How Do I Safely Purchase Cannabis Growing Equipment?

[ClosetPonic]

Well, I guess I made an important error! All our local shops are closely watched, so I ordered from a descrete online dealer. Yes, I used my info and my credit card...I know...stupid me!

I can defend my actions with the fact my doctor suggest I take up a hobby, so I picked hordiculture.

 

[MattyTrips]

I love walking into a hydro store with a few big fan leaves sticking out from under my hat ,a Mr.Zig Zag t shirt on and eyes as red as the devil himself !!

love it even more that the 2 dudes running the local store look like that..lol

 

[MattyTrips]

That is a good question I too would like to know? I guess you should pay cash for those though, I wouldnt walk into a store use your debit card to put money on one and then turn around and purchase seeds online. lol. I mean they can trace the trail eventually back to you.

not sure if anybody mentioned anymore about this. I've used the prepaid cards in the past, specifically green . in order to register the card and make it valid to use online you are required to enter all your info(same info used on an actual credit card application). so they may be prepaid/same as cash. they still have to be hooked up using a legit name,dob,ssn. I'm not sure if there are any other prepaid card companys where this process wont be neccessary. All of the ones I've seen around will make you enter your info.

I've seen amazon.com gift cards around as well. I'm not positive but pretty sure you can get yourself an amazon account without using all that identifying information(if you catch my drift). they have a lot of stuff pretty cheap.

 

[mikemac]

I guess it all depends on where you live, some of the good information above just kinda sounds funny...my neighborhood in So. Cal has half a dozen hydro shops with big neon pot leaves in the window for every starbucks. One of the shops is right across form the local park, and the cops are at the park every day because one of the hundred psychotic homeless meth heads has freaked (nothing against the other hundred non-psychotic, meth free homeless that hang out)

Honestly, the LAPD doesn't have the time, energy or money to persue legit purchases at a retail location, and they don't have probable cause....but I would be aware of and careful with my utility bill and heat signature. Having your electrice bill jump from $200/month to $2000 probably IS probable cause, and having your attic light up the chopper cops FLIR system in the middle of the night in December....probably not good.

 

[Be Irie]

The original post is from 2007, a lot has changed since then.... The whole culture is different in Ca,Co and other states... Some States still have the old school mentality when it comes to the cannabis way of thinking....Show me a hydro shop that has a pot leaf in the window in Utah,Idaho or any of the other conservative States that have not passed laws....

 

[PotChimp]

Man, if they wanna follow me from the hydro shop (where I pay cash) they better fill the tank up ahead of time. I make all the rounds in one trip. Hell, I stop everywhere from the grocery store (where I can eyeball the parking lot as I go in and out) the butcher's shop, The bakery, pharmacy, pick me up some lunch,


And if they can manage to actually follow a rainman chimp, not be memorized, and get to where I am going (not my registered address, by the way) there's everything from mandevillas to orchids growing there and everything else is super stealth, so they can pretty much kiss my lil' chimp buttcrack. Not likely they're going to detect heat patterns through 10" of concrete, either.

 

[SirGrowAlot]

I know that it cant hurt to do these things to be on the safe side... but truly though think of the thousands upon thousands of people that order lights online over the internet.. I dont see how they track down all this stuff...
even then the online place would have to go out of their way to call the local LEO where you live...
BUt i guess it all could happen...
What is the thing that gets most people caught?

 

[biotrucker]

Some people are WAYYYYYY to paranoid! No offense, just chill.

1) Hydro stores don't want to put their customers in jail. I would think it is extreme paranoia to think they are writing down your license plate number. Certainly would draw bad publicity and attention to the store too!

2) Prepaid cards from the store should work although there are times when they don't work because of the network they run the cards on. A GreenDot card from Wal-Mart will work just fine.

3) Typically, the credit card processor doesn't care what your name is. They look at the card number, expiration, and security number on the back of the card, and they match it to your zip code. I ran a restaurant and I am very familiar with credit card processors.

4) Police cannot go searching credit card databanks without a subpeona, so unless you are a wanna-be columbian drug lord, the cops aren't looking for you.

5) If you grow your plants in a bay window, you might as well turn yourself in. If you are running the equivalent of (20) 100 watt light bulbs 24 hours a day, and all the appliances on too, same thing. Common sense in this department should prevail.

6) If you plant all your plants next to each other outdoors in a crop circle, you will get caught. Be smart and spread out!

7) If you are buying enough equipment to run a commercial application, don't spend thousands of dollars all at once! RED FLAG! Buy from multiple stores, using cash where possible.

8) Most of us here are into a small closet grow for a 6 month supply. The cops cannot just walk into your house and raid your closets unless you are a wanted criminal, have a warrant, or give them reason to believe you are a "sketchy" fellow.

9) If your kids are walking around the apartment complex looking like they haven't bathed in a month, a filthy diaper and no pants on, hang out on your porch with the homies, and cops are routine visitors in your area, that may very well be probable cause.

COMMON SENSE!!!

