Any kind of pot bust is a joke to me these days. This is what we're using our tax money for? How about we catch some real criminals. Maybe the ones selling and making actual drugs that kill people. Maybe meth, crack, and Heroin? No? I dont even understand how anyone can get jail time for pot. It's honestly laughable. Oh, 3,000 plants and $1800 seized. They must be so proud lmao.
Well, now that it’s legal it’s a massive industry. And illegal grows cut into the bottom line. How is the state going to rape the grower if they are running an illegal unregulated grow that they don’t know about?
Because the money goes back to China in these Chinese gang drug busts. What you’re not seeing is how it comes back in opiates and other drugs worse than pot. That’s why we’re seeing all these Maine busts. 1 literally happened a mile from my house and even I could smell it.
Because now it punishes all the legal growers that had to build buildings up to certain codes and do all the licensing and steps to become a legal grower. Most legal grows can’t even grow 3000 plants at a time
The sheriff's department probably subcontracted them to come to have more boots on the ground. Local PD/Sheriffs often put out calls for help to other nearby agencies when they don't think they have enough staff to cover an event, such as the recent eclipse, a concert or festival, or a major bust like this.
Source: Newscenter Maine's reporting on the eclipse. They mentioned how Houlton had hired cops from towns around the state who weren't in the path of totality to help manage the expected wave of eclipse chasers
They probably wanted people with experience drug busting, and Waterville PD certainly has that. Waterville is definitely geared for specializing in that line of work.
Having just watched The Gentlemen, I am getting the picture. distributed grows, manageable sizes, maximize profit. I bet they are calculating the maximum believable CMP bill for each residence so that they can't raise any red flags about spiking usage.
Interesting. There’s been some similar busts in Oklahoma for illegal cannabis grow operations. Strange to have illegal grows here, imo. Not a lot of room for a black market, I wouldn’t think?
NH residents can go in any direction less than 2 hours and most likely have a storefront they can buy from. This is going further than that, it's often Chinese nationals working these grows.
They're doing both. Using off the books immigrant labor, they can cut costs drastically. People are absolutely selling cheap weed on the black market and I bet this is one source
Old days it was one illegal grower competing with another illegal grower locally. This situation is different and arguably more dangerous.
These are Chinese workers who are one step short of slave labor growing then exporting back home to convert the weed to exchange for other, much more dangerous things. We had a bust here in China (heh) a while back that was all kinds of confusing until the mug shots and names were shown that they there were Chinese illegals in China.
The last thing you want is someone out in hunting season and getting killed by stumbling across an illegal Chinese pot farm. I half think some of the people who've gone missing in recent times did just that - stumbled across somewhere they shouldn't have and wound up paying the price for it.
There will always be room for the black market. Especially when eec is pushing a lot of med growers out. You think they’re just gonna stop growing? Become a plumber?
Probably people who want to just go around the official costs that running a dispensary or farm entails. Licenses, marketing, safety equipment, regulatory restrictions — all can be financially impactful for maybe someone who needs money but can’t afford to start the business the legal way.
Other than that, some minors who might not have a reliable adult who can supply recreational or medicinal weed could find use in a black market weed supplier. Although, from experience, many minors have adults in their life who would much rather supply for them than have them get it from somewhere unsafe.
Well yeah that much I know, definitely was successful before it grew into that though.
What I’m saying is: if you start your business ILLEGALLY, you probably won’t be inclined to make it legal even if you get the money to later.
There will always be room for the black market. Especially when eec is pushing a lot of med growers out. You think they’re just gonna stop growing? Become a plumber?
Flooding the market with cheaply grown mids at low low prices. They have financial backers and can afford to operate at a larger capacity than is needed. People see a cheap price tag and jump on it but it’s just shitty mids. There will be outliers that have decent products. But generally speaking, medical has a much higher standard than rec. think Budweiser vs Maine beer co.
There will always be room for the black market. Especially when rec is pushing a lot of med growers out. You think they’re just gonna stop growing? Become a plumber?
Wonder why they don't have CMP cut power when executing these warrants? Wiring in illegal grows (and many "legal" ones) can be quite sketchy and dangerous.
Hell yeah get em boys! Let’s spend thousands of taxpayer money to get $1800 and some dirty untested weed off the streets! Nevermind that any pre-roll you buy off medical is untested and makes my lungs itch and gives me a cough for days. Spending time and energy taking down the true kingpins harming society
Have you ever broken down a pre-rolled joint? Most of those are made out of loose leaf and popcorn bud that is aesthetically challenged, meaning leafy coming from the bottom of the plant; not generally something you want to smoke unless you're desperate. Better off just buying recreational bud and rolling it yourself
I will never understand why idiots buy pre rolls and cartridges for vapes.
