| Photo: 9News |
| Chris Bartkowicz’s garden is going up in smoke… but not the fun way |
If you’ve ever found yourself wondering what’s happening to the 224 beautiful marijuana plants seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration from that guy who was really good at pot farming but not so much when it came to discretion…
Well, there’s no easy way to say this. They’re gonna burn ’em.
Highlands Ranch, Colorado medical pot farmer Chris Bartkowicz didn’t mind bragging as he told TV reporters he spent $500,000 constructing his basement grow operation, and expected to rake in $400,000 this year for his crop.
Sorta like waving a red flag before a bull, if the DEA were that bull, and bulls weren’t color-blind. But yeah, predictably, the DEA came charging into Bartko’s house within hours of the airing of the TV news segment, and they took all his plants and growing equipment.
According to DEA spokesman Mike Turner, since marijuana is illegal under federal law for any purpose, the plants are contraband, as simple as that. It doesn’t even matter to the DEA whether the marijuana in question is eventually determined to be legal under state law, because federal law doesn’t recognize medicinal uses for cannabis.
What this means is that Bartko’s plants, like everyone else’s seized by the DEA, are going to be destroyed. The federal agents typically analyze a small amount to verify the plants really are marijuana, then they wait for an official destroy order.
Cannabis seized by the DEA is typically incinerated, reports Joel Warner at Westword.