 

[HiTimes4Me]

The closest hydro store I visit has a sign at the counter and on the website that they will give your information to LEO if they have reason to believe your growing anything illegal

 

[biotrucker]

The closest hydro store I visit has a sign at the counter and on the website that they will give your information to LEO if they have reason to believe your growing anything illegal

They more likely say that just to keep law enforcement off their back. However, a store like that is likely to lose alot of business and will eventually have to go out of business. That is someone I would not do my shopping with.

 

[GrowinGirl]

It's legal for MMJ card holders to grow in my city and yet I would NEVER pay for anything grow-related with anything other than cash. They could make it illegal and retroactively prosecute some day for all I know.

I trust no one any more. It's sad.

 

[ThaiGuy]

so from what i just read is it safe to assume that purchasing something from ebay is also a bad idea? not trying to run a million dollar op. just a hobby really.

 

[Muttt]

I can't understand my a hydro shop would want to rat people out, I mean come on there in there business of selling items to grow plants including pot plants. I know if I had a hydro shop I wouldn't be calling and ratting people out especially people that is keeping you in business....

That's why they bust him for growing first. Then get him to rat out his friends and customers in exchange for a deal.

 

[oldhippie64]

I was looking for a better excuse then growing tomatoes, doesn't seem right to be growing them this time of year(nov.). I was thinking of saying I'm growing poinsettias for xmas. what do you think, does it sound better then tomatoes ?

 

[Afghani-Stan]

is it poissible to put money on one of those store bought mastercards or credit cards and then purchase the products? I was thinking of doing this and having it shipped to another location.

That was a great idea. Look how much things have changed since this article was written in 2004. Cannabis is now legal, albeit still illegal to grow unless you're a patient. The people will hopefully vote some politicians into office that will change that.

 

[leggyblond]

First post so I hope I'm doing this correctly...

I've used a prepaid American Express credit card/gift card with no problems. You can buy them in any denomination up to $5000 and you do not have to register the card-absolutely no personal information needs to provided. I purchased mine at CVS, make sure not to use a frequent shopper card but that's obvious, right? You use it exactly as you would a credit card and have it shipped to a safe house. You can not use it for overseas transactions due to terrorism nonsense, but it's worked well for me.

I've heard that all the Wal-Mart cards require your personal information and activation, but I've never used them either. I learned that tidbit from Google.

Rather be paranoid than busted, just saying...

 

[TanR]

Curious if anyone knows of a discrete pre-paid card that can be used for overseas transactions? The few I've come across that allow international use require registration with name, SSN, etc...

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ascended Master Kief]

9) If your kids are walking around the apartment complex looking like they haven't bathed in a month, a filthy diaper and no pants on, hang out on your porch with the homies, and cops are routine visitors in your area, that may very well be probable cause.

If a grower's kids are being neglected like that, they ought to be locked up.

Anywho, no hydro shops around my area, unless I drive at least a hundred miles or so. I really don't want to order certain things online. Yeah, I'm paranoid, lol. When I got a few supplies at Home Depot (lights, timer, soil, fertalizer), I also bought a few (obviously non420: got a few cacti, flowers, etc) plants from the same store. No questions were asked, but just went about the store relaxed yet not high, lol. Far as they know, the timer is for a sprinkler or something, the lights for my living room, and soil and fertilizer for the plants I bought there. As for bringing everything inside once I got home, that was the paranoia part for me. However, I just hauled the orange-ish plastic HD bags inside, never to return outside. Soil I got sitting in a closet, never seen by neighbors. Same with lights and shit. Plants went outside, save for my Crown of Thorns cactus. That's sitting in a window, about to put into a bigger pot, actually. Good thing to have non-420 houseplants visible through windows, kinda as a cover story for hauling gardening shit in and out the trailer, lol.

 

[Papasmoke1127]

So I am curious has anyone figured out what prepaid cards are best for online purchases?

 

[The303Stoner]

Re: Good advise, and words for the wise

I agree with most of the advice in the original post....especially the part about Use Cash Only, buy from non-grow stores when you can, and Never Discuss More Than You Need To

For example, I was recently in a hydro store (just curious) and a mid 20's guy was asking the clerk if he could open an account because his parents had just bought XXXX acres near X town in the same county.
The clerk was evasive and non-commital, but the customer wanted to open an account for the new grow.

Well, with what I overheard I could easily search county records for a land purchase of XXXX size near X town in X county and I would know exactly where he was setting up a big grow!

Fortunately for him I am not LEO or a thief. I wanted to tell him to shut up... but the other good advice by the OP is "Be a Shadow" when in those stores.... which I already knew, so I just went quietly on my way.

The part of the original post I disagree with is "Have your friends buy the grow stuff".
The only thing your friends should know is that you have "A Friend" that grows great herb.

I'm MMJ legal in a MMJ legal State, but too damn old to go to jail or pay for the court fight when local LEO decides they make the law no matter what the courts say.
Better safe than sorry.
peace,
just another old gardener

things changed fast