OMG BUST! PLEASE READ, ADVICE PLEASE!!!!

[Flameon]

I want to thank EVERYONE who has replied, even the people who now think I'm a horrible person and hated on me

Hi bijnas

I just wanted to say for the record (again) that no one is 'hating' on you, and we all sincerely hope you both get off.

But please consider, it doesn't change the fact that you made some unwise choices, and that's something you need to recognise and acknowledge if you going to avoid making them (and landing yourself in the s**t) in the future.

The situation is, you and I both grow, we know its illegal, and we know it could get us in trouble, but we choose to take that risk knowing the consequences if we're caught. And since neither of us wants to get caught, only we can decide what risks are worth taking, and which are reckless.

For example, if I was growing my plants in a window box and got reported to the police by a neighbor, do I put ALL the blame on my neighbour for 'grassing me up', or should I accept that perhaps it would have been wiser of me to have kept them out of sight?

it's not as if I was growing in my parents house or something, so I see it as a non-issue.

I can't agree, it is an issue. I understand (and sympathise) with your point about the cost of buying property where you live, but you need to remember that if you decide to risk growing in an apartment you don't own, you're increasing the chances that you could get caught.

Likewise, if you risk telling someone else about your grow - you're increasing the chances of your getting caught.

Leaving someone else to look after your plants while your away. . increasing your chances of getting caught.

I never said anyone could be in my apartment besides the person whom I left the keys with. Unfortunately, she wasn't to be trusted either as she gave the keys to the girl who got arrested.

Leaving someone who isn't reliable with the keys to your apartment . . increasing the chances of getting caught.
Do you see the point?
We're all taking risks, but the more we choose to take, the more likely it is that somethings going to go wrong, and as we're the ones making the decisions we have to be prepared to accept some of the blame.

I know it's easy to be wise after the event, but really you should have considered the number of risks you were taking and be big enough to admit some responsibility.

But, reading things like:

I know the plants were mine, I know I am the one who initiated the grow, BUT I am not the one responsible for the bust.

I think it is fair to say the bust was completely their fault.

Does not give me any confidence that your going to learn from this.

I'm honestly glad to hear it looks like neither one of you is going to draw down too much flak for this, but do yourself a favour, breathe a sigh of relief at having 'dodged a bullet', and next time give some more thought to your actions. Hopefully that way, you won't get yourself (or anyone else) caught.

Keep toking and good luck.

[stinkyattic]

Bijnas, I hope you don't think I'm 'hatin'; just scolding like a momma hen. It will cost you a lot of headaches and money, but you'll be the wiser for it, and get an interesting look into how the legal system works. Best of luck to both of you, and IMHO you are still completely entitled to nerf-slap your friend for being so foolish (take of your flip-flop and whack her a solid upside the dome lol).

Flameon, I must say I'm impressed. I like your style.

[Weedhound]

I love Flame and always have. Everyone makes great points here and I can see both sides. The main differences are legal and moral.

That's an easy one to me......sure legally he's off the hook. Morally he sucks....big time. But so does his friends so it's all the same boat.

I've learned several things here. Good stuff about legality (thanks js) good stuff about morality (thanks Flame and Stinky) and a damn interesting lesson in self preservation and who we really are when faced with adversity (thank bjnas). Sounds to me like he and his friends are all made from the same cloth and they all know it pretty well so i'll stop being worried about ALL their futures right about now.

[bijnas]

Morally he sucks....big time. But so does his friends so it's all the same boat.


who we really are when faced with adversity (thank bjnas). Sounds to me like he and his friends are all made from the same cloth and they all know it pretty well so i'll stop being worried about ALL their futures right about now.

I don't get this? Why am I a horrible person? Why are my friends horrible people? Seriously? As I said, we're not trying to fuck each-other over, and she agrees that me coming forward isn't going to help anyone. It's not an issue of morality and legality since me coming forward to the police isn't going to solve anything and will just be giving the pigs more money for future busts and encouragement to think its easy when people are just coming in and saying YEAH I DID IT.

I am fully aware that the plants are my fault. But I stand firm that this bust is not. Roor makes "water pipes", smoke shops sell them to you, no one else is responsible when you are busted with paraphernalia because you decided to smoke marijuana out of them. I had a grow in my apartment, she decided to smoke marijuana out of it. Not my bust. She knew. She took the risk of getting busted just by being there. It was her conscious choice. She's not stupid, we go to a top 10 school, so I expect her to understand the consequences. I got lucky, I'll admit it. But I will also say, had it not been for her actions I would also still have a really fun hobby that I enjoy and not having to pay a lawyer out my ass for basically nothing. Doesn't anyone think that she is not an innocent bystander and maybe she is more responsible for this than me? It is fully reasonable in my mind.

