The Vital Role Code Enforcement Plays in Stopping Illegal Narcotics Facilities

This article is Part 2 of a three-part series exploring the roles of code enforcement officers. Stay tuned for Part 3 which will be published in the coming months. To read Part 1, click here, to read Part 3, click here. 

People often think that drug crimes are handled exclusively by the police, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). But code enforcement plays a part as well. One of the most notable cases comes from San Bernardino County, where its code enforcement team assisted the sheriff’s department and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in carrying out the county’s largest seizure of cannabis.

Code enforcement may also be called to investigate illegal dispensaries. In Redondo Beach, California, some growers tried to disguise their establishments as houses of worship. One was particularly problematic because they attempted to evolve as code enforcement began to investigate. At one point the dispensary promoted a Sunday Service in person and on its website.

“Every time we’d come in, we’d say, ‘This is not what you’re zoned for,’ or, ‘You don’t have the proper permits or approval from the city,’” said Norma Cook, Code Enforcement Officer for the City of Redondo Beach. “They’d say, ‘We’re exempt because we’re a church.’ And the sacrament is a joint or edibles or whatever, and if people wanted to donate, they can, so that’s the way they would try to get around it.”

Cook added that those who were in charge of the dispensary got “wittier” with time. In addition to having a website, the dispensary added posters to the front room, which resembled a doctor’s office. Customers couldn’t get to the dispensary itself – where all of the products were displayed in glass cases – unless they were buzzed in.

To address this problem, Redondo Beach employed a multi-pronged approach. They started by going after the construction of the building, which was completed without permits and included hazardous electrical work. They also connected with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to counter the dispensary’s claims that it was tax-exempt. The State of California’s regulatory agency got involved as well.

“We worked together with a lot of outside agencies, but eventually got them shut down,” said Cook.

As Illegal Cannabis Spreads, Code Enforcement Has Became Increasingly Important

These drug cases are not isolated incidents, nor are they specific to California. Jackson County, Oregon is among the areas that have been inundated with black market cannabis in recent years. This is in spite of the fact that recreational cannabis is legal in both states.

From 2016 through most of 2020, code enforcement officers focused on educating small growers who were interested in starting legitimate cannabis-related enterprises.

“Most of that was just enforcing our local land use regulations related to production,” said Alicia Brown, Code Enforcement Division Manager for Jackson County. She is also spearheading a Women in Code Enforcement and Development (WICED) Region II chapter that will mirror ICC’s Region II. “For example, enforcing the maximum number of plants they can have on their property. And enforcing greenhouse light deprivation regulations, which is a quality of life issue for the community when you have these massive greenhouses that are lighting up big areas.”

While many legal growers are still interested in setting up shop in accordance with the code and the law, black market cannabis became a significant problem for the county in the fall of 2020. At a time when most people were staying home amid the COVID-19 pandemic, criminal organizations were hard at work – and code enforcement quickly took notice.

“We were seeing greenhouses pop up all over the place,” said Brown. “We went from our backyard mom-and-pop growers of legal cannabis to illegal cartel criminal organizations operating within the community.”

This led to a multitude of problems, starting with fire safety issues due to improper electrical installations. Jackson County is among the counties that were hammered by the Almeda Fire in 2020, which destroyed thousands of homes. Code enforcement officers take the fire risks created by nonpermitted electrical and gas installations very seriously and use the code as often as possible to shut down their operations.

Another issue came from the forced labor that the cartels used to grow their illegal cannabis. People were often brought into Jackson County, held against their will and forced to live in abhorrent conditions.

Human trafficking is a federal crime, so Homeland Security was brought in to address this issue. Code enforcement worked with them and partnered with community-based organizations to provide victims with resources and translation services.

Brown said that while law enforcement has authority over the criminal aspect of these enterprises, code enforcement has authority over the greenhouse structures and all the electrical and mechanical work that goes into them.

“Code enforcement had a different set of tools that really helped when we partnered with the sheriff’s department,” said Brown. “Having the authority to get the power cut [was really important in reducing the risk of wildfires].”

But there were other challenges to deal with as well, including the potential environmental impact of illegal cannabis growth.

“The environmental portion of it – the chemicals, pesticides, nutrients and everything they use to cultivate these plants – can be incredibly toxic,” said Brown. “The Rogue Valley is known for its beautiful waterways, we have a huge fishing/angling tourist draw here, so protecting our waterways is really important. There were times when we had to bring in the Department of Environmental Quality to address ground and water contamination.”

Code Enforcement Plays a Role in Stopping Other Crimes as Well

While the aforementioned crimes (namely human trafficking and water pollution) are the result of illegal narcotics, code enforcement also has a hand in stopping criminal activity outside of drugs.

“There are so many things you can do besides going after dispensaries and whatnot,” Cook said of her career in code enforcement. “We also have illegal massage places where they offer prostitution services, so we work together with our special investigation unit [to help resolve the problem]. We have a lot of codes, such as the lighting work inside [or even] doors that can’t be closed when they’re open for business. We go out there and do these inspections to see, from the code enforcement side, what violations they have and then the special investigation side deals with the criminal portion of it.”

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