Maine: Utility company's proposal to rat out hidden marijuana operations to police raises privacy concerns [View all]
Source: Associated Press
Utility company’s proposal to rat out hidden marijuana operations to police raises privacy concerns
By DAVID SHARP
Updated 12:26 PM EDT, August 7, 2024
ANGOR, Maine (AP) — Operators of illegal marijuana grow enterprises hidden inside rural homes in Maine don’t have to worry much about prying neighbors. But their staggering electric bills may give rise to a new snitch.
An electric utility made an unusual proposal to help law enforcement target these illicit operations, which are being investigated for ties to transnational crime. Critics, however, worry the move would violate customers’ privacy.
More than a dozen states that legalized marijuana have seen a spike in illegal marijuana grow operations that utilize massive amounts of electricity. And Maine’s Versant Power has been receiving subpoenas — sometimes for 50 locations at a time — from law enforcement, said Arrian Myrick-Stockdell, corporate counsel. It’d be far more efficient, he suggested to utility regulators, to flip the script and allow electric utilities to report their suspicions to law enforcement.
“Versant has a very high success rate in being able to identify these locations, but we have no ability to communicate with law enforcement proactively,” Myrick-Stockdell told commissioners.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/utilities-regulators-marijuana-grow-operations-344a5f1b4a52d096e95bc9ae93f7372a
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No-knock SWAT raid driven by innocent spike in electricity use? Already happened at least once.
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