What are the security issues when growing indoors?

Security, Excerpted from Section One, Indoor Marijuana Horticulture, The Indoor Bible

Growers and tokers have been made into "the enemy" by the American government in the War on Drugs. It is the job of law enforcement to arrest the flower-growing enemy. To wage this war on US citizens, law enforcement wields an impressive arsenal, including draconian laws and high tech surveillance gizmos.

Security Alert!
Never tell anybody about any garden.

Control where you go. Stay away from other grow houses, wild parties, real criminals, etc. Always take a friend's car to the grow store and go seldom. Travel with others whenever possible. Your car is easy to trace and follow. Keep your consumption habits reasonable; don't show large cash income. Buy large assets, houses and cars, over time. Don't ever tell anybody you are growing or even joke about growing. Always have a job and a reason for your activities. Keep a low profile.

Security Alert!
Don't talk on the phone about any garden.

Keep your home and surrounding property in good repair. Make sure the house is painted, lawn mowed and garbage picked up. Keep electrical use to a reasonable amount and keep the air clean around the house. Have very few visitors and keep to yourself. Have minimal conversations with neighbors.

Never trust anybody, friends, family - brother, sister, children, even your mother! In America, "Land of the Free", a grower can go to jail just for giving another grower advice! The RICO conspiracy laws were enacted to break up the Mafia. Today RICO laws are used against growers and non-growers alike. Under the law, a person that advises a grower to "water in the morning" is equally guilty of growing the marijuana garden, even if he never saw the garden. RICO laws tread on the very essence of the American Constitution.

Security Alert!
Don't show anybody any garden.

Never visit or telephone other growers. If visiting another grow room, that grower can implicate you with circumstantial evidence and you are considered as guilty as the grower!

Law enforcement has sophisticated telephone bugging devices, super sensitive directional microphones, infrared scopes, thermal imaging, etc. They can also subpoena telephone, Internet and electrical company records. Intimidating cops coerce electric company employees to break the law and give them the records. Tracking telephone numbers, including location, is very easy. There has been more than one case where law enforcement illegally acquired telephone records and placed illegal taps on garden store telephones. Police use telephone records to target grow houses. Always use pay telephones with an untraceable phone card or pay with coins. Lazy narcs also watch garden store parking lots and follow clients home.

Security Alert!
Pay bills in cash or with money orders.

Pay all bills and make all purchases with cash. Cash tells no tales and leaves no trails. Pay for mail order merchandise with a money order. Have the merchandise sent to another address. Develop garden photos in a large city in a quick develop store. Remember, the film is not yours! Do not give your telephone number on the return film information. Photos should not show incriminating evidence. Don't photograph people, tattoos, addresses, etc. US residents should never show their grow show to anyone!!! Never tell anyone you are growing. Deny growing to everyone, always! You immediately change from a Weed Warrior to a helpless victim subject to extortion once anybody knows you are growing in the USA. When the cops arrest a "friend" that has seen your grow show to, they can legally use deception and intimidation to squeal on you. Beware! Interrogations can last for months!

Law enforcement rewards jealous, hateful and vindictive "friends", lovers and enemies for implicating a grower under the RICO laws. Hundreds of thousands of growers have had their lives ruined in a matter of moments on testimony from a vindictive "friend".

Security Checklist:

• Electric bill should be about the same as the neighbors and previous tenants
• Garden and grounds should be tidy and similar to neighbors
• No light leaks whatsoever
• Use friend's car to visit grow store
• No noise - humming, fan on/off at night, etc. - is audible day and night
• No strange odors including ozone smell

All electrical outlets, fuses and connections must be grounded. Inspect electrical connections for signs of heat - blackened wires, melted connections and smelly wiring.

Have a current fire extinguisher rated to put out wood, paper, grease, oil and electrical fires.

When law enforcement has "evidence" of a growing operation, they look for more. They look at telephone, electric and shipping records for starters. A thermal imaging camera is most often used at this point. Occasionally they use dogs that are trained to sniff out marijuana. The information is used against the grower to obtain a search warrant. If there are plants discovered at the house, they continue to build the case against the grower by using anything the grower says. The police collect most of the information on the grower from the grower! Surround your property with a bed of cedar shavings instead of bark chips in the flowerbeds. Cedar shavings disguise other odors. Use an ozone generator to neutralize the marijuana fragrance. Have a ready reason for extra electrical consumption. Unload grow supplies a little bit at a time or from within a locked garage.

Security Alert!
Never admit to anything.

Absentee owners are the best landlords. Make sure home inspections are done before you move into the home and the rental agreement should allow for an advance notification of inspections. Put the telephone, electricity, garbage, etc. in a friend's name. Grow in a rented home. If you own the home, it is often forfeited if you are suspected of growing. Curb noise and odors by sealing and insulating the grow room with "sound board". Similar to sheet rock, soundboard muffles sounds well. Install rubber feet or grommets on fan feet. Build an extra room or box (allow for air flow) around ballasts to muffle noise. Place a thick pad under ballasts to absorb vibrations. In-line fans are much quieter and efficient than squirrel-cage blowers. If light escapes from vents, give venting a 90-degree turn and paint the vent black where it turns. This will disappear all unwanted light. Ozone-treated air should discharge through a roof vent or chimney to decrease ground level odors. See "Ozone Generators". Be careful when installing a ceiling vent or when venting out chimney. Light shining out the chimney and around roof vents looks very suspicious!

Security Alert!
Stop pungent smells with an ozone generator.

"All electric" homes are few and far between. Electrical use information from previous tenants might be available from the electric company. On the average, growers in the US can use one 1000-watt lamp per bedroom. This means a two bedroom home can host 2000 watts a three bedroom home 3000 watts, etc. Unhook the dryer and other appliances that draw much electricity. Turn the water heater down to 120 degrees and take showers at the gym.

Stealing power from the electric company causes even more exposure than paying for it! The extra risk is insane and it's wrong to steal! Fortunate growers use the Equalizer, a device that makes electricity more efficient, see box. Manufactured by Western Water Farms, in BC, Canada, 1-800-533-9301, Ext. 1, will lower the amount of current recorded that the line is drawing. In other words, route your grow room electricity through this device and pay half the electrical bill. Very slick little unit! The reports on electricity savings on this device have been incredible.

Security Alert!
Do not steal electricity!

Thermal Imaging Devices

Now relatively inexpensive (about $13,000) thermal imaging devices are becoming more affordable for smaller police forces. Thermal-imaging devices have been used legally to measure the heat signature escaping from structures. This invasive "evidence" is used with other "evidence" to secure a search warrant.

A recent Supreme Court decision declared the use of thermal imaging devices unconstitutional. Such heat sensing devices cannot be used to secure a search warrant for the interior of a private building. Super Size Secret: Grow efficiently and maximize all effort and expense to harvest a minimum of 0.5 grams per watt of light in the flowering room every month.

One last bit of simple security detail: grow efficiently! Growers should harvest 0.5 grams of dried bud every month for each watt of light in the flowering room. Growers that do not harvest this much are cheating themselves and must master the basics of growing. Always grow fewer than 99 total plants. Federal laws require a five-year minimum sentence with no parole when convicted of growing 100 - 1000 plants.