I blogged yesterday about private fire fighting efforts by Hmong pot farmers in Siskiyou County, California, on the Oregon state line. Today I want to highlight this Sacramento Bee story about efforts there to eliminate illegal cannabis grows. The headline is "California marijuana busts surge despite legalization as agencies target illicit growers." The story embeds a video clip of what I think can fairly be described as a publicity stunt by U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa (R). It's a clip of him in a bulldozer destroying pot farms in the far northern California county, which is in his sprawling, mostly rural district. At the end of the video, LaMalfa emerges from the bulldozer and raises his arms in a victory gesture.
Andrew Sheeler reports for the Bee:
Four years after weed became legal in California for adult recreational use, state law enforcement officials have doubled the amount of illicit marijuana plants seized and eradicated in an annual campaign.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday announced that the California Department of Justice’s annual Campaign Against Marijuana Planting program, also known as CAMP, had eradicated nearly 1.2 million illegally cultivated cannabis plants this year.
That’s up from 614,267 plants seized in 2018, the first year that recreational marijuana was legal in California.
It includes this statement from Bonta:
Illegal and unlicensed marijuana planting is bad for our environment, bad for our economy, and bad for the health and safety of our communities. Today, I’m directing my office to review the CAMP program and ensure that we are using our resources to effectively address the environmental, labor, and economic impacts of illegal cultivation. From dumping toxic chemicals in our waterways to cheating the state out of millions of tax dollars, illicit marijuana grows have far-reaching impacts and unintended consequences.
No comments:
Post a Comment