Busting people is a huge money maker in america.
It's a win win, they make money and take any right you have to vote or own a gun away. What do you think, they wont build more prisons? Hire more cops? more judges? more lawyers?
Someone gets pulled over in their car, the cop finds some weed, and they get busted.
^ That might be a money maker type bust for the powers that be. And I'm sure there are plenty of other scenarios that might fall into the same category.
But tracking down closet growers from Internet forums? Come on. Identifying subjects, collecting evidence, obtaining warrants, executing those warrants, making arrests, storing physical evidence, holding court hearings, and all the other things....
How does that make money for the powers that be? That is going to cost a helluva lot more than will ever be recouped in fines or other collected resource. Which is probably why it's not currently happening. It just doesn't make sense to pursue small-time unlawful activity by starting with posts in an Internet forum.
Now, if you've got a major commercial operation and are bragging about your op all over the Internet--that
might be different. Or if you're dealing in the exploitation of children or some other crime more serious than marijuana. The public isn't going to be outraged by tax dollars spent tracking down child porn on the Internet. But Joe Public growing a couple oz of weed in their closet? A major shift in the American public's attitude towards marijuana will have to take place before district attorneys and police chiefs start creating "Internet Closet Grow Crackdown Task Force" operations.
$0.02