Couple sue after insurance agent tells police their hibiscus plants were pot
SARVER, Pa. (AP) -- A couple who say they were handcuffed for hours in a police patrol car after their hibiscus plants were confused for marijuana are suing the police and an insurance company.
Edward and Audrey Cramer say in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that a Nationwide Insurance Co. agent investigating a fallen tree at their Buffalo Township home sent photos of their flowering plant to police. The lawsuit alleges that Buffalo Township police officers with assault rifles went to their home on Oct. 7 to investigate.
Audrey Cramer, 66, said she was partially dressed when she went to the door and police would not let her put on pants before she was handcuffed.
"I was not treated as though I was a human being," she said. "I was just something they were going to push aside."
= new reply since forum marked as read
she wasn't "in good hands!"
(I know, that's not really acceptable after all of the "issues" in the past few weeks, or rather, years, starting with IQ45's "grabbing!"
.
I'll apologize now - and since I'm not running for any office nor do I have any TV/film series running, I'll guess that that's it! 
However, if I were an insurance agent I think I know where I might find some potential new customers (since their last one didn't seem to be "on their side!" 
And good luck (not really!) finding a new one in that field. I used to be in property and casualty insurance. Turning clients in to the police for suspicious plants is neither a job nor a license requirement. In fact, I wonder if his actions could somehow have violated state licensing ethics.
Btw, prick that he obviously is, that agent may not have been bizarrely unclear about what cannabis looks like. Some perennial and wild hibiscus foliage does look a lot more like that than it does its distant relative, tropical shrub hibiscus. The former can be grown in PA gardens, the latter (which is shown in the picture in the article linked) cannot.
This is perennial hibiscus variety developed and marketed for "purple" foliage, but note the deeply cut leaves and loose, lacy habit.
is Cleome - especially before it blooms in the fall!
order seed. Think I will, in fact!
Hopefully for PA gardeners, this very alarming incident will spark some needed education on IDing cannabis. There really was no excuse for those officers not giving the leaves a little rub.
There are flowers that can take the heat, and at least some periods of draught, and I need to plant for of those to replace ones that are failing, or gone.
That last is interesting. Just speculating out of line, but that insurance agent might have been acting out his disapproval of recent changes. Rereading Altemeyer's The Authoritarians 
, and if this guy isn't one of those and very upset that people are not being seriously punished for deviating, others are.
and so do I. I need to look for shrubs that bloom on new growth.
We just got our first ice in the bird bath last night, though, and it's been hot until last week. In spite of ice, we've yet to have a real, even light frost, though neighbors on the other side of the ridge have. Bizarre. And I can't divide a tough pink anemone I want to spread around because a yellow jacket nest I can't find hasn't gone dormant yet.
Used to be autumn started in the first week of September, and we'd have already had our first hard frost, garden seer and brown until spring. Instead I was out yesterday and found an old Veilchenblau rose putting out a few blooms. I've lost almost all my roses to implacable disease (and unwillingness to spray for those that can be stopped), but that one is still with us, draping from a tree it's climbed into and putting on a pretty show once a year.
Yes, "neighbors" would add a new dimension, maybe a few.
lantana that's considered hardy enough for here that probably is still putting on a great show with this heat.
I am so glad those people are suing and that this is around the nation. I just wish that sergeant at least was fired. He is extremely unfit for those responsibilities. And they tore out all their plants. I hope they're able to take pleasure in them again next year.
they can grow big as I understand. 
And yes - the disgrace of tearing out what were probably a somewhat rare hibiscus as it appears that the husband was a collector. I have a tropical hibiscus that I bring in and out every year (it's about 6 years old - a "Snow Queen" variegated one) and when you collect varieties, it can be painful to have your stuff die due to weather/cultural practices or due to animals or other pests - but being ripped out for something like this just adds insult to injury!! 
That community really needs to insist that cop be fired as well. Protect and serve!
although their leaves tend to be lobed all around.
Virginia creeper too but who cares if it is a vine!!!!
It's just like many hobbyists overwinter tender plants indoors (like peppers, citrus, and various high-light tropicals) or even do seed starting for the next year's garden, and use high intensity lighting to improve the odds of bringing the plants through the winter with growth and flowers and/or fruit... However naturally you have the suspicious thinking that someone with those types of lights is growing marijuana inside. 
I weep for America.
Hibiscus coccineus
Idiots.
But if you're growing that plant, take a close look at it. It looks like it might be male and needs to be taken down.
idiots. And they come in various colours too.
