Pot plant stolen when rain drives grower inside to sleep
LEBANON, Ore.- Terry Skyles slept in a tent in his backyard for days to guard his legal medical marijuana plants.
The first big rainstorm of the fall drove him inside Sunday.
"I was getting splashed, the noise was so intense that there could have been a party out there and I wouldn't have heard them," Skyles said.
Terry went inside at about 1 a.m.
His wife woke him up just six hours later with bad news.
"My wife woke me up at 7 and told me to please tell her I had cut down my largest plant," he said, "because it was gone."
Skyles said he is not sure who took the plant since it is not visible from the street.
In 2008, he had someone break into his greenhouse and vandalize his plants.
He sleeps in the tent next to the plants as an extra precaution.
He said the plant was 9-feet tall and worth $1,000.
"I am either going to have to cut down on how much I use or be forced to buy," Skyles said. "I think the nearest dispensary is in Salem."
Skyles is a medical marijuana cardholder. He suffers from a degenerative spinal disc disease and osteoarthritis. He said narcotics like vicodin have negative side effects, but medical marijuana gives him a quality of life.
"My wife says it's kind of what keeps us together because without it the narcotics make me not only nauseous and sleepless but kind of grumpy," Skyles said.
He called the police, and they took a report of the theft within 30 minutes.
All that's left is a tree stump to remind him of the months of hard work that are now lost.
"They get watered regularly, I pluck their leaves when they start to turn," Skyles said. "It's kind of like raising chickens, knowing eventually they are going to end up on the dinner table."
Funny. Criminals stealing from other criminals....
Charge this menace to society with murder.
its prettty sad when they think that some pot head getting his plants ripped off is news did I miss the memo where jerry springer bought kval or something?   medical marijuana or not reporting on somone getting their pot p[lant stolen is weak friggen newsÂ
You go through all that trouble, actually sleeping in the garden, and you can't be bothered to set up a camera and alarm system?
 @Eathan M. Could have been cost prohibitive.Â
score one for the pothead
 sorry if this is kinda off subject,,,I travel alot, and noticed some small towns post up all the police activity in there town in the newspaper. I wish eugene would start doing this, i would like to see all the criminals names in the paper, so we know who they are. maybe it would deter them.. or maybe not.
Seriously? This is the best news that KVAL has now? People's HOMES are robbed every single stinkin' day...and they don't make the news. Their entire lives are uprooted and stolen....and yet, someone steals ONE pot plant and it's the top story??? Give me a break!
Another reason to have the castle law.
Who cares! Damn pot heads...
 @Coosbayresident Is that all you ever say on the subject?  Name calling? =/
So the top story on the 6pm news is a illegal plant was stolen. How is this news? 2 wrongs don't make a right!
 @8203432 Medical Marijuana isnt illegal or wrong for that matter. Try telling that the thousands of people who benefit from marijuana use especially a long time cancer survivor myself.
 @8203432 WRONG? You think it's WRONG to have a marijuana plant? =/