The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department made 106 arrests for possession or sale of illegal drugs in West Hollywood during the last six months of 2017. Seventy-eight percent of the drugs involved were methamphetamine.
The drug arrests are part of a public safety report that will be presented to the City Council on Monday. The Sheriff’s Department’s Narcotics Bureau has regional teams, with the Northwest Region Narcotics Team serving the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station. The Sheriff’s Station does not report drug arrests in its weekly or monthly public reports.
Of the 106 arrests, seven involved multiple drugs. Drugs discovered during the arrests were:
–Methamphetamine, 81
–Cocaine, 11
–Heroin, 8
–Prescription medicine, 3
–Marijuana, 8
–GHB, 1
–MDMA, 1
No LSD was discovered.
The report says “the individuals arrested for narcotics possession violations typically purchased their narcotics within West Hollywood, Hollywood, Los Angeles City and the San Fernando Valley areas. Information obtained on narcotics dealers within the City of West Hollywood suggest the individuals are selling within clubs, from their residence, to the transients and by delivery. The narcotics are being delivered from outside of West Hollywood and into the city for distribution.”
The Northwest Region Narcotic Team consisted of one detective and one sergeant. The report says it responds to narcotic-related arrests by local deputies and cases that it generates on its own. In interviews with WEHOville in September 2016, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department acknowledged that it does not have a process for scanning for drug dealers on gay sex apps such as Grindr, which are a common way for gay men to obtain such drugs. After WEHOville’s revelation that Grindr did nothing to screen for drug dealers (an average three were found each night in West Hollywood), Grindr took steps to somewhat reduce the that. Craigslist is another site that local gay men use to find drug dealers. Methamphetamine is one of the most commonly used drugs among gay men and is one of the most highly addictive.
The report to the Council says that the Narcotics Bureau now reports drug arrests by specific type of drug. It the past it grouped various drugs together, which makes it impossible to compare arrests by type of drug in the last half of 2017 with earlier periods.
The “Safe Drug Drop Off’ program is still in effect and has monthly drop off opportunities at the station, providing the community with a safe receptacle to discard their hazardous materials (syringes, blood vials, test kits), as well as expired prescription medications. This program is intended for residents only and is not for commercial use.
Joshua88,
I agree with you. There are Patients who have real pain and need pain relief through medication and are not “drug seeking” for recreation. I do believe that the Opioid Epidemic has restricted the legitimate prescription for people who need it. A Trained Dr. should be able to detect a “drug seeker” from someone with real pain from a real condition. My Partner is a Nurse Practitioner who does that every day.
Perhaps then, it’s past time to stop demonizing people w/real pain, who can no longer find a doctor to prescribe proper pain medications and for pharmacies to dispense them.
Central Weho Resident: If what you say can be proven, then perhaps it’s time to review the Sheriff Department’s effectiveness and it’s Contract with West Hollywood and consider using LAPD or form our own Law Enforcement Department. Every once in a while, It’s good to review situations and even clean house to keep people Enthusiastic and Focused on the Purpose of their Jobs.
I don’t anything know about Grinder, Scruff, Adam, But the Sheriff’s Department needs to get the main sources, not the local dealers
I can tell you for a fact that the sheriff department and narcotics department does not care about the drug problem. I know of a drug den that was reported to them, along with video of drug deals going down, and they refused to do anything. Meanwhile, young guys still come over to get their meth fix and calling the sheriff doesn’t help. It’s embarassing how little they care about stopping the problem.
One arrest for MDMA for the entirety of West Hollywood. ONE. And only 11 for cocaine. Ridiculous. I would estimate that over the past six months 15,000 people have used coke or molly within the city limits of WeHo. Basically it’s only homeless people getting arrested for drugs.
I think that The Sheriff’s Department should have a “Special Task Force” of younger looking Deputies in plain clothes to infiltrate the drug culture in West Hollywood to get to the sources of the drugs. It might take a few months, but I believe we can shut off the supply. We also need to work Plea deals with the people arrested to reveal their dealers.
It’s 2018, it’s all online – Grindr, Scruff, Adam.