California is beefing up its crackdown on illegal marijuana growers by expanding its enforcement efforts to a year-round operation.
Originally a 90-day program that goes throughout the summer, Attorney General Rob Bonta’s new Eradication and Prevention of Illicit Cannabis task force will pursue the labor and environmental crimes that support a booming illicit pot market.
The new task force will still work with longtime partners — such as the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Land Management and the state’s National Guard — that it did during the previously seasonal Campaign Against Marijuana Planting that started in 1983.
But now the state’s Department of Justice prosecutors will work with state cannabis regulators and another relatively new task force, Tax Recovery in the Underground Economy, that was created by law in 2020 to pursue civil and criminal cases behind illegal grow operations.
So far this year, the seasonal program has seized 100 tons of processed marijuana, more than 180 weapons and about 33 tons of materials used to cultivate the plants.
The Golden State legalized medical marijuana sales in 1996, and 20 years later did the same for recreational sales.
But California’s tight regulations have made illegally selling pot more attractive to some vendors who want to avoid the high taxes and to buyers who want to score weed for a lower price.
Even as some illegal shops are frequently raided for operating in plain sight, those who work in the industry told the Los Angeles Times that they don’t see it slowing down.
Marijuana’s underground market continues to significantly outpace the legal market. Politico reported in 2021 that the illicit pot market brings in about $8 billion annually, or twice as much as the legal market.
The black market is also seen as an epicenter of criminal activity. Mr. Bonta said that organized crime cartels will traffic in people to live in squalid conditions at remote grow sites throughout the state.
California has brought in roughly $577 million in tax revenue from cannabis sales through two quarters this year, which is on pace to be lower than the $1.3 billion total brought in for 2021.
• This story is based in part on wire service reports.
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