Lancaster police warn of unlicensed care homes, large-scale grow houses and illicit smoke-shop sales

Mike Katz, a special investigator with the Lancaster Police Department, told the Lancaster Criminal Justice Commission that the department has opened roughly 50 remediation cases involving large-scale illegal cannabis grow operations and is seeing a separate wave of unlicensed care homes and smoke shops that sell unregulated cannabis products.

Katz said the unlicensed care homes are a growing public-safety concern because they generate heavy calls for fire and medical services and, in some cases, involve varying degrees of neglect and questionable prescribing and enrollment in benefit programs. "They're using the fire department as their primary health care provider," Katz said.

The presentation focused mainly on grow houses, which Katz described as industrial operations that convert single-family homes into production facilities of “600 to 1,200 plants per house.” He said those locations create persistent mold and pesticide contamination, electrical hazards and theft of utility service. "A grow house is 24 times more likely to catch fire than a non grow house," Katz said. He added that operators sometimes use banned pesticides, including substances he said can persist for 15 years and corrode wiring, and that sulfur burners used for pest control can create sulfuric acid in high humidity.

Katz described how operators bypass meters by clamping into service risers and said the department believes Southern California Edison (Edison) is aware of many sites but that state and utility rules limit information sharing. "I think Edison knows where all the grows are but Edison has a policy and there's some state law issues too that Edison is not allowed to share that information with us," Katz said.

The department said it is pursuing multiple responses: working with state inspectors to close dangerous sites; recording notice-of-violation filings with the county recorder and, when owners do not remediate within 30 days, placing a cloud title record against properties; and drafting a local remediation ordinance to set timelines and penalties for repairs before properties return to the housing market. Katz said the city already uses recorded notices in some cases to force remediation, but the department wants stronger, clearer timelines and penalties.

Katz also described smoke shops that sell unlicensed and attractively packaged edible products and psychoactive hemp products such as delta-8 and delta-10 THC analogs that currently fall outside the state's primary regulatory definition of cannabis. He said some packages use branding that imitates mainstream food products and are attractive to children. "When I looked at that, I thought that was like a legit snack until I looked closely at it," Katz said.

On enforcement, Katz said the Lancaster Police currently partner with state tax and cannabis enforcement teams who can seize illicit inventory, and the police are pursuing a memorandum-of-understanding option with the California Attorney General’s Office to access prosecutorial assistance. He asked the commission to consider ordinances that would: expand the city's definition of cannabis to include other intoxicating cannabinoids; declare unlicensed cannabis sales a public nuisance subject to seizure after an appeal period; and adopt a remediation ordinance requiring proof of proper cleanup before resale.

Commissioners and other meeting participants asked about homeowner disclosure, realtor education and coordination with Edison and state agencies. Katz noted practical limits: clandestine operations are often discovered only after neighbors report suspicious activity, and contamination can be difficult to characterize if police cannot enter early in the operation. He said the department is cooperating with regional partners and planning further outreach to real-estate professionals.

The department said a working meeting on smoke-shop and ordinance changes was scheduled the same day as the commission meeting and that the commission would receive an update at the next meeting.

Sources at the meeting stressed cross-jurisdictional gaps, including limited state regulatory presence in the Antelope Valley and legal barriers to sharing utility-detection data. Katz said those gaps slow investigations and remediation and asked for assistance in pursuing statutory or policy changes that would allow better information sharing with Edison and state inspectors.

The commission heard the presentation and asked follow-up questions; no binding municipal legislation was adopted at the meeting itself. The department indicated it will return with ordinance drafts and recommended language for the commission and city council to consider.