this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2024

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Utility company's proposal to rat out hidden marijuana operations to police raises privacy concerns (apnews.com)

submitted 1 month ago by girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to c/news@lemmy.world

32 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Operators of illegal marijuana grow enterprises hidden inside rural homes in Maine don’t have to worry much about prying neighbors. But their staggering electric bills may give rise to a new snitch.

An electric utility made an unusual proposal to help law enforcement target these illicit operations, which are being investigated for ties to transnational crime. Critics, however, worry the move would violate customers’ privacy.

More than a dozen states that legalized marijuana have seen a spike in illegal marijuana grow operations that utilize massive amounts of electricity. And Maine’s Versant Power has been receiving subpoenas — sometimes for 50 locations at a time — from law enforcement, said Arrian Myrick-Stockdell, corporate counsel. It’d be far more efficient, he suggested to utility regulators, to flip the script and allow electric utilities to report their suspicions to law enforcement.

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[–] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 94 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

which are being investigated for ties to transnational crime.

I refuse to believe this is anything more than more "War on Drugs" horseshit. Sorry world you burned Gen-X and earlier already on your ridiculous lies about Marijuana (among other things), we're not buying it again.

It’d be far more efficient, he suggested to utility regulators, to flip the script and allow electric utilities to report their suspicions to law enforcement.

And it would be far more efficient to just arrest people who seem likely to commit crimes before anyone gets hurt, but that's not how our justice system works, and that's not what the constitution allows, so go fuck yourself Arrian Myrick-Stockdell. Maybe don't be so quick to lick the boot and smash it against the neck of your countrymen.

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Yeah, as if big deal international crime syndicate couldn't figure out how to hide electricity bills. Either way there's probably an easier way to find these dudes than to sacrifice our privacy.

[–] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 23 points 1 month ago

Assholes like Arrian Myrick-Stockdell are 100x more dangerous than your average maga. They will couch ridiculously fascist authoritarian proposals in nice language and present it in a boardroom, all in the name of "efficiency" - god damn that sounds a lot like a particular solution I read about once, but I don't want to Godwin the discussion.

Shit like this truly makes my blood boil.

[–] Gigasser@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Do large criminal syndicates even bother with home grow operations anymore? I thought most of them were busy growing weed in the deep remote areas of national parks or some shit.

[–] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 month ago

go fuck yourself Arrian Myrick-Stockdell

I just wanted to say that out loud again so maybe somehow he'll vanity search himself one time and receive my personal message that Arrian Myrick-Stockdell can go fuck himself.

[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 27 points 1 month ago (2 children)

And Maine’s Versant Power has been receiving subpoenas — sometimes for 50 locations at a time — from law enforcement, said Arrian Myrick-Stockdell, corporate counsel. It’d be far more efficient, he suggested to utility regulators, to flip the script and allow electric utilities to report their suspicions to law enforcement.

What motive would electricity companies have to report their customers?

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The actual answer is that significant swings in usage create a problem for the utility. It makes capacity planning and budgeting very difficult, and it could even put a strain on the infrastructure, one that isn't accounted for in the $/kWh.

Like when a youth group shows up st a McDonald's at 10pm on a Thursday night, and 60 teens each order a box of chicken nuggets. You might think "Oh good, more sales," but now they are going to run out of nuggets over the weekend. Will they be back next week? Should the restaurant increase staff or stock up on nuggets? What if everyone wants a cheeseburger next week?

Residential energy consumption is predictable. Hidden grow houses are not.

[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Residential energy consumption is predictable. Hidden grow houses are not.

I would think grow ops would have very consistent predictable usage.

[–] The_v@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They use a significantly more electricity than the average residential home. However it's tiny amount compared to the average business/factory usage. It will hardly cause a blip on the network.

Say they use 20 watts of LED lights per sq ft per hour. With 2000sq ft of grow space over a 12 hour photoperiod that's 480KWh per day.

The average home uses around 30kwh with 50% of that for climate control. So an additional 15KWh per day for climate control.

Dedicated grow houses are looking at using around 500KWh per day. It will definitely stand out on the billing. They are using 16-17 times more energy than other homes.

[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yes, they use a lot more but it should be quite predictable.

I still don’t see why the power company would want to report consistent predictably high consumers of their product.

[–] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

Average community has x number of houses

Average house uses y number of power

Power lines buried and maintained by the utility are able to handle x * y power, grow houses fuck this up. An area being used for commercial / industrial use but zoned for residential is going to make it harder to plan that piece too.

I’m with you that the idea of ratting out someone who may pay you more money is a bad idea but also let me posit the idea to you that utilities are often required by law to give a certain amount of time of grace period on delinquent bills to residential customers and that could potentially be gamed by folks who are just growing something somewhere harvesting then moving the operation somewhere else.

It’s really quite easy to think of a myriad of reasons, none of them to me are a good reason to involve police though .. fucking narcs

[–] TheMightyCanuck@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 month ago

Sweet juicy govt grants

[–] Got_Bent@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month ago (2 children)

And suddenly Maine sees a huge spike in solar and wind installations.

[–] Bonesince1997@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

An expedited mother nature

[–] Waveform@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Solatubes, lots of them. It would work, but your roof would raise some eyebrows.

[–] BlackLaZoR@kbin.run 18 points 1 month ago

It's the same with gmail - they scan your private messages and will snitch on you if they find something they dont like.

Back during the covid lockdown one dude was screwed because doctor asked to send a photo of the intimate parts infection of his infant son.

Google called the police, police raided him immediately.

Who knows what will they do next - send your private finance data to IRS? Your correspondence with lawyers? Everything goes apparently.

Use encrypted alternatives if you want to be safe.

[–] hesusingthespiritbomb@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

The ultimate use case for crypto mining: as a front for an illegal grow op.

[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They can just say they’re mining Bitcoin or doing AI or something.

[–] Know_not_Scotty_does@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I really like growing tomatoes indoors, just can't get enough of those sweet sweet red berries. I like them so much, they make my eyes red.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Imagine if you could avoid all of this trouble by just legally growing it outside...

[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I’m not sure Maine has the right climate to grow cannabis outdoors

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Why not? Cannabis originally grew on mountain ranges in the Hindu Kush region of India.

[–] aphlamingphoenix@lemm.ee 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah, it grows basically anywhere. That's why it's called weed.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Industrial hemp used to be grown all over the U.S. to make rope. It was even encouraged to be grown in WWII because it was so important for the war effort.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp_for_Victory

[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Far from an expert but I thought the natural light cycle would be wrong at that latitude.

[–] TammyTobacco@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago

You just have to grow a fast flowering strain or an auto flower. It's almost harder to grow where it's warm and humid because of bud rot and mildew.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Maine isn't that much further north than the Hindu Kush.

Also, hemp is already being farmed outdoors in Maine:

https://www.pressherald.com/2019/09/27/first-pick-your-own-hemp-field-opens-in-maine/

[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Maine isn't that much further north than the Hindu Kush.

That didn’t sound right so I looked it up. It’s approximately the same latitudinal range as North and South Carolina. That’s a huge difference on a USDA Zone map so not sure I agree…

Also, hemp is already being farmed outdoors in Maine

~~…but if it works it works.~~

Edit: Just realized this was a hemp farm. I think the light cycle requirements are for good flower development, so I’m not really sure this changes my point after all…

[–] girlfreddy@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Hemp is grown in southern Manitoba which is about 5 degrees north of Maine.

[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Hemp is more forgiving to grow, but it does look like my light cycle concern can be addressed by choosing the right cultivar:

https://lemmy.ml/comment/12823931

[–] sgibson5150@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 month ago

Snitches get stitches.