Situation in California Underscores Legalization Did Not Stop Illicit Marijuana

Stories out of California continue to underscore how legalization has not stopped illicit marijuana.

Last week state officials announced law enforcement seized $476 million worth of illegal marijuana from April to June of this year.

Photos reveal many of these illegal marijuana sites are enormous, operating on an industrial scale.

However, legal marijuana operations in California are also under investigation.

The Washington Stand reports that last week, raids at two marijuana farms owned by Glass House Farms in California “led to the arrest of over 300 illegal aliens, including children.” The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has indicated the situation looks like “potential exploitation, forced labor and human trafficking.”

The problems extend beyond California.

The FBI recently announced charges against seven Chinese nationals for their alleged roles in a multimillion-dollar marijuana scheme that involved money laundering, drug smuggling, and human trafficking.

Oklahoma has legalized marijuana, but in June, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced his Organized Crime Task Force seized nearly 41,000 illegal marijuana plants and more than 1,000 pounds of processed marijuana in a single sting operation. Drummond indicated “Chinese crime syndicates and Mexican drug cartels” are behind the illegal marijuana.

We have written time and again how marijuana’s legalization has actually emboldened drug cartels and organized crime who profit from marijuana.

Some of these illegal marijuana operations are tied to labor trafficking, violent crime, and foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party.

Authorities in Arkansas routinely confiscate illegal marijuana grown in other states. Arkansas State Police patrol a “drug pipeline” along Interstate 40 from Oklahoma to Tennessee.

All of this simply further underscores how marijuana may be many things, but “harmless” simply is not one of them.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.