Hundreds of Bulgarians are setting up small-scale home drug labs or marijuana greenhouses, reports the 24 Chasa daily, quoting police sources.

Since the beginning of the year, the police uncovered around 100 marijuana greenhouse, set up in attics and basements, and suspects at least that many are still operational. According to unofficial estimates, one harvest of such greenhouse brings a profit of around BNG 30 000. Usually, the growers were cultivating varieties that yield at least four times a year.

For the same period the police busted more than 40 home drug labs – mostly in Sliven, Yambol, Sofia and Burgas. The monthly income from such enterprises varies between BGN 3000 and BGN 20 000, depending on how fast they could sell their product.

According to the police sources, the producers were buying in bulk from Turkey cold medications, containing pseudoephedrine hydrochloride, and were extracting the pseudoefedrine via a relatively simple chemical process.

“Once you get the necessary ingredients and learn the sequence of actions, it is a very simple process and you don't need to be a trained chemist,” police sources told 24 Chasa.

According to them, both use and production of marijuana and synthetic drugs in Bulgaria was increasing.