Empty Foreclosures ‘Go to Pot’?
Empty Foreclosures ‘Go to Pot’?
Foreclosed homes left standing empty are increasingly becoming overtaken and turned into marijuana farms inside.
The problem has particularly surfaced in Las Vegas. For example, at one foreclosed home in Las Vegas, police seized 878 marijuana plants worth about $2.6 million, the Los Angeles Times reports.
In Nevada -- which for the last few years has had the highest foreclosure rate in the country -- authorities this year have busted at least 130 indoor grow sites, which is nearly two dozen more than at the same point in 2010, says the Times.
"You can't have crime without opportunity," William Sousa, a criminologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told the Times. "And all those empty homes present an opportunity for criminal activity."
Source: “In Foreclosure-Plagued Vegas, Empty Homes go to Pot,” Los Angeles Times (Nov. 12, 2011)
Read More:
- © Copyright the National Association of REALTORS® unless otherwise noted.
- HEADQUARTERS: 430 NORTH MICHIGAN AVE. CHICAGO, IL 60611
- D.C. OFFICE: 500 NEW JERSEY AVE. NW WASHINGTON, DC 20001
Most Recent News & Commentary