The Drug Enforcement Agency is looking for a Houston-area contractor to send thousands of pounds of marijuana up in smoke. However, the DEA wants the contractor to incinerate the weed, and not for people to smoke it.
The DEA wants the company it selects to burn at least 1,000 pounds of marijuana per hour, along with items like papers, cassette tapes, pharmaceuticals and other controlled substances, KHOU reported.
"The DEA agents and Houston division work great cases," Sammy Parks of the DEA told KTRK.
When cases are closed, the evidence needs to be destroyed, the television station reported. So, the DEA is looking for help.
"We dispose and burn a number of drugs (like) marijuana, methamphetamines, and prescription pills," Parks told KTRK.
The contractual work will run through Sept. 30, KHOU reported. The items earmarked for destruction, the DEA said, will be picked up at facilities in Houston, Galveston, Beaumont, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Waco and other cities, the television station reported.
The DEA said it would provide armed agents and contractors during scheduled burn times, KHOU reported.
After receiving several calls, the DEA released a statement that specified that companies -- and not individuals -- would be hired.
"Although we appreciate local citizens’ willingness to offer their help, this is a complicated, large-scale government contract we’re required by law to bid every few years, and there are usually only a handful of companies with the necessary facilities and resources to help us dispose of this material,” the statement read. “While it makes for an interesting headline, the truth is far more prosaic -- our agents working across the Houston Division make a huge number of great cases, and as a result, we seize a tremendous amount of illegal drugs. Arranging for the save and effective destruction of these drugs is just part of the job.”
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