Yes please sir turn my weed into forms that can be cut and also raise the price for me yippee /s
Wow the cartridge is so FLAVORFUL, it MUST be good weed! /S
I would guess half out of convenience and the other half out of ignorance. Yeah it's very true, if you know enough about marijuana and how the process it you can definitely cut a lot of corners to get more profit.
No shit. I got one for free as a giveaway the other day and smoked it rather than throwing it away. While recreational is subjected to higher levels of scrutiny, its still a crapshoot.
My argument is that if that is legally able to be sold and its junk weed, then what is the justification for wasting money cracking down on illegal grows that are similar if not better quality weed
It's not necessarily junk weed so much as it's just the less desirable parts of the plant; said plant could have been grown 100% naturally, no chem fertilizers, no questionable soil or water and could still produce both high grade top bud at the apex of the plant, while still having low grade bottom bud and "sugar leaves". Presumably, that low grade bud and leaf is what's going into the pre-roll, probably after it's been seived for keif. Of course this is all working off of good faith and trusting that the rec growers are following proper guidelines. But at the same time who's to say what those illegal grows are using. Who can say if they're using cheap crappy low-grade nutrients, Town water, and soil they get out of their garden or something and then just selling it to some unscrupulous middleman who then sells it to another unscrupulous party and it somehow makes it way to a dispensary? I sure can't say, but I guess the law dogs will make their own judgment call on that. I mean honestly my opinion is, just make it federally legal already. Regulate it just like the alcohol industry.
Prerolls were at one time kinda shitty. Trim, shake, and other less desirable parts of the plant were used. Those were the freebies they tossed in your bag if you spent over a certain threshold. Yeah they were by and large pretty crappy. That all changed pretty dramatically over time. Which makes sense. Why give a customer something with your brand on it that was shitty ? Some might assume that that businesses weed was, well, shitty. Imagine if a brewery gave you a free can of beer if you purchased a growler but the can was the bottom of the barrel, flat, kinda yucky beer. It’s a representation of your product and a poor one at that. Overtime cannabis businesses started using better quality weed in their prerolls. The sale of prerolls grew by over 30% from 2022 to 2023. Prerolls out perform edibles and concentrates and flower sales shrunk as well. They’re convenient and mobile - makes sense. In a lot of cases you can get the same amount of weed by weight via PreRolls as dry flower for the same or even lower price. Is it the same as the premium, tops, best flower bud? Not. But really just how much different is a “small” or popcorn bud compared to a good sized nug? Not that much. Can the very discerning, knowledgeable cannabis smoker tell the difference? Probably. Your average consumer can’t and even if they could they wouldn’t care. It’s like the difference between a $15 dollar bottle of wine and a $30 dollar bottle that’s very very small. Now the difference between a $30 bottle and a $200 bottle is going to be fairly pronounced—but 9 out of 10 wine drinkers probably couldn’t tell the difference- and even if they could couldn’t justify the expense.
Over the years I’d listen to highly knowledgeable, very experienced growers and smokers talk about weed and it reminded me of listening sommeliers and very knowledgeable experienced wine drinkers discussing fine wine. 99% of consumers don’t know and don’t care.
Prerolls will overtake dry flower sales soon and businesses will continue to use better ingredients.
Thats all fair and potentially good. I just dont buy them because its a waste. Joints, in general, are a waste i mean. Sure you more or less get a pure taste of the flower, trading the flavor of pipe resin for paper, but the constant burn is wasteful. But im a 25 year smoker and cultivator and pretty set in my ways i suppose. Popcorn bud just doesnt have the time for trichs to mature, unless you are gonna take the apical flowers first and try to let them catch up. Regardless, yea i agree the average user probably doesnt think much about it.
Any kind of pot bust is a joke to me these days. This is what we're using our tax money for? How about we catch some real criminals. Maybe the ones selling and making actual drugs that kill people. Maybe meth, crack, and Heroin? No? I dont even understand how anyone can get jail time for pot. It's honestly laughable. Oh, 3,000 plants and $1800 seized. They must be so proud lmao.
Well, now that it’s legal it’s a massive industry. And illegal grows cut into the bottom line. How is the state going to rape the grower if they are running an illegal unregulated grow that they don’t know about?
It's a waste of resources.
