Pubdate: Fri, 05 Oct 2012
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2012 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Richard J. Brennan

ALBERTA 'POT' SEIZED BY POLICE WAS LATE-BLOOMING DAISIES

Please don't smoke the daisies.

It turns out that more than 1,600 suspected marijuana plants that a 
special police squad ripped out of a yard in Lethbridge, Alta. this 
summer are a species of daisy.

The bust, which was announced with fanfare in July, has homeowner 
Ryan Thomas Rockman scratching his head over the confusion. Just the 
same he's happy the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) has 
dropped the charge of producing a controlled substance.

"It made me look like a villain and it made them look silly," Rockman 
told the Lethbridge Herald, insisting all 1,624 plants seized were 
Montauk daisies - a fall-blooming perennial he's been growing for a decade.

"It baffles me, to be honest. At the same time, I don't want to try 
to point the finger of blame at them either because they're still 
just trying to do their mandate and make it home every day," said 
Rockman, 41, who faces other drug charges in connection with the raid.

Insp. Dan Konowalchuk, head of the combined forces special regional 
enforcement units, defended the officers' actions.

"I don't think there is anything at this point for the guys to 
apologize for. They acted on what they believed to be the best 
information they had at the time," Konowalchuk told the Star Thursday.

"First of all, we don't know for sure they're daisies," he said, even 
though an effort was made to identify the plant species through experts.

The test results, which came back this week, clearly prove the seized 
plants weren't marijuana, even though they resembled the hallucinogenic plant.

"The guys believed they were dealing with a sub-strain of marijuana," 
Konowalchuk said. "There are some similarities to the (marijuana) 
plant when you look directly at the plant. But are they identical? 
No, they're not. (Even so) the guys thought they we dealing with a 
large grow operation and they responded accordingly."

Lethbridge police went to Rockman's home on July 30 to check on a 
relative who was under a court-imposed curfew. The relative wasn't 
there but they found Rockman had been smoking marijuana and called in 
the ALERT team to search the property.

Rockman faces charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking, 
possession of a controlled substance (697 grams of dried marijuana 
and 6.3 grams of cannabis resin), and possession of proceeds of crime 
relating to cash found during the investigation. He is also charged 
with production of a controlled substance with respect to the resin.

He is scheduled to appear in court Friday. Neither he nor his lawyer 
Art Larson could be reached by the Star for comment.

Konowalchuk said that if the ALERT team did err it was in not seeking 
advice from Alberta's so-called Green Teams, which do nothing but 
investigate marijuana grow ops. In the past year alone the two teams 
have seized 57,000 marijuana plants, which would yield 185 kilograms 
of processed marijuana.
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