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Drug paraphernalia in my barn driveway :(

6K views 47 replies 23 participants last post by  Acadianartist 
#1 ·
We woke up this morning to find there was a mess in the barn driveway. The house and barn have separate driveways and in the barn one, there were smashed bottles, cans, some sort of home-made smoking device, and a box that contained rolling paper, scissors and a small metal container which we didn't open (we suspect there are still drugs in it since they appear to have left in a hurry). Also - get this - a license plate! It expired very recently, but should be easily traceable. I don't like this because my paddock is right along that driveway and my horses are out at night. I may start bringing them into the barn. I'd hate for someone to throw stuff like that in the paddock. I looked though, and could not find anything beyond the mouth of the driveway.

The RCMP have been called and are going to call us back to tell us what to do (we just photographed everything and left it there). Presumably they will come and pick it up because I don't really want to. This is not typical of our neighborhood which is a very quiet, country area, but being in the country, all sorts of things go on after hours. I don't want to panic because this has never happened before, but I'm very worried about my horses.
 
#3 ·
Most likely yes. We've had an unusual amount of AVT and dirt bike traffic on this road lately so I wouldn't be surprised if it came from the same source. I don't really care what people do in their own houses, but I'd prefer them not to leave drugs in my driveway. The cop just picked everything up and is going to run the licence plate. Of course it could very well be stolen - a prank or something like that. I don't expect them to find anything, but I didn't want to handle and dispose of the drugs myself and I also think it's not a bad idea to send a message that this sort of thing is not going to be tolerated.

My biggest worry though is that they'd get stoned and go harass the horses or throw some drugs into the paddock. But like I said, it hasn't happened before and hopefully won't happen again. If it becomes habitual, then it will be another story.
 
#4 ·
1. This is yet another reason why we have a locked gate near the end of the drive.

2. You could always get a camera system with night vision. It may help catch the perps if this activity persists.

3. I hope your RCMP take it seriously. If I found what you found in my drive, our police would be on it like White on Rice.
 
#5 ·
Police came and went and will run the licence plate. Other than that, not much they can do. They didn't find any leftover drugs, just some debris from pot and some kind of smoking device that probably contains traces of hash (?). This hasn't happened before, so no reason to think it will happen again, but if it does, we will certainly take more measures. A gate would be rather pointless since they can drive around it (the ditch there is very shallow and could easily be driven through - also, if they were on ATVs, which wouldn't surprise us, they can get in from all kinds of other directions, including our house driveway. Unless you have fencing going all around your property, a gate is pointless.

I am, however, putting a padlock on my paddock gate as a precaution. It is right at the corner, near the road and driveway to the barn so easy to access for someone who is looking for trouble or to retaliate for us calling the cops. They can still get in the paddock if they want to, but the horses would run from them. At least with a padlock on the gate, they can't set the horses free in the middle of the night or something.
 
#6 ·
Several of our neighbors have had break-ins recently. They are only targeting places with livestock and they are stealing the medication. A friend of mine's barn was broken into last week. She keeps a locked refrigerator in there. They apparently didn't have anything to cut the lock, so they stole the whole refrigerator! Nothing else was touched.

It's so violating. I'm sorry :(
 
#21 ·
Scary! A little funny to just take the whole fridge but sure it's not funny for her!!

My vet refuses to drive a marked car and just has a black SUV. She said when she was interning in Lexington everyone knew what the vet car meant and they had to drive with locked doors going through the city. At all the lights the car would be swarmed :/.

Something one forgets about, esp when you handle the drugs so much they become ordinary and it's easy to forget stuff like that!

Not something I'd be taking any chances with.
 
#7 ·
That is a shame. A few weeks ago, we saw some broken bottles and whatnot from stupid teenagers playing around. Haven't been back since, but it happens sometimes.
Glad you put a padlock on the gate, that's a step in the right direction. The horses will be safer for sure in times like that. I hope it doesn't happen again. People are so inconsiderate. So sorry this happened to you. It's been a rough summer I'm sure. :(
 
#9 ·
I would install some motion sensor lights ASAP - though they can be annoying if you get deer or coyotes wandering around at night that trigger them its worth it for the deterrent factor
Even if you can't put up any sort of security cameras I'd place a few large signs around saying that you do have them.
People taking drugs around horses is not something you want
 
#10 ·
Kids around here do something they call 'back roading'. Basically it means they drive around and drink their beer (or whatever) and usually the do toss the trash out the window before they go home. It's usually kids under the legal age and frequently they're smokin' pot too. Most of 'em don't mean any harm, but it's darn inconvenient and inconsiderate to toss the trash in someone's drive. Welcome to Life in the Boonies.

