Three years ago our county legalized the growing of marijuana in residential neighborhoods for medical use. I’ll admit my opinion on the drug has been desensitized after living in California for 12 years. It’s everywhere, and our climate perfect for it. I have seen it grow in a sidewalk crack on Main Street next to the ice cream parlor.
When it became legal to grow in residential areas I did not want it, but was not going to fight it. Who am I to stand in the way of the only drug that can stop the pain of grandma’s glaucoma? But what I didn’t anticipate was that the grandmother in our neighborhood would move to the City and her grown-up children and friends would move in the neighborhood to grow marijuana for grandma, as well as their relatives in Texas.
It’s nice to see the love for the elderly that these tenants have. They are dedicated to making the best buds for grandma! Several times I’ve seen crews of horticulturists pruning the plants with green light headlamps after midnight.
They are also very protective of grandma’s stash. During harvest time tents are pitched in the front and back yards for added security. The Neighborhood Watch Program in our neighborhood is something completely different than McGruff the Crime dog.
I was also unaware of the skunk smell that these miniature pot farms can produce. I recognized the smell before driving down a country road, thinking it was a dead animal. Now I know that smell. Two months out of the year our neighborhood smells like an unfriendly dead ugly dog. Maybe that’s why grandma moved to the City?
I’ve read that smoking marijuana has a calming effect and it reduces aggression and motivation. Not in my neighborhood. These people fight all the time. Perhaps they don’t smoke it. Perhaps they should. Fortunately they don’t live in the neighborhood all year long. They only live here during the growing season from May to September. I knew it was May two weeks ago when my son witnessed a lady beat a man on the head with a golf club in the front yard of the pot farm house. Don’t worry; she didn’t do too much damage to the club.
One of the conditions of growing medicinal marijuana in our county ordinance is that it must be screened with fencing. True fact: Home Depot sells more bamboo fencing in our county then all the counties in the state of Tennessee. And we don’t even have a Home Depot in our county.
bill91 