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Annual police marijuana harvest used to be a rite of summer on one Dorchester side street

By adamg on Mon, 08/07/2023 - 11:15am
Boston cops doing annual marijuana harvest on Willow Court in Dorchester

See it larger.

In August, 1951, Bryon Campbell, a photographer for the Boston Herald, photographed an unusual annual harvest on Willow Court, a short, narrow street behind what is now the South Bay mall:

Marihuana Harvest-Police began their annual chore-cutting down a mysterious growth of the dope weed in a field off Willow court, Dorchester. The growth has several times been mowed, uprooted and burned over, but it still thrives. Patrolmen John Abraham, William Doyle and Thomas Mullen help in eradication.

Photo from the BPL's Boston Herald-Traveler Morgue collection. Posted under this Creative Commons license.

Neighborhoods: 
Dorchester
Topics: 
History
Free tagging: 
Willow Court
Marijuana


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Comments

By what what now? on Mon, 08/07/2023 - 11:23am.

tells a story in itself. That's his crop. He's not too happy.
Also, the first cop in the photo, Patrolmen John Abraham, looks like he's used some of that wacky tabacky, judging by that grin.

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Voting closed 20

By PerryD on Mon, 08/07/2023 - 1:02pm.

I don't see a single flower.

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By suomynona on Mon, 08/07/2023 - 11:39am.

burned over indeed

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By berkleealum on Mon, 08/07/2023 - 12:07pm.

Patrolman Abraham has just completed a rigorous inspection of the contraband lol

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By anon on Mon, 08/07/2023 - 12:37pm.

Judging from Patrolman Mullen, the old urban legend that pot makes men grow breasts is clearly true.

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By Friartuck on Mon, 08/07/2023 - 1:44pm.

Must also wear high waisted trousers

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By Lee on Mon, 08/07/2023 - 12:43pm.

Above and beyond the call of duty.

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By anon on Mon, 08/07/2023 - 12:46pm.

is that... wacky tobaccy?

Tha wackiest!

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By anon on Mon, 08/07/2023 - 3:29pm.

money doesn't grow on trees, but ganja comes close

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By tachometer on Mon, 08/07/2023 - 4:06pm.

You could smoke that stuff all day and it wouldn't give you anything but a headache.

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By Don't Panic on Mon, 08/07/2023 - 11:53pm.

I'm pretty sure they continued this through the late 1960s. I remember playing in a stretch of vacant lots in lower Roxbury when a bunch of grown men came in and started pulling up the weeds me and my friend were playing army in. We had no idea what that was about.

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Voting closed 8