A call from Sheriff Dennis Darby alerting us to a “grow house” being disassembled Tuesday was my ticket to get out of the office and watch the professional law enforcement officers do their jobs.

Since marijuana is now legal in several of our United States, a couple of plants is just not such a big deal anymore. But a grow house where somebody is supplying a population segment with the forbidden weed excites me like “revenuers busting up” whiskey stills in earlier days.

Arriving shortly after the call, I found that investigators had done their initial work. Panola County Drug Task Force members were meticulously taking down and beginning to pack up the contents of  the 20×50’ structure built mostly with plastic sheeting, tarps and metal and plastic pipe.

A water hose ran along a path from the house that sits back from McNeely Road where it meets Highway 51—the main intersection in Courtland.

Sheriff’s department officials said an elderly man, recently widowed, lived in the house and that the man arrested had been living there also. Both the elderly man and the suspect, Kenny McMillan, said things other than marijuana were growing in the makeshift greenhouse.
But the elderly man, who owns the property, gave Deputy Danny Beavers verbal permission to look around and they soon discovered that vegetables and pretty flowers and shrubs were not what was being grown there.

Sheriff Darby chided Beavers, since he lives just across the highway, for not knowing about the operation. But to his credit, Beavers had noticed the makeshift structure while checking on the elderly man at the request of a family member. Neither the house nor the operation could be seen from Highway 51 nor McNeely Road. Privet and other undergrowth hid all the structures from three sides.

Chief Deputy Chris Franklin, to confirm the potency of the hemp, pointed to one of the tallest of the plants and told me to grab a bud at the top. I did, and a sticky substance came off, making my hand feel like I had just opened a jar of molasses.

When Franklin turned his head I instinctively touched my tongue to the substance to see if it brought back memories of  “research” experienced while at The University. (Actually I licked the goo from my hand.)

Gloved officers were dutifully pulling up plants and placing them in a wheel barrow for evidence. Two large industrial fans and several smaller fans were blowing the smell of hemp throughout the yard and surrounding area.

Both Beavers and Darby said the suspect stated the grow house was an experiment—he was planning to move to Colorado where growing and selling pot is legal.

A very short while later my throat was suddenly getting a numbing, euphoric sensation which could have been an effect of hemp juice from my hand.

Officers from other agencies dropped by to see the grow house while it was being disassembled and loaded onto an enclosed trailer.

My throat was becoming more numb and a strange feeling had come over me. Was it the hemp from my hand— had it been sprayed with some weird chemical to make it grow, or an insecticide or. . .? (Paranoia is another side effect of hemp.)

Law officers from other agencies and jurisdictions dropped in to see the grow operation as local drug officers wound down their mission. I slipped away, swallowing often while still wondering if I had a buzz or had poisoned myself.

The worry subsided when I reached town and had the urge to pull into the grocery store and pick up a bag of Oreos. A half-gallon of milk was also an option.