A cannabis bust in San Bernardino County highlights the major problem California still has with illegal cannabis grows.
An ongoing operation in southern California culminated on Sunday, yielding the arrests of 34 people and the seizure of more than 33,000 marijuana plants.
The sheriff’s department in San Bernardino County, California said that “Operation Hammerstrike” was carried out between November 1 and November 7 by investigators from the department’s Marijuana Enforcement Team (MET), as well as San Bernardino sheriff’s deputies “from several different Patrol Stations.”
The department said that it was the 10th week of Operation Hammerstrike.
Those suspects “were cited or booked on charges of Cultivation of Cannabis, over six plants, Possession for Sales of Marijuana, Illegal Water Discharge and Possession of a Firearm with Obliterated Serial Number,” the department said.
Moreover, investigators said they “eradicated a total of 211 greenhouses found at [those] locations, as well as two indoor locations,” and that they “mitigated one electrical bypass.”
“San Bernardino County has a law prohibiting Commercial Cannabis Activity, which includes growing marijuana plants outdoors. The Sheriff’s Gangs/Narcotics Division will continue to enforce California’s cannabis laws and San Bernardino County’s ordinance regarding cannabis cultivation and distribution. Persons found guilty of violating the state law and county ordinance are subject to fines, prosecution, and seizure of property.”
California voters legalized recreational pot use and sales by passing a ballot measure, Proposition 64, in 2016. But five years later, the illicit market continues to thrive in the Golden State, and this is an issue the state is still working on tackling.
NPR interviewed Amanda Chicago Lewis, a reporter who covers the cannabis industry, who said that “the problem is the legal market is expensive to join if you are a seller, if you’re a grower,” and that “it’s expensive to participate as a consumer.” The unregulated market, by contrast, poses little barrier to entry for prospective sellers, as well as cheaper products.
The trend has also occurred in other places, such as Canada, where recreational marijuana is likewise legal.
That means that operations…
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