Posted on 12/05/2008 1:43:42 PM PST by BGHater
Bungling police raided the home of an elderly couple after they mistook the smell of a common garden plant for cannabis.
Ivor and Margaret Wiltshire bought 'moss phlox' four years ago for £2 and spread it through their front and back garden.
But the plant - which grows vivid pink flowers in the spring and looks nothing like cannabis - gives off a pungent aroma similar to the drug.
vor and Margaret Wiltshire have launched an official complaint against the police after they raided their home because a garden plant smelled like cannabis
The smell was so strong the couple's next-door neighbours were even threatened by a local drug gang who broke into their home and demanded: 'Give us the weed man'.
Weeks later Ivor, 77, and Margaret, 79, returned home to find the drugs squad had battered down their front door and searched their property.
No drugs were found and a police woman later told them the moss phlox was responsible for the raid after a sample was taken for analysis.
The couple have since received an apology from Avon and Somerset police, but have lodged a complaint with the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
Retired engineer Ivor - who has now pulled up the plant - said he has no sense of smell following an operation 30 years ago and has no idea what cannabis smells like.
The grandfather-of-three said: 'We bought the plant four years ago and it multiplied so fast that it took over our front and back gardens - I was happy because it looked very nice.
'I haven't got any idea what cannabis would smell like. I have only seen a picture of it on the television and I have certainly never smoked it.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Five minutes after the police left, they snickered, pulled out their bowl and bong from hiding, grabbed some pretzels and Cheetos and celebrated the gullible police.
And all these years I’ve been mowing my lawn every day for nothing.
‘moss phlox’
A real phloxed up situation.
Wow. Thanks.
This stuff takes over huh?
My neighbor teased me about my Cleome (Spider Flower). The leaves look like chunky pot leaves. I’d post a pic but I don’t know how. LOL
End the failed war on some drugs.
Did the 2,700-year-old marijuana, found in a Scythian shaman’s tomb last week, still have a smell? According to the article on FOX News, it would fetch a street value of $8,000 if you tried to sell it, and special legal precautions had to be taken before it could be shipped outside of China.
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