A large force of DEA agents and local law enforcement raided approximately 50 suspected illicit grow houses in the Denver metropolitan area early Thursday, according to a Denver Post report.
A spokesperson from the DEA’s Denver office said that search warrants were served on homeowners and residents across the Denver area. This is the third major DEA raid in the last five months.
Indoor home grows, to a certain size, are legal within the laws of Colorado. The only information currently available is from the DEA about those being served with warrants, however. According to Denver DEA spokesperson Randy Ladd, all the homes served in the raid were connected to east coast-based organized crime.
Ladd believes that Colorado’s legalization — not the ongoing prohibition of cannabis elsewhere — is to blame for the large amount of grow house busts in the Denver area over the last five months.
“Colombia is to cocaine as Colorado is to marijuana.” — Randy Ladd, DEA Spokesperson, via the Denver Post
Ladd also suggested that illicit cannabis operations in Colorado have brought more murders, robberies, and gun trafficking to the state.
Although flashy, Thursday’s raid in the 10900 block of Unity Lane and the 11500 block of Chambers Drive in Commerce City, among other spots in Denver, did not result in any arrests. Earlier raids, such as one in October targeting the Aurora suburb of Denver, also did not net any arrests.
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