Weed growers in Tel Aviv – take your pot off the balcony!

Police bust woman whose pot plant was visible from the street.

By BEN HARTMAN
Pot plant on Tel Aviv balcony seized by police (photo credit: COURTESY ISRAEL POLICE)
Pot plant on Tel Aviv balcony seized by police
(photo credit: COURTESY ISRAEL POLICE)
Small-scale marijuana growers in the Tel Aviv area who keep their plants on a windowsill visible from the street run the risk of being arrested, it emerged on Tuesday.
Though that may seem obvious, for one Herzliya woman that reality became clear late Sunday night. According to Tel Aviv police, detectives on an anti-burglary sting spotted the marijuana plant, hardly a foot tall at most, sitting in a pot on top of a window A/C unit on the second floor of a residential building.
Police said that the detectives suspected the plant was marijuana but because it was dark and they were on a stakeout, they decided to come back later on.
On Monday, they returned to the building and began staking out the plant, finally seeing a woman in her 40s arrive at the window to water it.
They then knocked on the door and arrested the woman.
Tel Aviv police on Tuesday sent out a picture of the small plant and a press release about the woman “who wanted to give her plant some fresh air” and was arrested.