Seized Pot Growing Equipment Given to Pennsylvania Food Lab

PHILADELPHIA -- Equipment seized from a Philadelphia-area marijuana operation is going to be used to grow a different kind of herb -- and vegetables, too.

Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green tells The Philadelphia Inquirer the equipment taken in May from a sophisticated marijuana growing operation will go to Cheyney University and a Philadelphia community development corporation's Urban Food Lab.

Authorities say the raid at a former Chester drugstore yielded industrial generators, grow lights and hydroponic plant containers.

The Inquirer report says Partnership CDC's Urban Food Lab grows greens, lettuce, peppers and broccoli. An on-campus business at Cheyney already uses hydroponic techniques to grow basil that's sold to local supermarkets.

Cheyney professor Steven Hughes puts the value of the donated equipment at tens of thousands of dollars.