San Francisco cops busting indoor pot farms

The Associated Press
12:55 p.m. September 30, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco police are cracking down on a boom in indoor marijuana growing operations in an unlikely part of the city.

Since March, police say they have raided 36 homes and warehouses teeming with pot plants, mostly in the sedate Sunset District near the Pacific Ocean.

Marijuana is smoked openly in San Francisco, and dozens of dispensaries sell pot to patients with a doctor's recommendation.

But police Capt. Paul Chignell says the grow houses bring the threat of fire and violence.

Officers have seized 20 guns, more than 8,000 plants and nearly $85,000 in the raids.

Investigators say hot grow lights and power meters rewired to avoid detection could spark fires that spread to other homes, which often share a wall with the house next door

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