwave, refrigerator going, etc you already have ongoing varied levels of power consumption so just 600 or even 2000 watts is not a very big increase overall as long as there is not that specific HID ballast spike. As far as usage increases for 12 hours a day go there is not much you can really do about that pattern except maybe run the lights at night so that it could be assumed that power increase is possibly outside lights running during the dark, etc. Also other electrical consumption will be lower at night because almost everything is off other than the basics. Also it is cooler at night so your A/C will be running less which translates into less electrical use so you balance it out the best you can to not raise any flags.

Remember, just because you were running lots of HID light still would not necessarily mean you were doing anything wrong! You could have a perfectly legal greenhouse growing flowers & vegetables for all they know..you could have several outside security lights, a large reptile cage, many possible common things people use HID for...the whole electrical consumption issue is just a very small piece of the pie and you are way more likely to get in trouble for many other reasons than from your electric bill.

The general rule from what I have heard is to not exceed around 2000 watts extra in a private dwelling and you should have no worries mon. :rastasmoke:

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Originally Posted by FreeDaHerb

.it takes ALOT of juice to really raise eyebrows at the power company but household voltage spike signatures CAN be read as HID light igniting if they are loooking for that, i.e. a spike every 12 hours and then off for 12 hours..they know this is the flowering cycle of marijuana if LEO was watching you electrical consumption and could possibly in conjunction with other evidence get a warrant, but they would really have to be after you for all this to happen..The voltage spike signature is not an issue with digital ballasts which have instant/constant on regulated current and do not spike. These are the safest (and imo the only) ones to use if you are using HID lights.

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It does take a lot of juice to raise eyebrows... That part is correct, voltage spikes can not be read as HID igniting. A voltage spike can be caused by a number of things and not limited to HID lighting. Furthermore a police officer cannot get a warrant on this a lone.

You would be more likely to have a helicopter scanning IR specifically over your house than you would have a cop investigating voltage spikes. To be clear helicopters are expensive to dispatch and would not be sent out for a guy growing 2 measley plants. Even if they did your heat signature would be kind of weak to where the IR they are seeing could be a number of things (I'm assuming you're running something small like 400 watts HID or less).

You're all scaring this poor guy with inaccurate information. Give him the full story of how likely what you're suggesting is at least.

Anyway; personally I wouldn't worry too much. If there is an issue it will get held up at customs (all board sponsors are in canada or europe) and if you get a notice saying it was held at customs then you just don't go pick it up. Nothing bad will happen to you.

edit: Just read your next post where you clarified the general rule of thumb etc etc.

It's also worth noting that the boxes on the poles you are describing only work if you have one of the new digital meters also attached to your house. Also the power companies are not out there hunting for people with voltage spikes. You would have to jump from low power usage to over 7-8000kwh a month to start to raise suspicion from the power company. Even then they would assume their meter is broken first rather than assume you're growing.

Good points you raise....and in many urban areas power companies have switched to the new digital meters. All the way around I think we can all agree for safety, less heat, better efficiency & no spike..digital ballasts are the way to go. And there is definitely more real immediate danger from infared detection from the sky but remember the heat has to actually escape to be detected..some people solve this problem by having a room built within a room simply framed out with drywall or heavy mil plastic sheeting (black/white poly) and the air surrounding the inner room is air conditioned with the rest of the house..the inside room also has climate control & exhaust/odor control and is exhausted into that larger room around it..this is a near fool-proof way to avoid IR..there are also several types of readily available insulaton that will block IR heat from escaping but remember that if a room is hotter than the rest of the house it will glow on IR scanning equipment (like FLIR) which is where the smaller enclosure inside the larger enclosure comes into play as to avoid detection. Hopefully with a new president in office who is a self proclaimed former weed smoker that DID inhale maybe one day soon people won't have to think about this shit. Be safe guys...the best bet is to not break the law.

Take a chill pill man it gonna be fine.. I see kids walking from the school down the street from my GR window.. Just dont act shady outside your home :thumbsup: