Pubdate: Sat, 04 Feb 2012 Source: Record Searchlight (Redding, CA) Copyright: 2012 Record Searchlight Contact: http://www.redding.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/360 Author: Sally Austin MEDICAL POT GROW IS MAKING ME SICK I have to laugh when I hear the pot growers whining about their rights being violated because they are being prevented from having access to their "medicine." I recently had new neighbors move in next door. Within days, they had converted the second dwelling unit (a mother-in-law studio apartment) into an indoor growing operation. On a daily basis, there is the sound of a commercial fan from morning to night and the overwhelming skunk odor of pot. It is literally making me sick. I now have migrainelike headaches and nausea every day. I cannot go into my backyard or walk to the mailbox without getting sick. I work from home, so cannot get away from this; the smell comes into my house through the kitchen vent which is on the side of my house adjacent to their growing operation. It takes one to two hours before my symptoms go away - and that is for each time I go outside or the smell comes into my kitchen. My rights are definitely being violated. How about my right to the use and enjoyment of my property? Why do I have to be subjected to this just because they feel they have the right to grow pot? I would guess from the pervasiveness of the smell that they are definitely over the limit for personal use. They don't own this property, and as far as I know a 215 card does not give them the right to alter the rental property for their growing purposes. I have complained to the property owner, who is an elderly woman and lives out of the area. She assures me her tenants are only hydroponically growing palm trees - because they told her so! As the former owner of a residential property management company, I have firsthand knowledge of the damage that can be caused by indoor growing operations. It can be in the multi-thousands of dollars. Once the smell gets into the sheet rock, the carpets and the paint, you cannot get it out without completely replacing these things. Toilets are taken out to run water lines, electrical and heating systems are compromised by people directly tapping the electrical boxes and the heating vents. Water damage rots floors and carpets, holes are cut into subfloors underneath carpet to run water lines, and fires are caused by high-wattage grow lights. I demand the right to the full use and enjoyment of my property, without being subjected to a daily dose of illness causing skunk smell. This "right" they claim is ruining my life, and I am (literally) sick of it. Sally Austin, Redding - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom