REGIONAL REPORT : Ban on Burning Seized Cocaine Stifles Police Agencies : Drugs: State health officials issued the prohibition in 1989. Some departments say they were not told of the rule and continue shipments to incinerators.

Labeling cocaine a hazardous material and an environmental toxin, state health authorities have ordered that it no longer be incinerated, leaving bundles seized from dealers and users to pile up in police warehouses and evidence lockers throughout Southern California.

But not everywhere. While some law enforcement agencies have begun stockpiling the drug while waiting to find a new way to destroy it, officials at other agencies said they were not told of the new state rule and continue to ship seized cocaine to incinerators in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The Los Angeles Police Department still goes for the slow burn, a spokesman said. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is stockpiling, a spokesman there said.

Though the state rule is almost two years old, the first many police agencies heard of it was when contacted last week by reporters.

“I think people were kind of shocked,” said Maureen Haacker, a Santa Ana police spokeswoman. “We had not heard anything like that. We are still (using incineration).”

Cornelius Dougherty, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman in Washington, said he had not heard of any other state with a rule like California’s.

“What it all means and all that, we haven’t had a chance to analyze here at headquarters,” he said.

Incinerating cocaine has been banned throughout California since an Oct. 5, 1989, ruling--by what was then called the state Department of Health Services--labeled the drug as highly toxic, said Bob Borzelleri, spokesman for the state Department of Toxic Substance Control. The ruling does not ban the incineration of other drugs.

The ruling stemmed from a request by a small, unnamed police department that asked how to dispose of cocaine it had seized.

As word of the new rule began to circulate, law enforcement officials expressed confusion and frustration--and uncertainty over how to dispose of the drug.

“In the worst-case scenario, we could sit on it for a year before we’re bulging at the seams,” said Lt. Skip Murphy of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, which disposes of cocaine from seven local agencies.

New disposal methods are likely to be expensive, police officials said. A broad reading of the state standard could make disposal of other drugs--heroin, crystal methamphetamine and marijuana--equally difficult, they said.

Many were critical of the rule.

“Our first reaction was: ‘Is this a joke?’ ” said Ron D’Ulisse, a DEA spokesman in San Diego. “Right now we’re doing what bureaucrats do best. We’re forming committees. We’re having discussions.”

News of the rule also spawned intriguing what-ifs. A suspect who was busted and tried to dispose of cocaine at the scene might be charged with an environmental crime on top of possession, Borzelleri said.

Because the law demands that toxic waste be labeled as such, law enforcement authorities wondered if they had to inform officers of the risk and provide adequate protection.

“It’s awfully hard to go undercover and buy cocaine with a mask and a lab suit and goggles,” the DEA’s D’Ulisse said. “So now we’re in the interesting position of whether going undercover is bad for the environment.”

Only one thing seemed certain--it was highly unlikely that bags of cocaine would be buried in landfills. “People would come in and scoop it out and do all sorts of interesting things with it,” Borzelleri said.

Borzelleri conceded that many law enforcement officials did not know about the regulation. It would have been nearly impossible to inform every police department in California, he said.

“The notion that this is a deep dark secret is stretching it a bit,” Borzelleri said. “It’s been a fairly common topic of discussion for about the last year or so.”

He added that it was the kind of ruling more apt to come to the attention of hazardous waste carriers and incinerator operators than a police officer on the beat.

Violation carries a fine of up to $25,000 a day, Borzelleri said. He said no fines have been levied and none are imminent.

“We are going to be reasonable,” he said. “We certainly are not contemplating a mass bust of police departments.”

That was welcome news to a wide collection of departments. Several weeks ago, the Oxnard Police Department arranged for its once-a-year burn, disposing of 266 pounds of cocaine and marijuana, said Gracie Christian, the agency’s property manager.

Oxnard police had received no official word of the rule, Christian said. “It will definitely cause a problem,” she said. “It’s the only way we can dispose of the drugs.”

Most Orange County agencies said they still arrange to burn cocaine. Police in Newport Beach, Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Anaheim and Orange said they contract for disposal with Thermal Combustion Innovators, an incinerator in Colton, near San Bernardino.

“The Colton plant has been extremely popular with all of us,” said Anaheim Police Capt. Roger Baker, who said he had been unaware of the rule.

Officials at the incineration plant did not return repeated phone calls. Police officials declined to reveal the name of the Riverside incinerator.

Law enforcement officials who did know about the ban said it appeared storage would not be a problem--as long as something is figured out in the next few months.

Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies are storing seized cocaine in evidence lockers at stations and at a central warehouse, spokesman Bill Wehner said.

“If we can’t come up with a solution within three months, it could possibly be a problem, depending on how much narcotics is seized, which of course is a variable quantity,” he said.

Wehner declined to reveal the amount of cocaine now in storage.

The U.S. Customs Service, which patrols the nation’s borders, said it has seized 12,921 pounds of cocaine this fiscal year at the border and around San Diego, “way above average,” spokeswoman Bobbie Cassidy said.

“We are making arrangements for (disposal at) various locations out of state,” she said, but declined to disclose details. The last shipment Customs officials disposed of--4,500 pounds of marijuana--cost $6,000 to burn at a state-licensed incinerator, Cassidy said.

Cocaine costs more to burn, she said. There is also the cost of security needed to guard against ambush by road pirates, she said.

DEA officials also were searching for an out-of-state site, Special Agent Tom Clifford said.

Borzelleri, the state regulatory spokesman, said there might be other options--imagination and technology permitting. For example, an incinerator might prove that it could burn cocaine so cleanly that a state variance could be issued, he said.

“The main thing is the technology has to be demonstrated to be sound,” he said. “We’ve heard of some jurisdictions burning cocaine in 55-gallon drums in the middle of a field. Something other than that kind of approach. Some kind of technical, scientific basis (is needed),” he said.

Times staff writer Peggy Lee in San Diego and correspondent Gerry Brailo Spencer in Ventura contributed to this story.