APD Busts Marijuana Grow House Worth $500,000

Atlanta Police made a large marijuana grow house bust on Monday afternoon at a house on Telford Terrace near Fairburn Road.  The small house inside the nice Glen subdivision, held nearly 250 plants worth over $500,000 says investigators.

According to Officer John Chafee, "officers responded to an unrelated 911 call in the area of 3228 Telford Terrace in southwest Atlanta.  While on scene at that call officers noticed the odor of marijuana and determined that the odor was coming from 3228 Telford Terrace."

According to the AJC's reporting, police have received several tips about the house and it was on Sunday that officers responded to the area on a separate call and noticed the smell.  "Investigators went to the home and tried to contact the residents, but no one answered the door. A K-9 was brought to the area and indicated from the roadway that drugs were in the house," wrote the AJC.

Officer Chafee told reporters that, "officers served the warrant around 12:00pm (Monday) and upon searching the home they discovered a large marijuana grow operation.  There were a minimum of 250 marijuana plants growing inside the home."  Due to the size and amount of plants, investigators say, "the value of the marijuana is estimated to be approximately $500,000."

A resident who also lives on Telford Terrace, Chris Collins, told Fox 5, "yeah, you could smell it every day. You smell it like it's next to you."

The grow house setup was one that seems pretty elaborate from the police descriptions.  The police say, "the plants were in four rooms of the house and divided according to size," and that, "an irrigation system had been set up to hydrate the plants."

Surprisingly no arrests were made and investigators are still working at identifying all of the suspects and obtaining arrest warrants.

Should marijuana be legal?  Would that decriminalize the industry so that grow houses like this would not be hiding in our neighborhoods? Tell us your thoughts in the Comments Section Below.

Note:
Georgia CARE (Campaign for Access, Reform & Education) will participate in the first Southern Cannabis Reform Conference March 15 & 16 at the Spring St. & 4^th St. event center (728 Spring St NW) hosted by the Peachtree Chapter of The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Peachtree NORML). For more information: www.peachtreenorml.org