***I'm not OK with it, just defining what it sounds like happened to the OP.***
 
#11 ·
We actually have a motion sensor light right in front of the barn that undoubtedly came on. There is also a dusk to dawn light that is at the foot of our house driveway, no more than 50 ft away. They would have been clearly visible to anyone who wandered outside or drove by.

If it happens again, cameras will be going up. For now, we are treating it as an isolated incident.

Funny thing was that as I was standing in the barn driveway, waiting for the RCMP officer to arrive, a nondescript grey sedan drove by, slowed down, and slammed the breaks on right past the barn driveway. It stayed there, in the middle of the road, just past our property, in a wooded area for a few seconds. There are bushes at the end of the driveway, so they may not have seen me. I walked out to the road and they took off. A few minutes later, the cop car was in my driveway and I think they drove by again. I'm hoping they got the hint that we're taking it seriously.

I should add that the garbage and paraphernalia was laying at the very end of the barn driveway, by the road, so they could have just thrown it out the window. I tend to think it's more likely they parked there for a bit, but hard to say.
 
#12 ·
The joys of living in the boonies! We haven't had anything like that happen...we live on a very quiet dead-end road, so don't get a lot of traffic. However, there have been a rash of break-in's in our area, so we are taking extra precautions to ensure everything is locked up at night.
I'm not so worried about the horses themselves, but it is really worrisome that people have no regard for other's belongings or property.

After living in the city for my entire life, this is the first time I've considered getting a security system installed.

Hopefully your incident is isolated and you don't have to deal with that BS again.
 
#14 ·
You're right cbar - this just comes with the territory. It's generally a pretty live-and-let-live attitude though, and frankly, if someone wants to smoke pot in their house, I don't care, just don't leave it in my driveway.

Funny thing is, my daughter has a friend sleeping over. She lives downtown - not a big city downtown by any stretch (population 56K). I told the girls that the police were coming this morning and not to be alarmed about it. This little girl says very matter-of-factly that she's used to it, that the cops come to her house all the time. I know the mom, they are very nice people so I shared this with her and we laughed. Mom says they had an escaped convict taken down by the cops right in front of their house last winter. Says they deal with this sort of thing on a pretty regular basis since they're not far from the bar district. My brother lives in a city a couple of hours away - Moncton. They had a guy go on a shooting rampage there and kill three police officers on a street a block from his house. My brother was on lockdown for 24 hours as they tried to catch this armed psycho, sitting in his house with a hunting rifle while his wife and kids stayed in the basement, telling the young kids they were "camping" down there.

So yeah, stuff happens out here, but stuff happens in the city too. Would not trade my lifestyle for living downtown any day. We do lock our doors at night, but sleep pretty well. :) At least we know all the neighbors (they have been alerted) and all watch out for each other.
 
#15 ·
Padlocking your gate is good....
Do you though have the "hooks" pointed and being used that go both ways so the gate can't be lifted off?
If not....a chain and padlock around BOTH sides of the gate and gate post keeps it from being opened or removed...
A bolt screwed through the chain into the post also keeps the chain from being slipped up, over or off the gate post..make it as difficult as possible to gain entrance to your land.

The fact you just had a unknown car approach your barn road entrance, look around and park then skedaddle when they realized someone was around and saw them makes me more than slightly suspicious...
Wonder if they were looking for the license plate left behind.:think:
Make, model of car, color and description of occupants if you saw them along with day and time to your authorities...and keep a record for yourself.
If you see that car lurking around again get the tag information and make a call to the police...
:runninghorse2:
 
#16 ·
Does it look like just marijuana? That's what it looks like to me.

Is it still illegal in your state? It's legal here and since then a lot of that crap has stopped, since nobody has to sneak around anymore most people are a lot more well behaved and mannered.

