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In 2017, the rot hit you before you saw it. The reek of illegal cannabis grown on our public lands was a punch to the gut. You didn’t just smell it, you felt it. Dead Pacific fishers dangling from baited hooks. A 300-pound black bear lying next to a banned pesticide bottle. Pine martens flopping around, waiting for a painful end. This wasn’t just a grow site; it was a war zone for wildlife. The landscape was devastated. Streams were rerouted, ancient trees chopped down and highly toxic, banned pesticides and garbage everywhere.
Illicit cannabis production on California’s public lands had exploded. Over 80% of all unlicensed cannabis came from public land grows, most controlled by drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). Hikers found themselves staring down armed growers, making entire sections of our National Forests simply no-go areas. Law enforcement was underfunded, and the public largely unaware, even as cannabis laced with banned pesticides silently infiltrated the market, a ticking public health bomb.
By 2023, the numbers flipped. The Department of Justice declared only 20% of illegal grows were now on public lands. An apparent victory. But what’s the real story behind this supposed success?
The environmental and human toll inflicted by these criminals is truly stunning. Research from the Cannabis Removal on Public Lands Project (CROP) showed banned pesticides like carbofuran leaching straight into public waters. Big game animals now carry those poisons, making their way into our human food web. CROP documented nearly 400,000 acres of national and state forest land torched by trespass grows, with suppression costs in the billions. The 2020 Dolan Fire in Monterey, caused by DTOs, burned 130,000 acres and killed endangered California Condors in the Big Sur Condor Sanctuary.
Starting in 2019, as CROP’s national media campaign fueled public awareness and media scrutiny intensified, illicit growers adapted. Hundreds of public land grow sites were abandoned, leaving behind toxic dumps of illegal pesticides, garbage, and infrastructure. Much of the DTO activity moved to private lands, transferring the same threats to wildlife, drinking water, and public safety.
Violence is the DTO calling card. Human trafficking is rampant. These organizations have been linked to recent homicides on private lands in Mendocino County. Just like our National Forests once became no-go zones, now some of California’s most beautiful counties face the same terrifying dangers. This isn’t just an environmental problem, it’s a direct threat to our communities.
So, what are we going to do about it?
The Department of Justice must call this what it is: DTO-driven organized crime on U.S. soil. They must go after leadership, liquidate their money laundering businesses, and use those proceeds to fund the massive cleanup of our public lands. Public and media education will be critical for broad support. This isn’t just California’s problem, it’s a federal one.
The State of California, with local authorities, needs to launch large-scale interdiction operations on unlicensed, private land grows. Landowners knowingly leasing to DTOs should face massive fines and forfeit their property. These illicit operations are crippling California’s legal cannabis market, with over 80% of cannabis sold in the state originating from unlicensed sources. This has to end.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife Cannabis Restoration grant program, funded by taxes on legal cannabis sales, is a shining light and our greatest hope for fixing the ecological damage and fostering sound practices in the legal cannabis community. Any attempt to dilute or reallocate its funding stream must be stopped. This program is too important to mess with. We also need to establish and enforce serious federal and state penalties for using banned pesticides in cannabis production. The deadly chemicals poisoning our wildlife are also in the cannabis flower, and millions are unknowingly poisoning themselves. The state should launch a broad public service announcement campaign to warn everyone of the dangers of ingesting unregulated cannabis, while also supporting the legal market.
For years, these illicit grows have left environmental disaster after disaster. The state and federal government must move quickly and decisively to ensure this problem is dealt with once and for all. Our land, our wildlife, and our communities depend on it.
Rich McIntyre is the executive director of CROP, the Cannabis Removal on Public Lands Project.
Call the local assessor’s personal property division office along side the code enforcement office so to make certain the property owners get a tax bill along with a citation for their illicit tenants. Please have their address or parcel # on hand when you call.
There is no support from the public for legal cannabis while the same public cries about crime. It’s all lies. Meanwhile, the fake Willits Environmental Center, which is a tax shelter for local rich white people, goes after the legal cannabis industry in Mendocino.
Every single time that law enforcement agencies go after private citizens on private property they violate civil rights, rob homeowners of property and money and make the public less trusting of their neighbors and the law. The tough on crime propagandists are the same people who voted for Trump and his fascist regime and are now emboldening federal agents to violate the constitution by kidnapping people in broad daylight while wearing masks without a warrant or probable cause. Our DA and sheriff called for Trump to be our next president and now they will join the CBP and ICE in the kidnappings to come.
The more we get the federal government involved in local crime fighting the worse the repression will be for everyone.
Article blows it out of proportion. I’ve hiked and hunted all over several national forests, & sure I have ran into some grows, never anyone violent, & not very often at all. Just a few times over 52 years.
