# Is it illegal to burn up someone's marijuana garden?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-burn-up-someones-marijuana-garden/634914
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 16, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-burn-up-someones-marijuana-garden/634914 "2012-09-16T21:02:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-burn-up-someones-marijuana-garden/634914/21 "2012-09-17T13:24:21Z")
> [@DrCube](#):
>
> Sure, nobody will call the cops and say their bag of pot was stolen…
You must never read your local police blotter. It is absolutely hilarious how often people do, in fact, call the cops for this very reason.
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### Author:  [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-burn-up-someones-marijuana-garden/634914/22 "2012-09-17T14:15:30Z")
Take it from someone with family in Down East North Carolina. Arson is arson. It doesn’t matter what you’re burning. If you set it on fire, and it isn’t yours (and you’re not planning on trying to collect insurance), it is arson.
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### Author:  [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-burn-up-someones-marijuana-garden/634914/23 "2012-09-17T14:16:09Z")
> [@md2000](#):
>
> Yes, exactly - this is the kind of crap you see on Judge Judy all the time. “she took my iPod, so I took her TV.”
It’s funny that you mention Judge Judy, because whenever Diamonds02 gets going I think of this one kid who appeared on the show.
He was walking home late at night, and it was cold, and he just wanted to get home, so he did the only sensible thing and carjacked a woman.
The woman sued him (because she lost a couple days work and had mental distress, I think) and the kid showed no remorse or even acknowledgement that he did anything wrong. He got home, she wasn’t hurt, and she got the car back, so what was the BFD?
Even after Judge Judy had Judge Judied in the woman’s favor and he was leaving the courtroom, he still had no fucking clue that he was in the wrong. After all, he just wanted to get home fast because it was cold out.
Need money? Just do some illegal fishing or steal some flowers from a wake and sell 'em.
Bored? Blare your horn or jacklight people’s windows at 4 am! It’s funny!
:dubious:
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-burn-up-someones-marijuana-garden/634914/24 "2012-09-17T14:24:20Z")
FYI - [Seventeen Medical Marijuana states.](http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881)
A carjacker went on Judge Judy. 😕
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-burn-up-someones-marijuana-garden/634914/25 "2012-09-17T14:26:42Z")
[Hey, 911 operator. Is my marijuana plant illegal?](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/08/man-calls-911-pot-plant-illegal_n_820278.html)
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-burn-up-someones-marijuana-garden/634914/26 "2012-09-17T14:35:39Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#):
>
> Take it from someone with family in Down East North Carolina. Arson is arson. It doesn’t matter what you’re burning. If you set it on fire, and it isn’t yours (and you’re not planning on trying to collect insurance), it is arson.
Quite right. Arson is arson. the charge is setting a fire when you are not allowed to, not “buring a legal item”. If the person erects a garage in violation of bylaws, even if he ignores an injuction to tear it down, it’s still arson if you set fire to it. There’s nothing in the arson law about “provided the burned item had a right to be there.”
Another point - yes, you may actually get away with not being charged - but relying on the goodwill not to be charged, from a DA whose job performance is judged by conviction rate - you are more likely to get away if the evidence is crappy, not because you (badly) justified your actions. All you did was confess to arson and admit to destroying evidence that might have been valuable in a future investigation.
If you were upright Pastor Joe and concerned about the Devil’s Weed in the clearing behind the church, maybe he might not believe he could get a conviction. If you were Joe Schmoe, and told him you burned the patch for kicks, so you could masturbate while watching the flames climb high into the night to light the sacrificial light and Satan laughing with delight… odds are you are looking at jail time. It’s more about odds of conviction than your self-justification.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-burn-up-someones-marijuana-garden/634914/27 "2012-09-17T15:00:24Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#):
>
> You may be a concerned citizen and you want to contribute to ending the laziness and obesity epidemic in this country. Or, you may just want to burn up a stash just for kicks or out of spite.
[Moderator Warning]
**Diamonds02** , you’ve been posting a lot of semi-trolling remarks recently, but you’re not going to do it in General Questions. This is an official warning for trolling. If you want to ask a question here, ask it straight without these kind of inflammatory comments.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
ETA: I’m closing this thread. If some else is interested in the legal question, you may open a new thread.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-illegal-to-burn-up-someones-marijuana-garden/634914/28 "2012-09-17T15:11:52Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#):
>
> And Diamonds02 continues her streak of posting crap that is both laughably clueless and full of casual disregard for other human beings.
> [@ugly ripe tomato](#):
>
> Need money? Just do some illegal fishing or steal some flowers from a wake and sell 'em.
>
> Bored? Blare your horn or jacklight people’s windows at 4 am! It’s funny!
>
> :dubious:
[Moderator Note]
If you want to attack another poster personally, the place for that is the Pit. No warning issued, but keep these kinds of remarks out of GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
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