Illegal Marijuana operations busted in Colorado

Posted by Sagar Satapathy on January 30, 2018.

Teller County Sheriff's Office deputies conducted three raids on illegal marijuana grow operations Wednesday and seized more than a million dollars' worth of pot in a rural area in Colorado.The first two raids were conducted near Divide, and the last in Woodland Park.

Inside the first house near Divide, a basement was transformed into a marijuana grow room, while the second house also near Divide had a garage transformed into what looked like a greenhouse.

Deputies found dozens of plants all catered to by a water system installed in the house. 

Authorities say more than 100 plants and 80 pounds of processed marijuana were seizednear Divide. They also found several pounds of hash oil in a THC extraction lab on the property. THC is the active ingredient of cannabis.

In Woodland Park, over 60 plants and dozens of pounds of processed marijuana were sized.

Authorities claim these labs are potentially dangerous as hash oil explosions cause a number of deaths each year in the state.

The effort to crack down on illegal marijuana growers is part of the Sheriff's initiative to drive organized crime out of the region, said authorities. 

The sheriff’s office however informed that no arrests were made in this connection, but the investigation is on to nab the marijuana growers and operators.

The executive director of the Southern Colorado Cannabis Council (SCCC), Jason Warf , believes that many of the grow operations considered illegal by authorities actually are producing plants for patients and caregivers, and he said the busts violate grow rights guaranteed by voter approval of Amendment 64, KRDO NewsChannel reported.

"If we continue down this path, it is extremely likely that voters will work to overturn all regulation that we have put in place," Warf said.

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