That Wasn't My Intention
Seeds. A tiny little shell that contains an entire plant. When you look at a seed, you see a little pebble that tells you nothing about what it will develop into. The tiniest of seeds can give you a plant that stands as tall as you. (That's easy for me; I'm only a meter and a half tall.) When you sow it, you only have the photo on the packet to tell you what the future holds. When you sow a seed that wasn't intended for sowing, you have no idea what you're getting into.
A woman in San Sadurniño, near Ferrol, took her parrot's feed and made an experiment. All those seeds had to grow into some kind of plants. She set some out in her garden. Some of them, such as sunflower seeds, she recognized very well, others were a mystery. The mystery seeds have led her to be on the news, in the form of a YouTube video taken by her friend last summer.
The video has the woman showing her friend this strange plant that grew from some of the parrot seed she had decided to plant. When the friend got closer with the camera and saw it, she was beyond surprised. The woman says she decided to plant some of her parrot's food and has probably discovered why her parrot talked so much. Nicely growing, tutored, green and buoyant, was a marijuana plant. Apparently, you don't have to go to a special grow shop to get your own seeds. Go to the pet supply store and buy parrot feed.
Growing one or two plants for one's own consumption is legal in Spain. One or two plants are supposed to get you enough for a few weekend benders. The problem is when the soil is fertile and one or two plants grow so abundantly, that the difference between having enough for one's consumption and having enough for everyone else's consumption, is cloudy. What is enough? Unfortunately, a cannabis crop can't be grown to give you enough joints for the entire year, like a potato crop is grown to give you enough potato stews until the following summer.
A family in Fornelos de Montes, Pontevedra, found out to their dismay that the size of the plant can determine whether it's for the family, or if it has the possibility of distributing too much joy. A patrol of the Guardia Civil that was passing by their house stopped and took a closer look at their garden. In one corner an over-exuberant cannabis plant looked suspiciously like a cash crop. The plant was taken by the authorities, and the family levied with a fine of €9,600. The family was like many in rural communities. The woman worked cleaning houses, and the man was a handyman that earned for whatever jobs he could find. On top of it all, they had two sons in college. The bank would only lend them €8,000. In January of 2014, the fine had a fine itself for late payment, so what they owed ascended to €11,520, and they were scared that the state would take their house in payment, which was the only capital they had. I don't know how it was finally resolved. I did find out that people gathered signatures to have the fine revoked, and over €1,000 were collected to help them pay, but that's all I could find.
Another case of doubtful legality has been resolved. The police in San Sebastián were surprised one day, when the unmistakable odor of cannabis plants wafted from a house. They knocked and the elderly owner let them in. The officers followed their noses and found in the back garden fourteen cannabis plants. But the owner's wife alleged she merely had them for medicinal purposes. She grew them, and then steeped them in alcohol to rub on her and her husband's aching joints. She grew enough to have enough jars to last them all year. The woman said that she knew they were allowed to have them for one's own use, and that's what they were for. The police had to follow the letter of the law, however, which allows for one plant per user, and brought her before a judge. The judge absolved her, though, seeing that there was no paraphernalia for distribution, such as scales, or baggies, or anything else suspicious. Also, the fact that she was 75 years old and had heard on television that cannabis was medicinal, influenced in her favor. She was allowed to keep rubbing her joints with the joints in rubbing alcohol.
Of course, there have been all sorts of illegal crops that have been discovered and dismantled. Some of them were found in the middle of the woods, others in the middle of cornfields. Some were discovered when a simple house used more electricity than all the others in the neighborhood combined. Ingenuity rules where cash crops are concerned. Especially when those cash crops are illegal.
A woman in San Sadurniño, near Ferrol, took her parrot's feed and made an experiment. All those seeds had to grow into some kind of plants. She set some out in her garden. Some of them, such as sunflower seeds, she recognized very well, others were a mystery. The mystery seeds have led her to be on the news, in the form of a YouTube video taken by her friend last summer.
The video has the woman showing her friend this strange plant that grew from some of the parrot seed she had decided to plant. When the friend got closer with the camera and saw it, she was beyond surprised. The woman says she decided to plant some of her parrot's food and has probably discovered why her parrot talked so much. Nicely growing, tutored, green and buoyant, was a marijuana plant. Apparently, you don't have to go to a special grow shop to get your own seeds. Go to the pet supply store and buy parrot feed.
Growing one or two plants for one's own consumption is legal in Spain. One or two plants are supposed to get you enough for a few weekend benders. The problem is when the soil is fertile and one or two plants grow so abundantly, that the difference between having enough for one's consumption and having enough for everyone else's consumption, is cloudy. What is enough? Unfortunately, a cannabis crop can't be grown to give you enough joints for the entire year, like a potato crop is grown to give you enough potato stews until the following summer.
A family in Fornelos de Montes, Pontevedra, found out to their dismay that the size of the plant can determine whether it's for the family, or if it has the possibility of distributing too much joy. A patrol of the Guardia Civil that was passing by their house stopped and took a closer look at their garden. In one corner an over-exuberant cannabis plant looked suspiciously like a cash crop. The plant was taken by the authorities, and the family levied with a fine of €9,600. The family was like many in rural communities. The woman worked cleaning houses, and the man was a handyman that earned for whatever jobs he could find. On top of it all, they had two sons in college. The bank would only lend them €8,000. In January of 2014, the fine had a fine itself for late payment, so what they owed ascended to €11,520, and they were scared that the state would take their house in payment, which was the only capital they had. I don't know how it was finally resolved. I did find out that people gathered signatures to have the fine revoked, and over €1,000 were collected to help them pay, but that's all I could find.
Another case of doubtful legality has been resolved. The police in San Sebastián were surprised one day, when the unmistakable odor of cannabis plants wafted from a house. They knocked and the elderly owner let them in. The officers followed their noses and found in the back garden fourteen cannabis plants. But the owner's wife alleged she merely had them for medicinal purposes. She grew them, and then steeped them in alcohol to rub on her and her husband's aching joints. She grew enough to have enough jars to last them all year. The woman said that she knew they were allowed to have them for one's own use, and that's what they were for. The police had to follow the letter of the law, however, which allows for one plant per user, and brought her before a judge. The judge absolved her, though, seeing that there was no paraphernalia for distribution, such as scales, or baggies, or anything else suspicious. Also, the fact that she was 75 years old and had heard on television that cannabis was medicinal, influenced in her favor. She was allowed to keep rubbing her joints with the joints in rubbing alcohol.
Of course, there have been all sorts of illegal crops that have been discovered and dismantled. Some of them were found in the middle of the woods, others in the middle of cornfields. Some were discovered when a simple house used more electricity than all the others in the neighborhood combined. Ingenuity rules where cash crops are concerned. Especially when those cash crops are illegal.
I feel terrible for the couple who was fined. That's a pretty ambiguous law.
ReplyDelete