Source: AFP
"Sheriff's Department! Search Warrant," shout armed officers as they enter a property in the heart of the Californian desert, where they soon find hundreds of illegal cannabis plants.
Marijuana was fully legalized in the state in 2016 following a public vote, in a move that proponents said would bring an end to a huge black market and the crime and nuisance associated with it. In reality, the sector has boomed, with illegal growers tempted by the promise of fat profits for operators who don't have to worry about licenses, standards and even paying for their water.
"Right around 2016, when laws started to change, there was a huge increase of illegal cultivations," Sergeant Chris Morsch told AFP during a recent raid.
Source:AFP
"The model definitely was not perfect.
" Morsch and his colleagues from San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department carry out six to ten raids every week, dismantling some of the hundreds of greenhouses that dot the Mojave Desert, east of Los Angeles.
The facilities allow growers to cultivate their crop year-round, with a lucrative harvest every few months.
"This could bring upwards of $600 per pound" (450 grams) in California once the flowers are processed, said Sergeant Chris Bassett, noting that in states where recreational marijuana is illegal "you're looking at triple the price.
A few industrial-sized greenhouses can provide a revenue of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Crime
Illegal farms are found throughout California's varied landscapes, from forests to fields to deserts. The market share for their produce dwarfs that sold legally, a sector whose sales have stagnated at around $5 billion a year.
Illegal growers are often one step ahead of the officers who raid the farms, having left before the armed deputies arrive. Photo: Robyn Beck / AFP
Source: AFP
"The explosion of the black market, I would say it has a lot to do with the taxation of marijuana in the state of California," said Bassett.
"Some of these permits to actually cultivate, manufacture, distribute... are upwards of $100,000, which makes it very difficult for someone to actually get into the legal market."
With such handsome profits to be made, illegal cannabis growth often intersects with more serious crime.
In January, six bullet-riddled bodies were found on a desert road in San Bernardino County, murders that investigators said were linked to the settling of scores among competing growers.
Yet there appears to be scant evidence of the involvement of large-scale organized crime, said Bassett, with many of those caught up being opportunistic criminals from Latin America, Asia or the United States.
