This image provided by the Somerset County, Maine, Sheriff’s Office, shows a rural home that was converted into a sophisticated marijuana grow operation on May 17, 2024, in Norridgewock, Maine. A Maine utility wants to assist investigators by proactively providing electrical usage data to police. BANGOR, Maine — Operators of illegal marijuana grow enterprises hidden inside rural homes in Maine don’t have to worry much about prying neighbors.
“Versant has a very high success rate in being able to identify these locations, but we have no ability to communicate with law enforcement proactively,” Myrick-Stockdell told commissioners. The Washington-based group has never heard of a proposal like this, he said, though federal courts have authorized the sharing of consumer data from so-called “smart” electric meters for the limited purposes of managing the power grid.
In Oklahoma, farms, empty nursing homes, bowling alleys and warehouses were transformed into marijuana production operations after voters legalized cannabis for medical use in 2018. Police began cracking down after realizing straw owners in China and Mexico were running many of the licensed operations, said Mark Woodward, spokesperson for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.
In Somerset County, Sheriff Dale Lancaster, whose deputies have executed search warrants on 21 marijuana operations, said law enforcement works best with community support, and he described Versant’s proposal as a “good first step.” CMP, the state’s largest electric utility, now formally opposes the change but will continue to fully cooperate with law enforcement if customer information is requested through subpoena, said spokesperson Jonathan Breed.
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