Thursday, August 5, 1999 Older Editions

Police procure some pot-ted plants

By Neil Fater

Whoever was growing the 10-foot-high marijuana plants that Andover police confiscated last week didn't set any records for "getting high."

Andover police, who confiscate such plants once or twice per year, say they've seen marijuana plants that were even taller.

"We've gotten higher ones than that," says Sergeant William MacKenzie. "I remember years ago we got some off of Greenwood Road, under the power lines. Those were 12 feet high."

Last week, police found about five plants the height of basketball rims in the woods off Stinson Road, after breaking up a party at one of the Stinson Road homes.

"They were all potted and at least 10 feet high," says MacKenzie, who believes the plants could have been cultivated to produce enough weed to sell. Police are still investigating the incident, says MacKenzie.

But when it comes to growing pot, getting higher isn't necessarily getting better, it seems.

Police say that when marijuana plants are smaller, they can be masked by other weeds in the woods.

"That stuff blends in. The only way to really see it is (that) it can tower over the other plants," says MacKenzie.

As the plants become larger they are not only easier to see, but also to smell. The marijuana plants confiscated last week were only in the police station for a few hours, and their odor remained for a few days.

Although police frequently arrest people of all ages for both possessing and selling marijuana in Andover, Lt. Kevin Winters says officers only find people growing marijuana plants once or twice per year.

"We don't get a lot of it, but people do it. Kids do it," says Detective Sergeant Don Pattullo. "We've had it in the past but it doesn't happen every day."