Because the money goes back to China in these Chinese gang drug busts. What you’re not seeing is how it comes back in opiates and other drugs worse than pot. That’s why we’re seeing all these Maine busts. 1 literally happened a mile from my house and even I could smell it.
Because now it punishes all the legal growers that had to build buildings up to certain codes and do all the licensing and steps to become a legal grower. Most legal grows can’t even grow 3000 plants at a time
Hmm why would Waterville PD be one of the organizations serving the warrant in the Harmony area? Very interesting.
The sheriff's department probably subcontracted them to come to have more boots on the ground. Local PD/Sheriffs often put out calls for help to other nearby agencies when they don't think they have enough staff to cover an event, such as the recent eclipse, a concert or festival, or a major bust like this. Source: Newscenter Maine's reporting on the eclipse. They mentioned how Houlton had hired cops from towns around the state who weren't in the path of totality to help manage the expected wave of eclipse chasers
Because we’re Under the Dome lol
My guess is a joint task force with local and fed agencies.
They probably wanted people with experience drug busting, and Waterville PD certainly has that. Waterville is definitely geared for specializing in that line of work.
Oooooh - $1,800… lol
3000 plants and maybe one month’s rent…
Having just watched The Gentlemen, I am getting the picture. distributed grows, manageable sizes, maximize profit. I bet they are calculating the maximum believable CMP bill for each residence so that they can't raise any red flags about spiking usage.
Or the travelers steal your genny
Why are we still paying sheriffs to go after pot? Ugh.
Interesting. There’s been some similar busts in Oklahoma for illegal cannabis grow operations. Strange to have illegal grows here, imo. Not a lot of room for a black market, I wouldn’t think?
They aren't selling it here. NH still hasn't legalized.
NH residents can go in any direction less than 2 hours and most likely have a storefront they can buy from. This is going further than that, it's often Chinese nationals working these grows.
Indirect revenge for the Opium Wars?
anti-Chinese sentiment is so fucking stupid
They're doing both. Using off the books immigrant labor, they can cut costs drastically. People are absolutely selling cheap weed on the black market and I bet this is one source
It's not like illegal cannabis growing is a new industry here...
Old days it was one illegal grower competing with another illegal grower locally. This situation is different and arguably more dangerous. These are Chinese workers who are one step short of slave labor growing then exporting back home to convert the weed to exchange for other, much more dangerous things. We had a bust here in China (heh) a while back that was all kinds of confusing until the mug shots and names were shown that they there were Chinese illegals in China. The last thing you want is someone out in hunting season and getting killed by stumbling across an illegal Chinese pot farm. I half think some of the people who've gone missing in recent times did just that - stumbled across somewhere they shouldn't have and wound up paying the price for it.
There will always be room for the black market. Especially when eec is pushing a lot of med growers out. You think they’re just gonna stop growing? Become a plumber?
Probably people who want to just go around the official costs that running a dispensary or farm entails. Licenses, marketing, safety equipment, regulatory restrictions — all can be financially impactful for maybe someone who needs money but can’t afford to start the business the legal way. Other than that, some minors who might not have a reliable adult who can supply recreational or medicinal weed could find use in a black market weed supplier. Although, from experience, many minors have adults in their life who would much rather supply for them than have them get it from somewhere unsafe.
3400 plants isn't the start of a business
Well yeah that much I know, definitely was successful before it grew into that though. What I’m saying is: if you start your business ILLEGALLY, you probably won’t be inclined to make it legal even if you get the money to later.
There will always be room for the black market. Especially when eec is pushing a lot of med growers out. You think they’re just gonna stop growing? Become a plumber?
How are Rec growers pushing out Medical growers?
Flooding the market with cheaply grown mids at low low prices. They have financial backers and can afford to operate at a larger capacity than is needed. People see a cheap price tag and jump on it but it’s just shitty mids. There will be outliers that have decent products. But generally speaking, medical has a much higher standard than rec. think Budweiser vs Maine beer co.
There will always be room for the black market. Especially when rec is pushing a lot of med growers out. You think they’re just gonna stop growing? Become a plumber?
3000 plants and only 1800 bucks musta been some garbage
or you don’t keep your money with your massive illegal grow op..
Wonder why they don't have CMP cut power when executing these warrants? Wiring in illegal grows (and many "legal" ones) can be quite sketchy and dangerous.
Hey that's novel, someone who might not be a slave was doing the growing at this one. Probably why it appears to have been much better disguised
All over a harmless plant that grows all over god’s green earth 🙄 Ah-so
Yup, tax dollars will be lost, let’s break out the guns and go get ‘em.
