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Utility company's proposal to rat out hidden marijuana operations to police raises privacy concerns

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.

octopus_ink ,

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 ,

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 ,

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.

octopus_ink ,

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 ,

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?

TheMightyCanuck ,
@TheMightyCanuck@sh.itjust.works avatar

Sweet juicy govt grants

themeatbridge ,

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 ,

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

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

The_v ,

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 ,

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.

BlackLaZoR ,
@BlackLaZoR@kbin.run avatar

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.

Got_Bent ,

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

Bonesince1997 ,

An expedited mother nature

Waveform ,

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

AllNewTypeFace ,
@AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space avatar

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

Know_not_Scotty_does ,

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 ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

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

ccunning ,

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

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

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

ccunning ,

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

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

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

Also, hemp is already being farmed outdoors in Maine:

pressherald.com/…/first-pick-your-own-hemp-field-…

ccunning , (edited )

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 OP ,
@girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

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

ccunning ,

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

lemmy.ml/comment/12823931

TammyTobacco ,

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.

aphlamingphoenix ,

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

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

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.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp_for_Victory

MediaBiasFactChecker Bot ,

Associated Press - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)Information for Associated Press:
> MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - United States of America
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