Seattle police find big illegal pot grow, don’t bother arresting anyone

Just in case you missed all the evidence that the Emerald City isn’t anything like where you live (think Socialist elected to the City Council and a $15-an-hour minimum wage, not to mention Starbucks coffee that actually tastes good) comes this report from the Seattle Police Department.

On Tuesday night, the narcotics unit and an anti-crime team served search warrants on large marijuana growing operations in West Seattle and Beacon Hill after neighbors complained about an “overwhelming smell.”

What the officers found was the biggest illegal growing operation in the department’s history, or, as the Police Department’s official SPD Blotter put it, “an unprecedented number of illegally grown marijuana plants.”

After investigating the three sites and seizing 2,663 plants and 86 pounds of processed pot, authorities learned that the grows were “operating under the guise of a medical marijuana collective and were growing far more plants than allowed under state law.”

What’s allowed here in Washington state, where medical marijuana is legal and recreational pot will soon be sold in state-licensed storefronts? Medical marijuana grows are capped at 45 plants each.

You’d think the officers would round up the perps, torch the pot plants and get a raft of anti-crime kudos. You’d be wrong.

“Detectives left 45 marijuana plants at each location, along with 72 ounces of processed marijuana and growing equipment, and let the growers at each site select which plants they wanted to keep,” the SPD Blotter said.

“Detectives were interested only in bringing the operation under the limits of state law,” the report continued, “and in addition to leaving plants and equipment at the scenes, also opted not to book anyone involved in the operation into jail.”