Mayor: Pot busts coming
Agents identified at least 186 illegal grow operations.
colorado springs» Drug raids targeting illegal marijuana grow operations shipping to out-of-state markets have made headlines in Colorado, but Colorado Springs has seemed untouched.
That’s about to change. Judgment day is coming, said Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers. He expects hundreds of busts in coming months.
And those busts won’t focus on home grows, where citizens cultivate a few more plants than the 12 legally permitted, officials say. They are targeting unregistered, commercial-sized operations run by out-of-state residents, mainly from Florida and with ties to cartels.
Florida’s proximity to Cuba has increasingly made it an entry point for drug cartels looking to penetrate markets in the U.S., officials say.
“If you look at who is being busted in Pueblo and who will be busted in Colorado Springs over the summer, you can tell: These are organized crime,” Suthers said.
Two Denver Drug Enforcement Agency agents said they have identified at least 186 large-scale marijuana grows operating in Colorado Springs and trafficking products to the Midwest and East Coast. Some of the drugs are getting into Mexico, the agents said during an April 11 presentation to the City Council.
The agents did not specify whether they have busted any of those growers.
Growers are coming to Colorado to take advantage of marijuana laws and turn a hefty profit. In the 1970s and ’80s, a marijuana plant’s psychoactive agent, THC, was about 4 percent locally and as high as 11 percent coming from Mexico, said Pueblo County Sheriff Law Enforcement Bureau Chief David J. Lucero.
Through technological advances, today’s Colorado marijuana has THC levels of 30 percent. Hash oil, a cannabis extract, can have THC levels as high as 60 percent, Lucero said.
“This is super-potent stuff, and it’s a draw,” Lucero said.
A single marijuana plant can produce products that sell for $1,000 to $2,000 in Colorado, where the drug is legal, according to DEA statistics. In other states, those same products might sell for $4,000.
Tim Scott, resident agent in charge of the DEA’s bureau in Colorado Springs, said he’s seen marijuana returns as high as $6,000 in New York and $7,000 in Arkansas. The dollar signs have out-ofstaters moving to Colorado to cash in, officials say.
Since March 31, the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office and DEA agents have raided 23 illegal grows and arrested 35 people. Of those arrests, 26 people have been from out of state, all but one with ties to Florida. At least six residents were Cuban nationals, the sheriff ’s office said.
In 2015, police in at least 33 states reported intercepting Colorado marijuana, according to a Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area report.
“You have to understand what Colorado is,” the DEA’s Scott told the City Council in April. “Afghanistan is the source country for heroin. Venezuela and Columbia are source countries for cocaine. Mexico is the source country for methamphetamines. You are the source state for marijuana.”
Colorado Springs police are taking their time investigating alleged illegal grow operations, Suthers said.
“If you just bust a bunch of mules — the folks immediately growing and selling — without being able to figure out exactly what the scope and reach of the organization is, it doesn’t do much good. They’ll replace those quickly,” Suthers said.
Instead, the city is tracking drugs to “wellfunded organized crime operations,” he said.
“I think we have a long way to go, but I think we’re sending a pretty clear message that if you’re growing marijuana illegally here and trying to take advantage of the law here in Pueblo County, we’re going to catch you and address it,” Lucero said.