California Health & Safety Code 11366 HS – Operating or Maintain a Drug House & False Compartment

Charged with Operating a Drug House or False Compartment? Get Your Defense Now

Being arrested for the crime of operating or maintaining a drug house under Health and Safety Code 11366 or for modifying a vehicle with a hidden space (often called a false compartment) under 11366.8 can feel overwhelming. Prosecutors move quickly, using aggressive tactics and stacking drug charges, such as possession for sale or transportation of a controlled substance to increase the pressure.

Our law firm is here to push back. We’ve spent years inside California courts challenging Health and Safety Code allegations, cross-examining undercover officers, and exposing flawed searches. If you’ve already been booked or arraigned, the countdown to trial has started, and every day without an attorney means the prosecutor quietly builds a narrative against you.

Call us the moment you learn you’re a suspect. We’ll start collecting text records, surveillance footage, and witness statements that could create reasonable doubt, long before the state finishes its first discovery dump.

The language of HS 11366 states:

Anyone who opens or maintains any location for the purpose of illegally selling, distributing, or using controlled substances—such as those listed in certain parts of Sections 11054 and 11055, or any narcotic drugs in Schedules III, IV, or V—can be punished by up to one year in county jail or a term in state prison.

Ready to speak with a drug crime lawyer? Contact us now at (888) 702-8845 or contact us online.

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Drug House Law Definition & Severity

Under California Health and Safety Code Section 11366, it’s illegal to open and distribute drugs at the drug house. But what is a drug house? Such site in California is defined as, “any place for the purpose of unlawfully selling, giving away, or using any controlled substance.”

In simpler terms, if police claim your house or apartmentis repeatedly used for dealing pills, meth, cocaine, or any other controlled substance, they’ll file 11366 HS. It doesn’t matter that the property looks like an ordinary residence, or that you keep a day job, continuous drug activity is the trigger. It is a crime to open or maintain such a site, so the police will arrest you for any such activity on your property. Interestingly, even if you are not operating such a site, but it is your tenant, you may still be charged with Health and Safety Code 11366.5 if you were aware of the operation.

Because 11366 is a wobbler offense, the DA can charge it as either a misdemeanor or felony, depending on the facts, your record, and the elements of the crime they think they can prove.

Common Scenarios Involving California Health and Safety Code Section 11366

Below are situations we see most often when a person who opens or maintains a location gets swept into operating a drug house in California allegations.

Drug Activity at Homes or Apartments

Friends or roommates host nightly drop-ins where buyers step inside, exchange cash, and leave quickly – “short-stay traffic” that neighbors notice.
Tenants let others store heroin or fentanyl in a closet and collect money each week as “rent.”
A backyard shed becomes a stash site for people to use drugs.

Law enforcement will cite surveillance logs, trash pulls showing bindles, or text threads arranging pickups to argue the home was a place for the purpose of repeated drug use or sale.

Vehicles With Secret Drug Storage

California also prosecutes HS 11366.8 – the false-compartment offense – when an individual creates, installs, or uses a hidden space in a car, truck, or boat to smuggle drugs. Detectives commonly discover:

Trap doors under seats holding cocaine.
Gas tanks are cut open to hide fentanyl pills.
Customized speaker boxes packed with marijuana vacuum bags.

These cases often combine transportation charges and maintaining a place(the vehicle) to escalate exposure to state prison.

Penalties for Operating a Drug House

A conviction hurts more than your can imagine – it jeopardizes housing, immigration status, and professional licenses.

A Misdemeanor or a Felony Charge – What’s the Difference?

If filed as a misdemeanor, you face:

Up to one year in county jail
A fine up to $1,000
Probation terms such as search clauses, drug testing, or mandatory treatment

If filed as a felony, or if the judge decides to “wobble up” at sentencing, penalties for operating a drug house can reach:

16 months, two years, or three years in state prison
Enhanced fines, restitution, and possible property forfeiture when the drug house contributed to profit
Registration in drug-offender databases that hamper future employment

Sentence Enhancements

Prosecutors can raise a felony charge even higher when:

Firearms or weapons are found alongside illegal drugs.
Children are present or minors are used as runners.
Large quantities(weight enhancements) suggest trafficking.
The home or vehicle is near a school, triggering extra time.

In severe cases, clients also face federal intervention. We’ve prevented that by negotiating state-level pleas that keep prison time minimal and avoid federal indictment.

Facing HS 11366 Charges? See Our Best Defenses for Operating a Drug House

Our approach starts with one question: Did the state really prove this was a drug house, or just that someone in the residence had personal-use amounts?

Drugs for Personal Use Only

HS 11366 requires proof of more than casual consumption. If officers merely found a gram of cocaine and a pipe, that’s drug possession at worst, not maintaining a vacant spot for the purpose of unlawfully selling or using it. We cross-examine detectives to show there were no scales, pay-owe sheets, or foot traffic.

Other tactics include:

Search and seizure motions if the warrant lacked probable cause.
Arguing the drugs belonged to one guest, not the household.
Demonstrating that cluttered text logs are about social plans, not deals.

Our firm has repeatedly convinced prosecutors to drop or reduce violation of HS 11366 counts when the evidence fits personal use only.

Get Criminal Defense Help Today – Free Case Review Available

When the code section you’re charged under says “HS makes it a crime” to let others “sell or give away drugs” from your residence, you need an ally who knows all the possible defenses for operating a drug house allegations. We’ve beaten safety code 11366 cases in Los Angeles County, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and beyond by dissecting:

Whether you actually maintain any place for continuous drug activity.
If undercover buys prove an “entry to further the sale.”
How many times police observed transactions – one sale of cocaine (or any other controlled substance) does not make a “drug house in California.”
Whether officers skipped the knock-and-notice or violated the knock warrant.

11366 HS makes property owners panic about property forfeiture when the drug house law applies. We fight forfeiture aggressively, arguing equity should not be stripped over a roommate’s stash.

Call now to speak with a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney who has handled hundreds of drug offenses. We’ll map out a defense strategy aimed at:

Getting charges reduced to a straight misdemeanor.
Persuading the court to order treatment instead of jail.
Preserving your career by avoiding a felony strike.

Schedule your free consultation today. One call could be the turning point between lifelong stigma and a second chance.