Monterey County holds the top spot statewide as the county with the most illegal cannabis destroyed during the last quarter, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office. On Oct. 21, they reported 76,166 pounds of allegedly illegal cannabis were destroyed with a value of more than $125.6 million, making up over half of the total illegal cannabis seized in the state over the months of July, August and September. Los Angeles was a distant second, with 16,340 pounds of illegal cannabis destroyed valued at $26.9 million.
“The bigger you are, the harder they fall,” says Michelle House, Monterey County’s Cannabis Program Manager.
She attributes a large part – if not all – of those numbers to a cannabis bust that occurred in July near Pajaro, at 1400 San Juan Road. According to planning records, Ladybug Farms, LLC was granted a use permit for approximately 715,000 square feet of medical cannabis cultivation in existing greenhouses, as well as approximately 6,000 square feet of non-volatile processing.
House explains that illegal cannabis can appear a lot of different ways, including growing cannabis on a legal farm but not going through proper tracking mechanisms.
The investigation into that site was led by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department in collaboration with the Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce, a multi-agency taskforce under California’s Department of Cannabis Control.
While House doesn’t investigate illegal activity, her focus is to ensure ordinances and the correct processes are met on farms. “From seed to sale,” she says, “it has to be tracked.”
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Another article dancing around the truth. The problem isn’t with bad actors not following the track and trace system. The METRC track and trace system was built to facilitate 90%+ of legally produced cannabis being sold openly on the black market. The state government is running the largest cannabis racketeering ring in history. Federal, state and local law enforcement are actively protecting the controlled demolition of the industry being conducted by corporate megafarms dumping their work at or below the cost of production on both the regulated and black markets in sufficient volume to crash the value of the commodity. The goal is consolidation ahead of national legalization. Cannabis was never legalized, recreational cannabis started the war on cannabis 2.0. Corrupt law enforcement is addicted to the funding. Deputy Vargas “earned” $496,000 in pay and benefits for a single years work. There is a reason the biggest bust of the state and our county was conducted by the San Bernardino sheriff’s department without participation from local law enforcement. Local law enforcement has been paid to protect the government racketeering ring and harass private property owners with small gardens. “Legalization” is the reason consumers have lost access to craft organic cannabis produced on family farms. Are there tactical raids conducted for any other “legal” crop? Will having one too many tomato plants get your dog executed? It is time to end the war and legalize cannabis in California. Your wealth shouldn’t determine the legality of your actions. Billionaires own enough of the world without using the government to steal the cannabis industry.
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