Don't worry, stoners won't bother your horses. That's not really in their nature.

Hopefully though, someone finds out what happened and can catch whoever made a mess in your drive. I don't appreciate people who do that sort of thing.
 
#17 ·
You might be the spot for drug deals. The transactions might have been happening for a while now and the people just got careless enough or else something weird happened, and someone left evidence behind this time. I think you need to consider the possibility that someone is using your property for deals. The car that pulled up there might have been there to meet someone. Drug dealers are moving into rural areas because they are remote, private, an untapped market into which they can expand, and the local police departments are often untrained and too understaffed to deal with the drug gangs. I think your police should have taken a log stronger interest in this incident and not just brush it off as "kids."
 
#18 ·
SorrelHorse - If I had to guess, I'd say pot and hash. Illegal here, but cops don't really bother with it unless it's dealing.

Tack Collector - I'd think if this was a dealer, they'd be smart enough not to leave a bunch of stuff behind. We are right on the road - neither the house or barn is very far from the road so a highly visible area. There are tons of dirt roads that are far more secluded right in the vicinity. Sadly, we knew the cops wouldn't do much. We had some experiences with trespassers on our 185 acre woodlot a couple of years back that revealed a lot about what cops do - or don't do - around here. I don't blame them, they have huge territories and there's just no way they can cover all that ground. We had a confrontation on our woodlot a while back with 29 drunk guys on monster trucks and various other off-road vehicles. My husband and I were just out enjoying a nice day on our woodlot and ended up standing in front of these guys for 4 hours so they wouldn't come on our land. They love to spin around in the mud and ruin the trails on our woodlot, but of course, they weren't too pleased that we were blocking their way. They threatened to beat up my husband, insulted me and said they would burn our camp down. We called the RCMP who were quite reluctant to come out. You have to understand, our woodlot is far, far off any main roads and is only accessible with off-road vehicles. But to their credit, they did come, four hours into it. You should have seen the looks on the drunk guys when two RCMP SUV crested the hill over where we were holding them at bay. They actually ran, some with their vehicles, some on foot, and the poor RCMP guys tried to give chase on foot but they were completely ill-equipped for the terrain (we were basically in a bog). No one got charged since the guys didn't actually trespass, but a message was sent and we haven't had a whole lot of trouble since. These guys aren't exactly rocket scientists so I was able to track down a few names and find their Facebook pages. None of them have enough brains to set confidentiality settings so I was able to access photos and videos that they took that day of them spinning their tires. I sent the links to the cops who then knocked on their doors. Again, no charges were laid, but some of these guys have wives and kids and have jobs. I'm sure some of them laughed it off, but they decided to have their fun somewhere else since then.
 
#20 ·
Since you found the drug paraphernalia, I think it was a matter of young people just using your driveway to get high with no intentions of doing anything else. My mind would be going to more serious possibilities if I knew a car was there and didn't find anything. Still I wouldn't be too comfortable knowing that someone was on your property during the night. A motion detected light would help especially if the lit driveway could be seen from your house. A simple fence and even a chain across the drive would be good too.
 
#22 ·
No drugs in my barn- any thief would need to get high on beet pulp!
I keep some antibiotics in a frig in my house
What worries me, is 'road hunters, during hunting season, that can't tell a horse from a moose, elk or deer, esp when they combine some alcohol with their 'hunt'
Posted land means nothing to them.
Once, when still living on our acreage, I often would leg picket a horse in our ditch, as we had limited pasture.
I had atwo year old black colt picketed once, after work, and I always kept watch out my kitchen window, while making supper
A truck roared up, slammed on the brakes near that colt, and some characters got out with guns, looking through the scope of their rifle, over the hood of that truck.
My son, who was about 13 at the time, ran out, before I could stop him, and those idiots must have realized their mistake, through their drunken stupor, laughed while jumping back into that truck, throwing out booze bottles, as they roared off.
Another time, in the middle of the night, some drunks drove up and banged on the door, wanting gas. When hubby told them we did not keep a fuel tank, shouting at them through our upstairs window, I heard one of them tell a buddy to take down the licence plate number of my car, as they were 'going to get us'
Hubby called the police, while those drunks prowled around , looking for gas.
No police arrived after along wait, so hubby fired a shot over their heads. They left
Police phoned a half hour later, telling us they could not find our place!
I worried for quite awhile, as I was still working in the lab, and thus had my kids in the car with me, taking them to school and daycare
On our present place we have a security camera, a good watch dog, and are in the process of building a new gate across the drive way, mounted on heavy iron posts set in cement.
Incidents don't occur often, as those two occurred during a twenty year span of time, and with our present concern,not being human trespassers as much as stray lamas, mini donkeys, ect, from one party who is plain irresponsible when it comes to fencing
 
