Marijuana (Cannabis sativa) is a lucrative cash crop, bringing in up to $6,000/lb on the right streets, and it can easily be grown in an inconspicuous house in an average suburban neighborhood. All it needs is lots of light--that is, lots of electricity. In your next remodeling job, you may want to think twice if your customers ask you to install grow lights or a sprinkler system in the attic or basement!

Bright Lights, Big Cash Crop

This huge energy consumption sometimes allows law enforcement officials to locate drug crops. For example, one recent bust in Toronto turned up 2,400 plants growing under 62 1,000W grow lights. Even with eight daily hours of lights-out, that's almost 1,000 kWh a day--more than ten times the energy use in the average (non-growing) household.

Illegal drug farmers, of course, are secretive about their hobby and have gotten good at not red-flagging their local utility. The farmers in the Toronto case, like most, diverted electricity with a dangerous jumper arrangement around their meter. Others sometimes provide their own generation. A crop discovered in Eureka, California, sunning under 215 1,000W grow lights was powered in part by a 125 kW generator hidden outside the home. And what a home! The Associated Press reported that the more than 4,000 ft² house was set in a meticulously landscaped yard full of flowers, with wall-to-wall cannabis inside.

Such professionals probably do their own retrofitting. But if they do call you in to rewire the house or install track lighting, keep in mind that, if you have direct knowledge of or participate in any way in the illegal cultivation of marijuana, and you do not report it, you could be considered to be aiding a criminal act and might possibly be prosecuted for it. Now that marijuana use is approved for medical purposes in some states, it is especially important to be aware of the local laws on the subject. California passed a law in 1996 allowing medical users of the plant to cultivate it in their own homes. Arizona has also passed a law allowing the medicinal use of marijuana, but not the home-grown stuff. Thirty-two other states have also passed legislation recognizing the medical benefits of marijuana and urging the Federal government to allow medicinal use of the drug. Because of the popular support for medical use, the laws governing the growth of marijuana will probably continue to change.

Growing Trends

DEA officials report that seizures of indoor growth of marijuana have increased by 36% over a 5-year period, from more than 2,800 locations busted in 1991 to more than 3,800 busted in 1996. In the past two years, it appears that the trend--or at least the arrests and seizures--have leveled off in the U.S. But farmers in Canada have discovered that hydroponics (soilless cultivation) raises a more potent plant. Drug enforcement officials in British Columbia are estimating that marijuana is now the region's most lucrative export crop, bringing in illegal revenues of $400 million to $3 billion and keeping U.S. customs agents busy.

Eyes Wide Open

DEA public information officer Shirley Armstead says the agency is occasionally contacted by utility personnel who've spotted gargantuan bills for customers who, curiously, aren't complaining. Still, it's rare for utilities to pick up on one or two red flags out of the millions of customers they serve. One utility in the northeast says it might notice if a home's average electricity use rises much above about 1,500 kWh/month, but there is no industry-wide rule of thumb.

The DEA, however, isn't waiting around for utility reports. In some states (the agency prefers not to be specific), the DEA has begun a training program for utility personnel to help them spot harvesting activity and report it to the local authorities or to the agency's tip line. According to Armstead, the program targets people who read meters or otherwise visit customer homes regularly and clues them in on signs of cannabis cultivation and other drug-related activity. Publicly, the DEA has posted notices, manned tip lines such as Missouri's BadWeed hotline, and gotten the word out through their Web site at www.usdoj.gov/dea.

DEA agents tell people to watch for an altered electric meter or a constantly running generator. Other signs include windows that are constantly steamed up due to the high humidity the plants require; covered basement windows; and a steady stream of visitors. A placid expression on the residents' faces might also be a giveaway. Unless, of course, they don't inhale.

Home Energy can be reached at: contact@homeenergy.org
Home Energy magazine -- Please read our Copyright Notice