Ever wonder what happens to all the illicit drugs seized by police, government agencies and the DEA? We did.
It turns out that the most popular method is incineration, but that comes with a host of other issues. Cocaine burns poorly (who knew?) with most incinerators only capable of processing a ton or two each day.
Huge caches of marijuana create quite the second-hand smoke fume (second-hand high anyone?)
Add to that the different local environmental and safety rules that can apply in different States.
For instance, in West Virginia, some authorities may use fire pits; State police in Detroit use a metal forging plant’s high-temperature furnace, but smaller posts use burn barrels.
Pennsylvania State Police say they handle drug destruction internally, such as with a small incinerator. New York State Police use an outside contractor they won’t disclose the information (for security reasons but also because they don’t want the business to be overwhelmed with other agencies also looking to destroy drugs.)
However, authorities say that with the massive seizures they are making regularly they are running out of places to incinerate and destroy illegal drugs.