Firefighters smelled something like a skunk while on duty in Fountain, Colorado over the weekend.
While fighting off a massive brush fire in on Saturday, several fire crews discovered an unauthorized cannabis cultivation operation. CBS Denver reports the operation—located in a basement—included over 100 cannabis plants.
There are statewide restrictions on home growing cannabis. According to ABC Denver, a newly enacted law allows recreational home growers to cultivate up to 12 plants per residential property and medical home growers to cultivate up to 24 plants. Therefore, growing over 100 plants in your basement is definitely illegal, even in a state with full legalization.
The fire covered 3,300 acres and destroyed at least three homes. Crews from El Paso County, Pueblo County, and Fort Carson, who have since contained the fire on Sunday, began their operation on Friday.
The cops confiscated the plants, but unfortunately, the plants were just about ready to harvest in the flower stage, according to a press release from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. (Some lucky officers are in for a real treat, I guess.)
The drug war is still in full force. An Alabama man is facing imprisonment over cultivating seven cannabis plants in his backyard.
However, there is some hope. Local governments are stepping up to the plate, like Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and the city of Seattle.
