DEA report says unlicensed home grows in Colorado are ‘the new meth houses’
The Drug Enforcement Administration is warning that marijuana grow houses in Colorado may be the new meth houses.
AJune report by the DEAs Denver division warns of potential dangers and annoyances posed by large-scale marijuana growing operations hidden in residential neighborhoods. These operations canbe a nuisance to neighbors, prompting complaints about strong odors, excessive noise from industrial air-conditioning units, blown electrical transformers, and heavy vehicle traffic, according to the DEA.
Beyond that, a big indoor marijuana operation requires lots of high-powered lighting, water and ventilation. People making these modifications in a haphazard or amateurish way risk doing serious damage to their homes.
Unlicensed residentialoperations are becoming a bigger problem, the DEA says, because of loopholes in Colorados marijuana laws. Under the recreational marijuana measure passed by the states voters in 2012, individuals are allowed to grow up to six marijuana plants at home. But, according to the DEA, a provision in the law allows people to assist others in their grows essentially giving growers cover to produce a near-unlimited amount of plants and claim that they belong to other individuals.
Theres also a provision in Colorados medical marijuana law that allows so-called caregiversto grow up to 99 plants on behalf of patients that they assist. According to the Colorado Department of Health, there are fewer than 2,000people in the state authorized to grow between 50 and 99 plants.
The DEA report says that under the cover of these laws, unscrupulous growers can produce large quantities of marijuana to be shipped and sold out of state at high prices.But the report doesnt quantify how much weed is actually being shipped beyond Colorados borders.Nationwide, marijuana smuggling offenses have been falling in the era of legal weed.
The report says that since 2014, there has been a noticeable increase in organized networks of sophisticated residential grows in Colorado that are orchestrated and operated by drug trafficking organizations. The report says there are currently hundreds of these operations in Colorado.
These operations harm communities, including residents, first responders, service providers, and the environment in multiple ways, from reduced quality of life, reduced property values, and physical harm from mold, fires, and even explosions, said DEA spokeswoman Barbara Carreno in an email. When you add home-situated butane hash oil labs to the ...
