Central Oregon Drug Enforcement and a Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team busted a secret lab used for hallucinogen extraction Wednesday morning, the sheriff’s office said. Four people were arrested and are facing multiple charges.
A search warrant was issued at 8:00 a.m. at a property on the 1400 block of NE Tucson Way in Bend. DCSO said it’s a duplex with shared walls in a residential area. It’s about a block southeast of NE 27th Street and Neff Road.
DCSO said the home and those inside were the subjects of a long-term controlled substance investigation.
When SWAT entered the home, they found three adults. But DCSO said that what they didn’t expect to find was an alleged lab to extract Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) — described as a prototypical indolethylamine hallucinogen.
The sheriff’s office says illicit DMT labs present serious concerns over possible fires, explosions, and chemical burns because they use volatile and highly-flammable hydrocarbon mixtures.
The Alcohol and Drug Foundation in Australia defines DMT this way:
DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) is a very strong psychedelic found in a number of animals and plants.
Psychedelic drugs can affect all the senses, altering a person’s thinking, sense of time and emotions. Psychedelics can cause someone to hallucinate, seeing or hearing things that do not exist or are distorted.
DMT is structurally similar to psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and is known to produce short-acting and intense visual hallucinations.
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Multiple agencies incuding Oregon State Police, the Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality arrived to help dismantle the lab, DCSO said.
The sheriff’s office said the following people were arrested on these charges:
Matthew C Carroll, 34, of Bend
- Manufacturing a Controlled Substance Within 1000 Feet of a School
- Distribution of a Controlled Substance Within 1000 Feet of a School
- Frequenting a Place with Controlled Substances
Sherri Hope Price, 56, of Bend
- Manufacturing a Controlled Substance Within 1000 Feet of a School
- Distribution of a Controlled Substance Within 1000 Feet of a School
- Frequenting a Place with Controlled Substances
- Five Outstanding Arrest Warrants
Steve Leonard Kearney, 56, of Bend
- Frequenting a Place with Controlled Substances
Justin Montoya of Bend
- Manufacturing a Controlled Substance Within 1000 Feet of a School
- Distribution of a Controlled Substance Within 1000 Feet of a School
- Frequenting a Place with Controlled Substance
- Parole Violation