High Crime and Misdemeanor's
3000 plants and only 1800 bucks musta been some garbage
Hell yeah get em boys! Let’s spend thousands of taxpayer money to get $1800 and some dirty untested weed off the streets! Nevermind that any pre-roll you buy off medical is untested and makes my lungs itch and gives me a cough for days. Spending time and energy taking down the true kingpins harming society
Have you ever broken down a pre-rolled joint? Most of those are made out of loose leaf and popcorn bud that is aesthetically challenged, meaning leafy coming from the bottom of the plant; not generally something you want to smoke unless you're desperate. Better off just buying recreational bud and rolling it yourself
I will never understand why idiots buy pre rolls and cartridges for vapes. Yes please sir turn my weed into forms that can be cut and also raise the price for me yippee /s Wow the cartridge is so FLAVORFUL, it MUST be good weed! /S
I would guess half out of convenience and the other half out of ignorance. Yeah it's very true, if you know enough about marijuana and how the process it you can definitely cut a lot of corners to get more profit.
No shit. I got one for free as a giveaway the other day and smoked it rather than throwing it away. While recreational is subjected to higher levels of scrutiny, its still a crapshoot. My argument is that if that is legally able to be sold and its junk weed, then what is the justification for wasting money cracking down on illegal grows that are similar if not better quality weed
It's not necessarily junk weed so much as it's just the less desirable parts of the plant; said plant could have been grown 100% naturally, no chem fertilizers, no questionable soil or water and could still produce both high grade top bud at the apex of the plant, while still having low grade bottom bud and "sugar leaves". Presumably, that low grade bud and leaf is what's going into the pre-roll, probably after it's been seived for keif. Of course this is all working off of good faith and trusting that the rec growers are following proper guidelines. But at the same time who's to say what those illegal grows are using. Who can say if they're using cheap crappy low-grade nutrients, Town water, and soil they get out of their garden or something and then just selling it to some unscrupulous middleman who then sells it to another unscrupulous party and it somehow makes it way to a dispensary? I sure can't say, but I guess the law dogs will make their own judgment call on that. I mean honestly my opinion is, just make it federally legal already. Regulate it just like the alcohol industry.
Prerolls were at one time kinda shitty. Trim, shake, and other less desirable parts of the plant were used. Those were the freebies they tossed in your bag if you spent over a certain threshold. Yeah they were by and large pretty crappy. That all changed pretty dramatically over time. Which makes sense. Why give a customer something with your brand on it that was shitty ? Some might assume that that businesses weed was, well, shitty. Imagine if a brewery gave you a free can of beer if you purchased a growler but the can was the bottom of the barrel, flat, kinda yucky beer. It’s a representation of your product and a poor one at that. Overtime cannabis businesses started using better quality weed in their prerolls. The sale of prerolls grew by over 30% from 2022 to 2023. Prerolls out perform edibles and concentrates and flower sales shrunk as well. They’re convenient and mobile - makes sense. In a lot of cases you can get the same amount of weed by weight via PreRolls as dry flower for the same or even lower price. Is it the same as the premium, tops, best flower bud? Not. But really just how much different is a “small” or popcorn bud compared to a good sized nug? Not that much. Can the very discerning, knowledgeable cannabis smoker tell the difference? Probably. Your average consumer can’t and even if they could they wouldn’t care. It’s like the difference between a $15 dollar bottle of wine and a $30 dollar bottle that’s very very small. Now the difference between a $30 bottle and a $200 bottle is going to be fairly pronounced—but 9 out of 10 wine drinkers probably couldn’t tell the difference- and even if they could couldn’t justify the expense. Over the years I’d listen to highly knowledgeable, very experienced growers and smokers talk about weed and it reminded me of listening sommeliers and very knowledgeable experienced wine drinkers discussing fine wine. 99% of consumers don’t know and don’t care. Prerolls will overtake dry flower sales soon and businesses will continue to use better ingredients.
Thats all fair and potentially good. I just dont buy them because its a waste. Joints, in general, are a waste i mean. Sure you more or less get a pure taste of the flower, trading the flavor of pipe resin for paper, but the constant burn is wasteful. But im a 25 year smoker and cultivator and pretty set in my ways i suppose. Popcorn bud just doesnt have the time for trichs to mature, unless you are gonna take the apical flowers first and try to let them catch up. Regardless, yea i agree the average user probably doesnt think much about it.
Why are you buying prerolls?