There has been a significant increase in illegal Chinese marijuana farms across our nation in the states that have legalized recreational marijuana.

Fox News recently reported on illegal growers in California, Oregon, New Mexico, Washington, and Maine, saying,

“Chinese Nationals are taking over the illegal pot business.” 

They’re buying land, growing illegal marijuana, and bringing in illegal Chinese workers that have crossed the U.S. border from Mexico. The profits are traced back to China.

In Siskiyou County, California, over 8,000 plastic grow houses can be seen from the air. In Los Angeles County, a surge in Chinese grow sites have been discovered. One site alone had approximately 4,000 plants which would bring in between $2-$3 million.

Even in Oklahoma, where marijuana is legal just for so-called medical purposes, 2,000 pot farms are Chinese-owned and operated.

So far, in Maine and Washington state police have identified 749 grow sites that are Chinese-owned and operated.

But black-market weed isn’t a recent development. We reported back in 2017 that the black market would grow by leaps and bounds even though proponents vehemently promised to the contrary.

For example, Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2013. Between 2013 and 2020, 5.54 tons of black-market marijuana have been seized resulting in 1,454 felony arrests.

From the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area:

“Despite the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado, the black-market marijuana continues to thrive. In 2019, federal and local law enforcement conducted the largest marijuana bust in the history of Colorado – raids across 250 homes and businesses, dozens of arrests, over 80,000 marijuana plants, and nearly $2.2 million in assets.

The base of this operation was buying suburban homes in the Denver Metro area with large, unfinished basements for the cultivation of thousands of plants, operating under the radar in plain sight. Then, the money was laundered through family restaurants by multiple Chinese drug trafficking organizations.”

As a result of the discovery of illegal Chinese involvement, fifty U.S. Representatives, both Republican and Democrat, have asked the Justice Department to be briefed on the Chinese government and Communist Party’s connection.

What will this Justice Department do?

I’m sorry to say, I’m not holding my breath on anything of substance happening.