By Tom Angell
Colorado’s laws allowing medical and recreational cannabis have “led to a proliferation of large-scale marijuana grow operations in hundreds of homes throughout the state,” says a new Intelligence Report from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
“Much like the ‘meth houses’ of the 1990s, many of these homes may ultimately be rendered uninhabitable,” DEA claims.
Homegrown marijuana “presents potential risk to the occupants, homeowners, and neighbors of these residences, as well as to first responders who are called to them,” the short, four-page report argues. “Marijuana grows often cause extensive damage to the houses where they are maintained and are increasingly the causes of house fires, blown electrical transformers, and environmental damage.”
And local police “often receive numerous calls from neighbors about marijuana grow houses,” DEA says. “Common complaints include strong odors, excessive noise from industrial air-conditioning units, blown electrical transformers, and heavy vehicle traffic.”
Legalization advocates took strong exception to the claims.
Paul Armentano of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), added, “The DEA’s ‘Flat Earth’ position toward marijuana is out of step with public and scientific consensus.”
He said that polls show that an increasing majority of Americans support alternatives to criminalization but “the DEA continues to rely on outdated and ineffective scare-tactics that contribute nothing productive to this ongoing, important nationwide narrative.”
In the report, DEA attempts to spell out what it sees as the dangers of marijuana homegrow operations:
Colorado homes where marijuana is grown often sustain extensive structural damage. Moisture, condensation, and molds spread throughout the residence. Growers often cut holes in floors and exterior walls in order to install ventilation tubes. Growers often tamper with electrical systems in order to supply multiple high-power grow lights and industrial air-conditioning units. These alterations are often done by tenant growers with little regard for fire risk or the home’s structural integrity. This is an increasing concern for first responders. Altered electrical systems with loose and entangled wires, flammable fertilizers and chemicals, explosive materials such as propane and butane, or holes cut into subfloors for venting all pose clear hazards to firefighters or police officers responding to the residence in an emergency situation.
The agency also argues that “the permissiveness of Colorado’s medical and recreational marijuana laws” is “exploited by traffickers who operate large marijuana grows that supply out-of-state markets.”
The report seems intended to impact the public debate surrounding several marijuana legalization initiatives that voters will see on their ballots this November.
“This report should certainly be part of any future discussions of changes or refinements to Colorado’s marijuana laws,” Barbara Roach, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’ Denver Field Division, said in a press release.
Though the document was issued on June 22, it doesn’t appear to have generated any press coverage yet, perhaps because the comparison of homes where marijuana is grown to “meth houses” is seen by journalists as too much of a stretch.
Separately, DEA is expected to soon issue a ruling in response to pending petitions to reschedule marijuana.
