Low Key Botched Ferret (4#) -

At first, it seemed like a botched narrative in a still murky crime story. Officer Down was reported and something about a drug bust, although the drug wasn't identified. But as the breaking news story continued to unfold, its "aboutness' somehow evaporated . . .

According to this article in a recent issue of The Miami Herald, everything you thought you knew about acquaintances growing marijuana plants in their bathtubs
is wrong.

Instead, three reporters want to persuade us that there are now marijuana moguls who are operating chains or syndicates of marijuana nurseries in middle class bourgeois neighborhoods; each syndicate consisting of maybe 20 such nurseries.

Instead of operating a group of 7-Eleven stores or name brand Pizza shops, they picked marijuana. Instead of growing the crop in an out of the way fallow field or clearing in the woods, they're installing these nurseries in middle class residential neighborhoods.

This seems to be coming straight out of the Ministry of Banana Republic Disinformation, because there is no evidence provided to substantiate the mythos. Numerous Americans living in South Florida have reacted angrily to the allegation. The funniest angry reaction went along these lines:

Don't take this stuff too seriously because many of these stories are now concocted in India where much of this newspaper is currently being manufactured. They don't know beans in New Delhi about what is actually going on in South Florida; it's just more entertainment to them.

As a Crime Watcher in South Florida, have I ever come across a syndicated grow house, which was part of a chain of such nurseries? No, I haven't. I'm not saying you're a liar; I'm just saying that I've never encountered this phenomenon before.

Not quite a successful
Reverse Ferret. Who botched it?

# To Boldly Go:
:::: Shatner's back, and NASA's got him.

# Pussy Riot Trial:
:::: Some people live for this stuff.

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