Oregon authorities are trying to shut down any illicit cannabis grows with ties to Mexican cartels.
Law enforcement officers and other authorities in southern Oregon say that a rash of illegal marijuana cultivation operations in the area are linked to Mexican drug cartels intent on overwhelming local resources as a strategy to maximize profits.
In Jackson County, officials declared a state of emergency last month and said that the proliferation of illicit pot farms had strained local law enforcement and other resources. In a letter to Oregon Governor Kate Brown and state lawmakers, the Jackson County Board Commissioners called for more funding and personnel to support law enforcement and code compliance efforts in the area.
Jackson County Commissioner Rick Dyer told reporters that other illegal activities including human trafficking, forced labor and unsafe living conditions for workers are tied to the unregulated marijuana cultivation in Oregon, where cannabis commerce is legal for licensed businesses. He added that illegal operators intimidate and abuse their workers, who are often minors or the parents of young children.
Oregon Officials Seek Regional Solution
Officials in Jackson County hope that their counterparts in neighboring Klamath and Josephine Counties will declare a similar state of emergency so that the region sends a unified message to state leaders.
“It’s harder to ignore when it’s a regional declaration of an emergency,” Dyer said. “And the more of a united front we present it will make it harder to ignore. It is a regional problem, and it could be a regional solution.”
After serving a search warrant on the property and further investigation, the illicit cannabis activities in the potato shed were connected to two other unlicensed marijuana cultivation and processing sites in the area.
“I’ve had to completely readjust my sense of where we are in fighting illegal marijuana production in Klamath,” Klaber said, as quoted by the Herald and News. “I didn’t think we were this far behind.”
Illicit Activity Overwhelms Local Resources
Sergeant Cliff Barden of the Oregon State Police Basin Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team also says that the illicit cultivation operations are linked to drug cartels. He believes that the strategy of the criminal organizations is to produce so much illicit marijuana that local law enforcement agencies are unable to keep up with the volume of illegal activity.
“They are intentionally trying to overwhelm the system,” he said. “And that is why it is so difficult.”
Barden acknowledged that many of the smaller grows are independent unlicensed operators hoping to profit from the illicit market. But larger cultivation operations are…
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