By james art INLAND EMPIRE, CA — In recent years, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has reported numerous arrests in large-scale cannabis operations. The department argued that the businesses — mostly manufacturers — were illegal because they failed to operate within the legal framework established by state and local jurisdictions.
Thousands of plants and harvested marijuana were destroyed, 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 Illegal Cannabis. Thirty-six Golden State counties were raided, resulting in $353 million worth of cannabis seized and 282 arrests.
Figures released by Bonta’s office show that the largest haul of cannabis comes from the Inland Empire, with the bulk coming from Riverside County:
- Alameda: 1 location, 751 plants destroyed
- Butte: 5 locations, 4,397 plants destroyed
- Colusa: 3 locations, 10 plants destroyed
- Contra Costa: 2 locations, 5,010 plants destroyed
- El Dorado: 8 locations, 2,174 plants destroyed
- Fresno: 31 locations, 52,796 plants destroyed
- Glenn: 1 location, 747 plants destroyed
- Kern: 60 locations, 89,819 plants destroyed
- Kings: 1 place, 539 plants destroyed
- Lake: 48 locations, 42,776 plants destroyed
- Lassen: 1 location, 7,359 plants destroyed
- Los Angeles: 3 locations, 3,684 plants destroyed
- Madera: 3 locations, 1230 plants destroyed
- Mariposa: 2 locations, 1,368 plants destroyed
- Mendocino: 116 locations, 133,702 plants destroyed
- Nevada: 33 locations, 28,428 plants destroyed
- Coastline: 79 locations, 136,601 plants destroyed
- Sacramento: 13 locations, 46,042 plants destroyed
- San Bernardino: 23 locations, 27,845 plants destroyed
- San Diego: 7 locations, 9,301 plants destroyed
- Santa Barbara: 1 location, 362 plants destroyed
- Santa Clara: 2 locations, 1,012 plants destroyed
- Shasta: 67 locations, 51,289 plants destroyed
- Siskiyou: 98 locations, 67,943 plants destroyed
- Stanislav: 6 places, 5103 plants destroyed
- Trinity: 38 locations, 32,381 plants destroyed
- Tulare: 7 locations, 5,468 plants destroyed
- Tuolumne: 2 locations, 7,637 plants destroyed
- Ventura: 3 locations, 7,891 plants destroyed
- Yuba: 2 locations, 1164 plants destroyed
- Monterey: Reconnaissance only
- Napa: Intelligence only
- San Benito: reconnaissance only
- San Luis Obispo: Reconnaissance only
- Santa Cruz: reconnaissance only
- Solano: intelligence only
“California has the largest safe, legal and regulated cannabis market in the world, but unfortunately, illegal and unlicensed plants continue to proliferate,” Bonta said.
Part of the spread can be attributed 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 cannabis raids by Riverside County law enforcement have taken place 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 Assistant Chief of Enforcement Jeremy Stinson. “Unfortunately, illegal cannabis cultivation is a serious threat to this land with more than 400 documented locations.”
The EPIC program is a multi-agency collaboration led by the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies that play a major role in public lands management: USDA USDA US Forest Service; Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior; California Department of Fish and Wildlife; the Drug Enforcement Administration of the US Department of Justice; California National Guard, Drug Enforcement Task Force; the Central Valley program for areas with high intensity drug trafficking; California State Parks; California Environmental Protection Agency; and other local law enforcement agencies.
According to Bonta and other leaders, one of the broader consequences of the underground cannabis market is the environmental damage caused by illegal activities. Officials reported finding dams, water lines and containers of toxic chemicals such as carbofuran, methyl parathion, aluminum phosphate, zinc phosphide and illegal fertilizers in some growing areas.
Carbofuran, in particular, is a deadly 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 damage to the legal market and growing concern about labor exploitation, where workers can face unsafe conditions and unfair treatment, according to the attorney general.
In total, the 2024 EPIC program resulted in 665 operations that destroyed 774,829 illegally cultivated cannabis plants and 106,141 pounds of processed cannabis nationwide. In addition, 201 weapons were recovered, according to Bonta’s office.
“California’s cannabis law enforcement must go a long way to ensure that illegal cannabis does not reach the legal market,” said San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dickus. “Partnerships like EPIC are a big step forward in addressing this problem.”