Sweden edition

Police raids uncover cannabis-growing network

Published: 30 Jan 10 11:20 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/24690/20100130/

Six men have been arrested on suspicion of growing cannabis in three apartments in the Stockholm area. Police believe the green-fingered gang are part of an extensive network of plant growers and dealers.

The men, who are all in their 30s, were taken into custody following raids in Solna, Hägersten and central Stockholm this week. A large number of plants were found and seized by police.

It was during a separate drug investigation that police received a tip off about the cannabis-growing network.

"It's likely we will uncover more instances and there will be more arrests," said Stockholm police spokesperson Karin Solberg to news agency TT.

"We have probably only scraped the surface," she added.

Because the plants have not been dried or cut, police are unable to estimate the street value of the cannabis but the find is reported to be a worth a substantial amount.

The apartments raided by police had been adapted to cater for growing the cannabis plant, with specially constructed lighting, watering and protective facilities.

TT/Christine Demsteader
news@thelocal.se

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17:25 January 30, 2010 by Kronaboy

Why are the police concentrating on a relatively non dangerous plant with little impact upon society instead of concentrating on dangerous addictive substances like alcohol which kills thousands and causes such damage to society?

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17:56 January 30, 2010 by misssh

more importantly where and when is the burn of??

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20:55 January 30, 2010 by Gwrhyr

This is a total waste of skattepengar. If they legalized cannabis and taxed it they could actually turn wasteful tax spending into income for samhället which would pay for the healthcare costs of those who cross over from use to abuse of the plant.

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21:45 January 30, 2010 by horace_engdahl

As Gwrhyr said, this is a complete waste of time. When are the major political parties going to start discussing alternatives to the current legislation, I wonder..? Any party that is open to a revision of drug laws based on actual scientific facts would have my vote.

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23:45 January 30, 2010 by Belize

If what was found is what was shown in the picture the value was zero. These plants are probably no more than 3 weeks old. They haven't developed as either male or female yet. Females are the only ones of value. Just saying.

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02:19 January 31, 2010 by caradoc

Sad ,very sad.

But even in countries with a liberal attitude towards cannabis e.g Holland a crackdown has started . Over the last few years coffeeshops in Amsterdam have found that the politicians have started to make their life and trade very difficult. For example you now cannot open a new coffeeshop or buy an existing buisness there.

With new smoking regulations they have to have seperate smokers rooms even in the smallest shop.,resulting in smaller coffeshops having to close down .

This is partly the result of a centre right local government and partialy due to the pressure of the French government demanding that the rest of the European countries make their soft drug regulations harder to come into line with the French .

Crazy situation when you consider that the U.S.A is gradually relaxing their attitude toward cannabis .

I agree with Kronaboy that drink is by far the worst drug readily available . Having lived in Amsterdam for many years i saw much trouble in bars and on the streets with drunks fighting and abusing people but very rarely saw any trouble of that sort in coffeshops ( apart from the occasional Swede and Brit smoking far to much skunk to quickly and having a "whiteout" or throwing up .

Perhaps its about time that one of the Swedish political parties could examine the true case for legalizing cannabis and get some extra much needed votes in the next election

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06:13 January 31, 2010 by xenyasai

@caradoc: The only reason they are cracking down on cannabis in Holland is because of conservative politicians is listening to neighbouring countries complaining about their citizens going across the border to enjoy something that is legalised there.

I do not have the survey at hand, but Holland is the country in EU that has the lowest use of cannabis.

There will always be people who abuse, but stop making everyone else into criminals. As the Dutch police say, they have more important things to do than to arrest someone with half a gram of cannabis or one plant of marijuana.

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13:58 January 31, 2010 by Beynch

While it is in society's interest to keep drug abuse under control, this has to be real easy work for the police. How about if police invested some time, money and effort to address real crime, shootings, stabbings, bank robberies, espionage, and the like. It would be nice to be able to saunter down Högbergsgatan in Stockholm at midnight without being bludgeoned and robbed. Or maybe that requires too much effort from these unionized fatcats?

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16:43 January 31, 2010 by Liquidmonkey

haha, classic sweden!

oh no, some dude has 7 weed plants in their apartment, the system will fail if we don't stop them!!!

seriously polis, go do something worthy of my tax money please.

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#10

20:32 February 1, 2010 by foreverblue

Cannabis prohibition is a global scam. The powers that be know that if people have unrestricted access to cannabis, their wealth-generating structures would topple.

Cannabis and hemp are the hallmarks of personal health and sustainability. Despite what your government has told you, cannabis really is a beneficial medicine. Cannabis treats an immense range of health complications. The hemp plant can be used for countless different types of fibers and fuel (conflict with the oil industry, anyone?)

Our governments do not want us using this plant. They have made this clear. They are willing to go to great lengths, funding studies that use selective science to "prove" cannabis is bad for you. Ha, then they send you out into the street with all the alcohol, tobacco, and prescription medications you can handle. The joke is on us, LOL.

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#11

02:30 February 24, 2010 by CanYouDigIt

Unfortunately another grower has been busted at a low level. These plants are dirt weed. Like stated before extremely premature as well. The growers are not maximising this extremely illegal venture and as such their use of reources, space etc and the overall quality of the product is substandard. It's too bad..

http://www.headshopcanada.com/pic-of-the-week/big-ass-bud/

This is what indoor cannabis is supposed to look like when finished. It does not come from the dirt.

Word to the wise. If you;re going to do a job do it right. The sentence is the same if you suck at growing weed and if you;re good at it.

Legalise!!!

Regulate!!!!

Educate!!!

Keep drugs from overwhelming society.

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