#23 ·
Sorry to hear that Smilie. We don't have them come on our property - except the one time when they said they were trailing a wounded deer (my husband was highly suspicious and told them to get out), however, it means I basically don't go riding beyond our property and a group of the neighbors' properties which are all posted. These are not huge properties 15-25 acres each, and the hunters don't tend to hunt there anyway. But I have no doubt that hunters would easily mistake our horses for deer since one guy shot at a jeep a few years back and nearly killed the occupant. How drunk do you have to be before a jeep starts to look like a deer???

I think there should be a fine similar to drunk driving for anyone caught drunk hunting. I mean really, is it a good idea to put a loaded gun in the hands of someone who can barely walk? That's how hunting accidents happen. My husband hunts but takes it very, very seriously. There is no drinking until after the hunt is over.
 
#25 ·
Yes, that is why road hunter is a derogatory term here.
My husband also hunts, and is very responsible also-no alcohol ever until afterward.
Road hunters are often urban folks that come out, to party and hunt in the country, too lazy to even walk, just driving up and down back roads, with a car full of 'good ole boys', out having fun
I feel safer in hunting season, out west, hunting with horses, where there are serious trophy hunters, as you don't find those 'road warriors', where the going gets tough
Not meaning to generalize, as there are serious urban hunters who come out to appreciate the wilderness, and also hunt responsibly
It is not also that all those that road hunt drink, as those occasions are rare enough, and if caught, serious
 
#26 ·
Yes, every year there is a story somewhere, of someone, shooting a hunting buddy by mistake. Few drinks after the hunt, loosing track of a buddy that goes into the woods to take a dump, then shooting at movement and noise in the under brush, thinking it is a bear This is after the hunt, sitting around that camp fire
I think there once was a case where a wife shot her hubby in that manner, with the excuse of honestly thinking it was a bear-all three times she aimed and fired! Guess she finally got lucky, as he got close enough!
Then, a person I worked with at the lab, told me how her hubby's brother went hunting with some buddies. Alcohol was involved, as that group of friend decided to stop and take a nap. Unfortunately, when they sobered up enough to drive, never noticed one buddy was sleeping with his head under the car!
heck, I was almost shot in my back yard one year, actually hearing that bullet whiz by me. Seems the ;crazy neighbour lady down the road, was shooting at coyotes, along our tree line. No alcohol-just stupidity, and you cant 'fix stupid !
 
#29 ·
It is here too, unless you are handicapped. But people still do it. Just like they jack (hunting at night with bright lights) and poach.

Smilie - I can see why you feel safer in those mountains! It's my husband's dream to do a hunt like that. It's only for the really hardcore hunters and they don't usually shoot unless they know exactly what they're shooting at.
 
#31 ·
I know, off topic, but far as a bucket list trail ride, a friend of mine has a sister, who lives in the Yukon. That sister and her hubby guided hunters for many years, and are now semi retired, but still have a lot of those horses,, who need to be ridden.'
Thus, it would be hubby's dream to ride in the yukon, and I would also not mind seeing that scenary. Will see if it happens next year
Far as hunting off the road, not legal here either, but that does not stop people from doing so, just like some will continue to drive drunk, even when that also is not legal!
 
#33 ·
Sometimes I wish darwinism was a little faster and more efficient... there are some people that I could honestly do without. Not the kid who pulls a stunt because he's 15 and wants to impress his friends, but the adults who should know better and do this sort of stupid thing over and over...

The Yukon is also a dream for my husband! I hope he gets to go. He jokes that the only way he'll ever get me to go hunting with him is if he does it on horseback. That's not entirely false. ;)
 
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