The number of illegal cannabis farms in Northern Los Angeles County has grown from 150 to 500 since the onset of the pandemic with illegal dispensaries outnumbering compliant marijuana businesses 50 to1, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Department data.
In response, a dozen residents gathered last week to express their concerns about the border crisis, illegal cannabis farms, and the rising influence of cartels to Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) and Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva.
“The border crisis increases the supply of migrant farmworkers, low-wage workers, and people who are looking to get ahead to provide for their families whether they are of the criminal element or not,” said Josiah Young, a drug defense attorney based in Sacramento. “People who aren't at all affiliated with that may be pressured into working a farm just because they need the opportunity to provide for their family. What it does is increase the supply of undocumented labor, which can be used to work undocumented grows.”
Neighbors complain of cars trailing them when they leave their homes, seeing images of a truck riddled with bullets while someone is driving, being run off the road, and having water stolen from their residences by people operating illegal marijuana farms nearby, according to media reports.
“If you were going to do a mixed light cannabis grow and you need electricity, then you're going to have to pull permits to get power run to your building,” Young told the Southern California Record. “You're going to have to do all of the regulatory steps but if you're an illegal grower or doing something criminally, you're Jimmy rigging it. You're not going to pull permits to get power or water. They're circumventing that by just stealing it from wherever they can get it. That's why code enforcement is putting pressure on these illegal grows by flying planes and using unmanned equipment to try to find where illegal grows are happening and how to stop them”
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently issued an order on Californians to reduce their water use by 15% to protect reserves during record-breaking high temperatures nationwide, according to a press release.
"Cannabis is not an extremely water-dependent product," Young said.
"There are other agricultural products that require water but that's the exact issue why code compliance are so on top of unpermitted grows is because they cause all types of issues in the community and the municipality. If you're diverting water, it's taking away from the supply of legitimate water and that's a major problem. It's the same as pirating."
While neighbors asked to remain anonymous during the Palmdale gathering, Villanueva said police in San Bernardino County discovered more than 860 illegal marijuana farms.
"If you find guns or evidence of other crimes that you can link to an organized crime ring, that's what investigators do," Young added. "I think they have to be able to connect those dots but that is why so many people are able to hide because there are so many statewide with grow facilities in their backyards and now we're seeing even more because they feel like the cannabis law is relaxed."