Police find suspected hash oil lab at Puyallup pot shop

A Puyallup pot shop without a city business license had bigger problems than the cease-and-desist letter headed its way, police said.

When officers arrived to deliver the notice about 4:40 p.m. Tuesday, they found what they believed was an illegal hash oil lab at Northwest Best Alternative Medicine in the 1100 block of River Road, police spokesman Scott Engle said.

A 48-year-old California resident was arrested on suspicion of unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance, and investigators were called in to deal with the alleged butane hash oil extraction lab.

There was no danger to the area from the lab but the process of extracting hash oil is very dangerous, Engle said.

A lab in the 1500 block of Shaw Road East in Puyallup exploded in May 2014.

Engle didn’t know if Northwest Best was licensed with the state as a marijuana shop or a medical marijuana dispensary.

The business website states it offers “a wide variety of dried med, clones, tinctures, topicals, high CBD strains, medibles, capsules, hash, oils, and more.”

A reporter called the phone number listed on the website and left a message that was not returned.

This story was originally published July 28, 2015 at 8:35 PM with the headline "Police find suspected hash oil lab at Puyallup pot shop."