Respectfully, Wayne, a lot of these grows are in extremely remote, difficult to access areas. We are talking instances where they are 3,000 feet straight up, across very difficult terrain. Unless you are going there, you aren’t seeing the worst of it. And I assure you, there are many instances of hikers and hunters looking down the barrel of an AR-15 held by a cartel operator-I’ve been there.
I totally agree about the Willits environmental center…
But I also totally support ICE operations. I lost my job because of illegal immigrants who were willing to work for less money & the way they worked together to drive me out. I say deport them all.
I say it’s unAmerican to support ICE in their violations of constitutional rights of people all over the country. Rights that all people are equally entitled to in this country.
I believe that true patriots should prioritize supporting the Constitution over a federal agency that is violating it. It’s important not to direct anger towards immigrants, as everyone who is not a native to this land is, in fact, an immigrant. No one is illegal on stolenland. European Americans need to recognize and understand this
Community Issues Report: Illegal Cannabis Operations and Systemic Challenges
Historical Context
Over 30 years ago, I met with Tony Craver in his office on the coast to discuss illegal activities tied to cannabis cultivation. I described the environmental damage—dead animals and diverted streams—caused by illegal grows. I also shared the horrific account of a woman in the hospital, emotionally processing a brutal assault: she was hit on the head with a rock and raped by five growers on Big River. Despite the growers’ known location, no action was taken. The logging companies, which had brought in and equipped these subcontractors after the mill reduced its 1,200 union workers, protected them.
Systemic Issues with Cannabis Eradication
Cannabis eradication became a financial boon for law enforcement, with multiple agencies inflating bust numbers for budget increases. After a violent incident where a grower shot at a patrol car, the sheriff targeted five locations in Mendocino County, resulting in the deaths of five growers. This pushed illegal operations to private lands in Redwood Valley, Potter Valley, and Covelo, with some growers exploiting Native communities to sustain their operations.
The war chest of cannabis eradication funds, ironically fueled by cannabis taxes, perpetuates illegal grows. This system keeps legal market prices high and undermines efforts to remove key figures, as new “kingpins” emerge immediately. This cycle ensures job security for law enforcement.
Human Trafficking and Inaction
For decads, as a living soil consultant, I’ve been approached about off-topic community issues, particularly the Chinese slave trade in cannabis. Reports of caged workers, slave labor, and prostitution are consistently ignored by law enforcement, district attorneys, and politicians. Action only occurs when deaths occur and there’s a documented record of prior complaints. Without such records, fatalities are merely used to justify budget increases.
Proposed Solution
To address these issues, communities must:
Document and Report: Research local illegal operations and formally notify law enforcement, district attorneys, and politicians. Maintain records of all communications.
Pressure Authorities: When deaths occur, use documented complaints to force action. Without records, issues are ignored or exploited for funding.
Shift Focus: The real issue is not just the growers but law enforcement’s reliance on eradication budgets. Community efforts should target accountability in law enforcement practices.
While illegal grows can be dismantled quickly, legal constraints require law enforcement to act. Thus, the focus must be on ensuring authorities fulfill their responsibilities rather than solely targeting growers.
Illegal Cannabis Grows on Public or Native Land Are Not Justice
The phrase “No one is illegal on stolen land” may sound powerful, but slogans without substance can become shields for harmful practices. Historical injustices against Native peoples are real and deserve recognition and redress—but they do not justify turning a blind eye to environmental destruction, human trafficking, and organized crime operating under the guise of cannabis cultivation on sovereign land.
What’s happening in some of these illegal grows isn’t a victimless crime. Toxic chemicals are being dumped into the soil and waterways, threatening aquifers that serve not just tribal communities, but entire regions. These pollutants can linger for decades, poisoning the environment and wildlife, and putting the health of future generations at risk.
We’ve also seen the darker side—labor exploitation, violence, and trafficking of vulnerable women, many of whom are undocumented, non-English speaking, and trapped in horrific conditions with no way out. This isn’t cultural sovereignty. It’s exploitation hiding behind it.
The U.S. government’s treatment of Native peoples has been shameful. That history is not in dispute. But using that history to excuse ongoing crimes against the environment and basic human rights is not the path to justice, healing, or balance. Two wrongs don’t make a right—they deepen the wound.
The current methods of immigration enforcement, including ICE raids, are often inhumane and need urgent reform. But I would fully support a targeted crackdown on illegal grow operations that damage ecosystems, violate labor rights, and fuel violence—regardless of where they occur or who profits. There’s a difference between supporting Native sovereignty and enabling harmful, criminal enterprises under its banner.
Environmental justice and human dignity must be upheld for everyone. Real sovereignty, real justice, must be rooted in sustainability, safety, and respect for life—both human and non-human. Turning a blind eye to these illegal grows does a disservice to the very principles we claim to stand for.
The Governor fir the State of California needs to do what he is not doing…..Shut the State down!