A Winder police officer was following up on information obtained from witnesses to a hit and run accident when he stumbled upon a large opium poppy grow in a residential area Saturday afternoon.
The accident occurred in the parking lot of in Winder at approximately 3:30 p.m. Witnesses to the accident gave police a license plate number, along with a physical description of the vehicle that left the scene.
Officers responded to a residence on Northcrest Drive, also in Winder, based on the information from the vehicle license plate. They were able to make contact with a homeowner at the residence, who was questioned about the accident. The homeowner lead officers to the rear of the property where a vehicle matching the description given by witnesses was found parked behind the home.
While at the rear of the home, Winder Police Officer Dustin Kaster noticed a very large quantity of an unusual plant growing all over the back of the property. Officer Kaster suspected the plant to be opium but, according to a news release, wasn’t sure. The officer was able to perform some brief research online while at the scene and was ultimately able to identify the plant as an opium species.
Several residents of the home are being detained by the while the plants are being seized. The Barrow County Crime Task Force has also been called in to assist the police department with the investigation. Criminal charges are pending until further information can be collected.
Police have been told at this point by some of the residents that the plants were obtained from overseas, possibly from Asia, and were being used by an elderly person in the home for medicinal purposes. Approximately 900 plants have been seized from the home at this time.
More information will be released as soon as it becomes available.
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Next we will see the police confiscating some "gasoline plants" they found.... these plants are used to make ethanol fuel........ after a little research we will find out these plants are more commonly called corn plants. corn is corn and a poppy flower is a poppy flower. Leave these people alone. They grew some flowers and that is all. Me thinks a big apology is in order before these people sue the pants off all who are pushing this phony crime on them. me thinks someone also needs a big reprimand for cutting down these peoples flowers. godspeed
The process of using poppy flowers for medicinal purpose is also a legal activity, like using herb tea to treat a cough or even chewing oregano leaves to dull pain of a tooth ache. I am aware of many gardens that had poppy flowers in them and some were best suited for opium, but the owner never had any intent to produce opium from their flowers, they loveed flowers and had a beautiful flower garden. However, its illegal to manufacture opium. If the owners of the property were manufacturing opium then they should have gotten all that the police gave to them. .... but they were not. They had poppy flowers growing in their yard. That's all. We need to protect our basic constitutional rights as Americans and help our neighbors. We are loosing freedoms daily and few seem to notice. I don't supporting the manufacturing of opium or the like, but I do support sticking up for people who have not broke the law and are being bullied by police and media. I would speak out on your behalf as well if this were you in these peoples shoes. Take a few minutes and google "poppy flowers" and see if you can find laws or the like that would suggest they are illegal to have in your garden or to grow. If that were the case the police would be busy arresting many thousands of flower garden owners in the state of Georgia. godspeed
Manufacturing of opium is illegal. Here is a similar thought........ The drug Meth is illegal to manufacture as well.. Pseudoephedrine (sold as the cold drug Sudafed) is a key ingredent to manufacture the Meth. Psuedoephedrine is derived from the ephedra plant. -Sudafed is not illegal -the Ephedra plant is not illegal Making Meth is illegal.
The smart thing to do would have been to deny all knowledge of the plants stating "officer, I swear, we tried cutting those funny lookin weeds one time and pop got this goo all over him. Next thing you know he fell asleep for a few days and woke up itchin all over so we don't ever go near it." "There's no telling what someone might have planted in 'them there fields'... your honor." IJS