Recreational marijuana may be legal in California, but that hasn’t stopped the illegal cannabis trade.
On Wednesday, Governor Gavin Newsom’s office announced that authorities have seized more than $120 million in illegal marijuana since the start of the year and destroyed 37 tons of unlicensed cannabis, including nearly 123,000 illegal plants.
“The legal cannabis market brings billions of dollars to our state’s economy, helping to sustain California’s position as the fifth largest economy in the world,” Newsom said in a statement. “We will not tolerate illegal operations that threaten our economy and the health and well-being of California communities.”
Since the start of the year, the state’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Task Force has raided 11 locations in Los Angeles, Orange, Mendocino, Tuolumne, Shasta, Kern, Alameda, Yuba, Trinity, Butte, and Humboldt counties, Newsom’s office said.
Photos released by the task force show elaborate grow operations that included rows of greenhouses. Recent raids have also targeted operations within California State Parks.
Newsom created the task force in 2022 to improve coordination between local, state and federal agencies. Since then, his office says agents have seized over $495 million in unlicensed cannabis by executing 309 search warrants, arrested 38 people and seized 150 illegal firearms, including 22 since January.
California voters approved the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes in 1996 and, in 2016, approved its recreational use.