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The Denver Police Department is asking the city for help because it's running out of space to store all the marijuana its officers are confiscating.
Lt. Cliff Carney, who manages the department's evidence section,told The Denver Post that instead of officers finding 15 to 20 plants in someone's basement, they're now finding 1,000 to 1,500 plants in a warehouse and all the equipment that goes with it, now that Colorado has legalized the drug for recreational use.
“We have a pretty good turnover so we don’t have to keep it forever, but we have to have a place to store it and process it to get rid of it,” Carney told KCNC.
In 2013, the year before Colorado legalized recreational marijuana, police seized a little more than 500 pounds of pot. Next year, the department expects to seize 11,265 pounds.
Police officials asked the city for $125,116 which would pay for two additional staff members at the property bureau. In addition, “We’ve asked for more storage devices to hold (the marijuana),” Carney said.
Denver police were among the first to compost seized marijuana plants -- although a court has to approve it each time, Carney told reporters.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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