SNOHOMISH, Wash. - When Snohomish Police Officers responded to a report of domestic violence at a north side apartment Tuesday night, they had no idea what they would find inside. Crammed into the two bedroom apartment, officers found a psychedelic mushroom growing operation. Officers also found a large amount of heroin.
"Not only is this one of the largest drug busts we've had in this town for a while, this is the first time I've seen mushrooms grown like this," said Snohomish Police Chief John Turner.
Police seized 24 trays the size of a small flower bed, filled with mushrooms at various stages of growth. Eating the poisonous mushrooms can cause hallucinations.
According to police records, a 22-year-old man was selling the heroin out of the apartment. He was arrested and booked into the Snohomish County Jail.
"This highlights our problem here in Snohomish," said Turner. "We have a huge drug problem right now."
Turner says he sees predominately heroin being sold on the street for low prices. He is also discouraged after seeing a local pharmacy robbed over the weekend. A man got away with $50,000 in Oxycontin.
"We are making some gains in breaking up some of these drug operations, but it's not good enough," said Turner.
One local father is making it his mission to clean the streets of Snohomish.
Randy Pierce lost his son Corey to a heroin overdose in April. Corey, who was 19, completed rehabilitation for a heroin addiction a year earlier. He was found dead on a bed in his Snohomish home.
"He was such a good kid, everyone knew how good of a person he was," said Pierce. "This drug (Heroin) is too easy to get ahold of in this town. My daughter goes to high school; she says she can get any drug in five minutes."
Pierce just began speaking to teenagers at Snohomish Schools about the dangers of drugs. He says the drug bust on Tuesday is good, but it's not enough.
"There is so much out there. I'm just frustrated that police can't do more to arrest these drug dealers," he said. "My son was taken by Satan's drug, and Satan is laughing right now. I'm not going to let him."
