In 1996, a small town located in Rio Grande do Norte gained prominence for a very curious thing. At the time, Brazilian news began to report that several marijuana plantations were found in the municipality of Cruzeta. The weed was scattered in numerous locations, including the flowerbeds of the main square.
Soon, Cruzeta appeared to be a huge hidden marijuana plantation. Seedlings were found in the homes of several local residents and even in the city’s cemetery. After nearly three decades, however, residents of the sleepy area of 8,000 residents find it hard to believe that this story actually happened. Check it out!
The mystery of marijuana
(Source: Pixabay)
At the time the first investigations were conducted, the residents who consumed the plant claimed to the police that it would only be used medicinally. In fact, some were even surprised when they discovered that the plantations were actually marijuana.
There was a fear in the community that arrests could happen because of the plantations, even if they were in small amounts — which would be a crime anyway. The details of the investigations were ascertained by BBC News Brasil for more than a month.
According to the report, it all started when the Cruzeta police received an anonymous tip that a suspect was selling marijuana in a bar near the city exit. After being arrested for drug trafficking, the boy said he got the weed in the backyard of an elderly man in the region. The following week, the police obtained a search and seizure warrant to investigate the situation.
The Cruzeta plantations
(Source: Pixabay )
Upon arriving at the elderly man’s house, the authorities found the cannabis seedlings. The man allegedly asked the police not to cut the plant, as he used it as an ingredient for a holy liquid — which he believed would help him fight the cancer he had.
As soon as they found the plantation in the old man’s house, the Cruzeta police cut the weed and took it to the city police station. Later, marijuana plantations were found in six other houses in Cruzeta and in historic regions of the municipality. As these were heavily wooded regions, investigators concluded that someone must have taken advantage of the opportunity to grow some of the weed.
The Court ordered that all marijuana plantations in the city be cut down and seized, even if residents insisted on the discourse that the herb planted in Cruzeta provided invaluable medicinal benefits to its residents. Soon after being seized and kept under observation for days, the material was incinerated in ovens at the city’s ceramic industries.
At that time, the legislation in force in 1976 determined that users and people who had small marijuana plantations could receive prison sentences from six months to two years. Even so, the delegate responsible for the operation concluded that there was no evidence that the residents were using the plant as a narcotic and no one was indicted.
