Covert medical-marijuana growing operations surface in suburban homes - The Denver Post
Covert medical-marijuana growing operations surface in suburban homes - The Denver Post
HIGHLANDS RANCH — From the outside, Chris Bartkowicz's house looks like most of the others in his Highlands Ranch neighborhood.
The interior is a different story.
Bartkowicz has built a large medical-marijuana growing operation in the basement of his $637,000 suburban home, and he is far from alone.
9News discovered that dozens of suburban homes around Denver have been converted to indoor medical-marijuana farms.
"Whether it's a small grow or a big grow, I don't think the average person realizes how close to their front door it is," Bartkowicz said.
"I'm definitely hidden in suburbia," he said.
A jungle of electrical wires and water hoses snakes from room to room in the home's basement, all supporting Bartkowicz's nearly $500,000 medical-marijuana operation.
This year, he is hoping for a record profit.
"I'd like to see somewhere in the vicinity of $400,000 " he said, though he admits he could make as little as $100,000 depending on what happens with proposed laws regarding medical marijuana.
For now, state law allows people to grow six plants per medical- marijuana patient they serve. But changes contemplated in the legislature could restrict the size of operations like Bartkowicz's, or require a deeper relationship with patients than just being a pot farmer.
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