My 'increasing chances of getting caught' weren't that high. I took security as a pretty high concern for me, because I have a lot to lose. I want to go to law school and get an MA in public policy at the same time so I can go on to become a politician and work to change these ridiculous laws, this bust would essentially ruin me for the rest of my life. So I took as much precaution as I could, trust me. The only time I ever ordered anything off the internet was to an empty mailbox made with a prepaid credit card, I always paid in cash, and I didn't tell anyone about it until I had to ask this friend to take care of it for a week. I know it was a mistake, I certainly thought that this girl had better judgement than she did since I even told her explicitly not to tell ANYONE.

And I certainly have learned a lot from this. Like next time I'm going hydroponic so I can avoid ever needing to have someone feed my plants, and next time will be when I'm out of this fucking city and I can get a place with a secluded basement that I can make a super secret grow room in.

I'm also lucky they didn't find my Blue Dynamite seeds, so my next grow, on top of me learning mistakes from this one, is probably be more important to me.

So I don't want to try and start arguments and make people think I am personally attacking them, I just want it to be known that I am not a horrible person and if turning myself in were someway to save my friend, regardless of her stupidity, I would've worked something out.

[Weedhound]

You know what's right......that little teeny part of yourself that's bugging you right now. Legal/moral...two totally different things. Stop trying to put them together.

Morally....accept responsibility for your part instead of sloughing it off. Not your fault? Your plants. You chose who to take care of them for you. You chose to leave the plants in the first place. You chose to hand off your keys and write down instructions. You chose to grow in a place that was not yours.

Accept some responsibility for goodness sakes. It will help you prevent making the exact same poor choices in the future. That's where you lost me.

Good luck to you all.

[bijnas]

Accept some responsibility for goodness sakes.

How am I supposed to do this? I don't understand what other responsibility I can accept? I've never said they weren't my plants or something.. what else is there?

[stinkyattic]

I think that what Weedhound and Flameon are getting at is that they'd like to at least hear you say, "Wow I screwed up by putting someone in a potentially dangerous situation EVEN THOUGH it was as much her choice to accept it", instead of the other statement that Flameon took issue with. She has her own responsibility for the situation, no matter what.
And turning yourself in wouldn't help anyone really- in the eyes of the law, she was there caring for the plants, end of story. It's like if you are in a car crash with a drunk driver, and it turns out you know them, so you go tell the cops "Oh it was all my fault, I was over the yellow line", but that doesn't change the fact that the other driver blew hot. Get it?
Correct me if I'm misreading it guys. No one is arguing that your friend didn't ROYALLY fuck up.
BTW... hydro is the way to go if you travel frequently... and Weedhound is a good hydro counselor
Everyone here wants to see us growers be safe and happy, and that's a fact!

[Weedhound]

Stinky pinned it (as usual.) Admit you had a LARGE part in this and stop blaming others. There are plenty of slices of pie to go around.

Dude we ALL fuck up.....I personally do more often than others but that's just the way it is. :wtf: Yes....your friend's "friend" was an idiot.... but gee where did she get access to your plants and your apartment? I just don't see how that part lets you off the hook for putting others (the friend you asked to watch your stuff, your landlord, etc) in danger. I'm very sure you are kidding when you say security played a huge part in your decisions.....you chose someone who handed your keys off to someone else entirely.

In case you are thinking I'm telling you to go turn yourself in I'm NOT. Everyone is right.....it's not going to get your buddy off the hook. But don't tell me there isn't more you can do......how about hiring her a good lawyer? Making her bail? Helping with her defense? And to stop saying things like "Gee I sure hope she doesn't try to pin this on me (even though they WERE my plants etc....)"

Legally aside....it's a decent thing to do.

[Cede2Weed]

Bijnas,

Glad to hear everything is working out, buddy!

Like I said on your grow log, and your lawyer told you, they have much bigger fish to fry.

As for the girl, the only benefit she would reap from you "manning up" as the others have posted would be your company at those meetings or the probation officers office. Yeah they were your plants, but it was there behavior.... As far as I can tell from your postings, you were growing as responsibly as your situation would allow.

If there is a next time for you, please do not trust your babies to anyone. Just plan your trips around their cycles.

Last piece of advice, do not let anonymous posters on internet bulleting boards get you roweled up. This is a great place for information sharing and knowledge gathering. We may from time to time make a relationship we would have in the real world, but so many of these people are just out to kick us when our grows do not go as good as theirs or in this case, feel superior thanks to your misfortune. Hang in there!

[stinkyattic]

so many of these people are just out to kick us when our grows do not go as good as theirs or in this case, feel superior thanks to your misfortune.

All I have to say to this is... WOW.
I have BANNED members before for making fun of noob growers' mistakes- kicking them when they are down. That is NOT what this place is about. I'm sorry you see it that way. That was never the intent. If we want to talk morality, morality in this situation is making sure it never happens again, and that anyone else who stumbles upon this story will learn something from it- instead of kicking the man down, stop and thank him for making a mistake so that others will know to avoid it.