Okra growing in a field in Homestead, Fla. (Joe Raedle, Getty Images file)

Georgia man’s okra mistaken for marijuana during police pot search

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. — A Georgia man says drug suppression officers mistook his okra plants for marijuana.

Dwayne Perry of Cartersville tells WSB-TV that he was awakened by a helicopter flying low over his house Wednesday and then some heavily-armed deputies and a K-9 unit showed up at his door. They were from the Governor’s Task Force for drug suppression and they were out looking for marijuana plants.


True stories: Did you hear about the Albuquerque man who returned a rental car that had 140 pounds of pot in it? What about the raids in an Albanian village believed to be one of Europe’s top pot producers?


What they had seen, apparently, were Perry’s okra plants and a shrub at the end of his house.

Perry says the officers ended up apologizing to him.

Patrol Capt. Kermit Stokes says the plants did have characteristics similar to marijuana.

Perry says people keep asking him about the officers at his house, and he worries that his reputation has been damaged.