New Zealand police have busted hundreds of people nationwide for growing marijuana and selling hydroponic garden equipment in an elaborate sting operation, 'Operation Lime'.
They monitored people buying hydro equipment and followed them, as well as posing as customers and buying gear themselves.
Such a huge, expensive and resource-heavy operation would be understandable in the face of a genuine terrorist threat, a major fraud scheme or a pedophile ring, but to mount it against pot smokers who have not hurt anyone is utterly stupid.
The operation would be laughable except that many of those caught will face serious charges, spend much time in jail, and have their assets confiscated by a greedy and stupid government.
The sheer stupidity of police in believing their own spin is exemplified in the self-congratulatory gloating of Police Deputy Commissioner Rob Pope, who said, as reported in The NZ Herald: "Cannabis is the most abused controlled drug in New Zealand. The harm that this drug causes New Zealand communities can be conservatively estimated at $430 million a year. It hurts every community in every part of the country."
The following oxymoron alone is good enough for stand-up comedy: "Cannabis is the most abused controlled drug in New Zealand". If it's controlled, how can it be abused?
And "$430 million a year" in harm? How are you calculating that, Mr Pope? Would you care to compare it with the damage caused by alcohol, which will now inevitably increase as the far less harmful drug will be harder to get and more expensive until new suppliers come in to fill the ever-present demand?
But police will get plaudits, promotions and pay rises while the prosecution and jail industries will get a fat bonus for increasing harm to the communities they are supposed to serve.
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