Cartersville Resident: Cops Mistake Common Garden Plant For Marijuana

A Cartersville resident believes a law enforcement agency mistakenly confused a bush in his garden for a marijuana plant.

According to WSB-TV, Dwayne Perry said he was greeted on Wednesday by helicopter flying over his house, a Bartow County sheriff’s deputy and a K-9 unit. Perry told the news station he was afraid because he was unaware what was happening.

“They were strapped to the gills,” he added, referring to those responding to the scene.

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Turns out, the helicopter belonged to the Governor’s Task Force on Drug Suppression, a unit operated by the Georgia State Patrol that works to “eradicate domestic marijuana within the state of Georgia and to gather intelligence relating to its manufacture and cultivation,” according to its website.

And the state agency was doing just that when it showed up to Perry’s property. Perry said he thinks the state agency mistakenly believed the okra plant in his garden was marijuana.

Georgia State Patrol Capt. Kermit Stokes said that while the homeowner did have okra on his property, the plant in question was not the popular southern dish.

“The plant in question was nearby and had enough similar characteristics that the aircrew could not positively identify the plant from altitude,” Capt. Stokes added. “They simply asked an officer on the ground to walk in and get close enough to verify.”

Capt. Mark Mayton with the Bartow-Cartersville Drug Task Force said the agency responded to the scene at the request of the state task force.

Capt. Stokes said the Georgia State Patrol has not been able to identify the plant, but added he’s tracked down someone who encountered the plant previously and could probably provide some insight.

“I may have to get with a botanist since there are so many varieties of species,” he noted. “Even cannabis has a lot of variation.”

(Photo: the Governor’s Task Force on Drug Suppression is working to identify this plant located on the property of Cartersville resident Dwayne Perry. Credit: Georgia State Patrol/Task Force on Drug Suppression)