Mexican drug cartels move in on California’s shadow marijuana industry

COVELO, Calif.  Mexican drug cartels are muscling in on America’s burgeoning multi-billion-dollar marijuana industry, illegally growing large crops in the hills and valleys of Northern California.

The state legalized marijuana in 2016 for adult recreational use, yet the black market continues to thrive with thousands of illegal grows. Criminal syndicates, in turn, are cashing in across the U.S. on the “green gold rush.”

They’re undercutting prices of legalized products offered by permitted farmers who follow the rules and pay taxes.

And they’re exploiting workers, robbing and shooting adversaries, poisoning wildlife and poaching water in a state fighting widespread drought and devastating wildfires.

Lured by America’s push toward legalized cannabis, cartels have abandoned many decades-old marijuana farms in Mexico, moving their operations to Northern California where they can blend in seamlessly alongside legitimate grows, said Mike Sena, executive director of Northern California’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task forces. 

“Why try to bring that bulk marijuana into the United States, when you can just grow it in the United States in remote locations like Mendocino County and then move it across the entire country?”

via www.usatoday.com

Here in SD County, I’ve heard the marijuana trade is dominated by Chaldean gangs who are hooked up the cartels. Some of it’s legal, some isn’t, and some is in between. Among other things, it makes dope crazy expensive. Wine is probably cheaper.