After NJ authorities harvested a $10 million pot bust across five towns, neighbors have been offering up their views on living next to the illegal operation. One man, who lived next to a grow house with over 500 marijuana plants, told the Star-Ledger, "Living here on this block I barely know my neighbors on each side. We don't have block parties or anything like that, so I'd be shocked if anyone else knew about this either." Coming soon: DEA-sponsored block parties?
NJ Attorney General Paula Dow explained the suspects "selected large houses, frequently in pretty upscale neighborhoods, where the properties are widely spaced and they were not likely to garner direct attention." Mission accomplished—that is, until one cop happened to be in the area when one of the suspects was burning the unusable parts of the plants in his fireplace. D'oh!
Other neighbors told WCBS 2, "It's horrible that this is going on in our neighborhood. You can be a neighbor and have no idea of what's going on," and "I never smelled a thing, which is even scarier - to know that this was going on without someone knowing." Well, a few years ago, firefighters found a hydroponic pot farm in a Brooklyn apartment—apparently the neighbors were fine with the smell but got the authorities involved because of a leak.
