Black Market For Cannabis Takes High-Profile Hit In Inland Empire

INLAND EMPIRE, CA — Over recent years, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department has reported multiple busts of large-scale cannabis operations. The department has alleged the businesses — mostly growers — are illicit because they failed to work within legal frameworks established by the state and local jurisdictions.

Thousands of plants and harvested marijuana have been eradicated, according to reports from the sheriff's department.

On Tuesday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the results of a 2024 statewide program called "Eradication and Prevention of Illicit Cannabis." Thirty-six Golden State counties were targeted, resulting in $353 million in cannabis seized and 282 arrests.

The figures released by Bonta's office show the largest cannabis haul came from the Inland Empire, with the bulk from Riverside County:

• Alameda: 1 site, 751 plants eradicated
• Butte: 5 sites, 4,397 plants eradicated
• Colusa: 3 sites, 10 plants eradicated
• Contra Costa: 2 sites, 5,010 plants eradicated
• El Dorado: 8 sites, 2,174 plants eradicated
• Fresno: 31 sites, 52,796 plants eradicated
• Glenn: 1 site, 747 plants eradicated
• Kern: 60 sites, 89,819 plants eradicated
• Kings: 1 site, 539 plants eradicated
• Lake: 48 sites, 42,776 plants eradicated
• Lassen: 1 site, 7,359 plants eradicated
• Los Angeles: 3 sites, 3,684 plants eradicated
• Madera: 3 sites, 1,230 plants eradicated
• Mariposa: 2 sites, 1,368 plants eradicated
• Mendocino: 116 sites, 133,702 plants eradicated
• Nevada: 33 sites, 28,428 plants eradicated
• Riverside: 79 sites, 136,601 plants eradicated
• Sacramento: 13 sites, 46,042 plants eradicated
• San Bernardino: 23 sites, 27,845 plants eradicated
• San Diego: 7 sites, 9,301 plants eradicated
• Santa Barbara: 1 site, 362 plants eradicated
• Santa Clara: 2 sites, 1,012 plants eradicated
• Shasta: 67 sites, 51,289 plants eradicated
• Siskiyou: 98 sites, 67,943 plants eradicated
• Stanislaus: 6 sites, 5,103 plants eradicated
• Trinity: 38 sites, 32,381 plants eradicated
• Tulare: 7 sites, 5,468 plants eradicated
• Tuolumne: 2 sites, 7,637 plants eradicated
• Ventura: 3 sites, 7,891 plants eradicated
• Yuba: 2 sites, 1,164 plants eradicated
• Monterey: reconnaissance only
• Napa: reconnaissance only
• San Benito: reconnaissance only
• San Luis Obispo: reconnaissance only
• Santa Cruz: reconnaissance only
• Solano: reconnaissance only

"California has the largest safe, legal, and regulated cannabis market in the world, but unfortunately illegal and unlicensed grows continue to proliferate," Bonta said.

Some of the proliferation may be due to California's vastness and many open spaces, including public lands managed by state and federal agencies. The land offers thousands of acres to hide cannabis crops. Many of the Riverside County law enforcement cannabis raids have occurred on public land.

"California has the largest state park system in the country with 1.59 million acres of park land to protect," said California State Parks Law Enforcement Assistant Chief Jeremy Stinson. "Unfortunately, illegal cannabis cultivation is a serious threat to that land with more than 400 sites documented."

The EPIC program is a multi-agency collaboration led by DOJ in partnership with agencies that play a large role in public land management: U.S. Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service; the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service; the California Department of Fish and Wildlife; the U.S. Department of Justice’s Drug Enforcement Administration; the California National Guard, Counter Drug Task Force; the Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program; California State Parks; California Environmental Protection Agency; and other local law enforcement departments.

According to Bonta and other leaders, one of the broader implications of the underground cannabis market is the environmental damage caused by the illicit activities. Officials report finding dams, water lines, and containers of toxic chemicals, like carbofuran, methyl parathion, aluminum phosphate, zinc phosphide, and illegal fertilizers at some cultivation sites.

Carbofuran, in particular, is a lethal insecticide that is effectively banned in the United States, and remains on plants after application and seeps into soil and nearby water sources, according to Bonta's office.

Other ramifications of the black market include financial harm to the legal market and growing concern about labor exploitation, where workers may face unsafe conditions and unfair treatment, according to the attorney general.

In total, the 2024 EPIC program resulted in 665 operations that eradicated 774,829 illegally cultivated cannabis plants and 106,141 pounds of processed cannabis statewide. Additionally, 201 weapons were recovered, according to Bonta's office.

"California cannabis enforcement has a long way to go to ensure that the illicit cannabis doesn’t make it into the legal market," said San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus. "Partnerships like EPIC are a major step forward in tackling this problem."