Posted on 01/24/2025 12:06:11 PM PST by Red Badger
Jan. 21 (UPI) -- Police and city officials in Houston said evidence in storage lockers is being destroyed by "drug-addicted rats."
Mayor John Whitmire said at a news conference that drugs being stored in evidence lockers are attracting rats that feast on the illicit narcotics and cause damage to other evidence in the process.
"We got 400,000 pounds of marijuana in storage that the rats are the only ones enjoying," Whitmire said.
The mayor announced the start of an initiative in partnership with the Harris County District Attorney's Office to organize the 1.2 million pieces of evidence stored by the city and discard any drugs stored since before 2015.
"So much evidence is kept and stored that is no longer needed, that has no impact on the resolution of that charge, that conviction or even that innocence," Whitmire said.
Peter Stout, head of the Houston Forensic Science Center, said at the same news conference that the large amounts of narcotics evidence stored by the city is putting other, unrelated evidence in danger.
"They're edible, they're tasty, they're all kinds of things. You can't store large quantities of drugs without expecting some of these things to happen," Stout said.
He said police have hired exterminators, but the rodent problem has proven persistent.
"They're drug-addicted rats. They're tough to deal with," he said.
Officials said only one active case has been affected by the rat problem. They said rodents managed to get into a bag containing hallucinogenic mushrooms.
The problem is not limited to the city of Houston. New Orleans Police Department officials said in March 2024 that drug evidence was under assault from pests including rats and cockroaches.
"The rats eating our marijuana, they're all high," Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said at a meeting of the City Council's Criminal Justice Committee.
Two legged rats no doubt.
Hood Rats................
Is Kameltoe in Houston?
Oops. I guess her drug, or at least one of them, is alcohol.
Cocaine never makes it to court.
Odd that. It must evaporate...............
I wonder if the rats carry little guns and knives :)
I don’t know why everyone here thinks it’s impossible.
1 million pieces of evidence?
Dating how far back?
Rats get into everything..especially run down places...and I’m sure this place is.
“Your Honor, if they can’t produce the sh*t, you must acquit.”
FARNHAM makes a product called “JUST ONE BITE”.
VERY EFFECTIVE.
KILLED EVEN NORWAY RATS AT MY PRIOR PROPERTY.
For those who are not familiar with NORWAY TREE RATS:
They are the size of a small-medium cat.
A likely story...lol!
I give ‘em points for originality though. 🤣
WTH?
Cocaine Rat vs Cocaine Bear
All kidding aside, all they need are metal containers.
This problem is easily corrected.
You’d think a city as big as Houston would be able to fix this.
From my understanding this is not uncommon. Especially in older buildings without good rodent proofing.
I’ve used it. It works. But I can see if a large infestation of rats was poisoned with it, it would create another problem. Rats will crawl off to nearly inaccessible places to die, and if we’re talking hundreds or more of them.....
Cocaine Bear was actually a pretty good movie!............
Rats. Yeah. That’s the ticket.
yes it was.
Lace the MJ with fentanyl….the rats will OD and die - problem solved….or junkie rats that will steal your CATalytic converter.
Did you know that during the 1800s, squirrels were the favorite household pet in the United States?
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