"But it's legal!"

Illegal pot growers targeted by Riverside County officials in second raid in 6 weeks

Most of these growers were legal before 64.

It's more illegal under Prop 64 than Prop 215. Case closed. Fuck this law.

80 warrants in Anza today, hundreds of cops for "legal weed".

Edit : 90+ warrants served today*

 

Too bad all the money they're throwing away from these growers work. Too bad we can't have a workable cannabis system where now the permitting system is rigged for the super rich and those with corporate connections.

 

not everyone is doing this many plants, many of these people even in the hundreds range were legal growers before this catastrophe. there is still unsettled technicalities if these people were "illegal growers" or not since some provisions in the medical law are still alive. they just raided everyone anyways,.

the law is designed to allow the cities in conjunction with the police lobbies the allow the least amount of grows possible and take as much tax money they comfortably can and they don't care how many good players they shut out, only those with deep pockets and connections, no matter how good or bad their weed is and their history with growing.

the black market is now bigger than ever because there are fewer legal growers and the licensed growers are pushing mids in mass for the most part (some of it on the black market).

price is going up, quality is going down, everything everyone predicted before this stupid law was passed. simple economics.

the reason why we have a bigger black market for weed anyways is because these clowns aren't making reasonable laws for growing and sales. that's all this boils down to. it's became a corrupt scheme.

the way it was written gave opportunity for this corruption. many in this community warned of this ages ago.

there is no more denying this. the results are in. don't say we didn't tell you so.

prop 64 is a big government / big business money grab.

 

if you don't have millions of dollars, you can't start a reasonable weed business here.

why would anyone support buying these guys' expensive weed and the tax money going to police to raid average growers much smaller than these big rich heads.

at least grow 6 plants... or hopefully more if you have a drs rec / pair of balls.

 

National Guard Joins Local, State Agencies in Anza Raids - CANORML

National Guard Joins Local, State Agencies in Anza Raids
June 6, 2019 by Ellen



June 6, 2019 – Yesterday, multijurisdictional force of more than 700 personnel from the Army National Guard, the FBI, US Drug Enforcement, and numerous other police and government agencies descended on the Anza Valley region in Riverside County at daybreak and worked throughout the day. Police and military helicopters, and trucks pulling trailers were spotted removing marijuana from the various alleged illegal grows.

Warrants were served 118 locations and eight people including one Mexican national were arrested for “related crimes,” according to the Riverside Sheriff’s Department.

The raids reportedly resulted in the confiscation of:

• 140,877 marijuana plants (which the sheriff’s office valued at $189 million)

• 3,037 pounds of processed marijuana

• 17 rifles and 10 handguns, and

• 70 tons of plants, which were disposed of.

The California Army National Guard tweeted that they were deploying an HH-60 Pavehawk helicopter in support of the raids, and the Riverside Sheriff’s Dept. tweeted thanks for the “outstanding job” the Guard did “helping in the transport and destruction of the marijuana located.”

The Sheriff’s press release said that the Hemet Sheriff’s Station Investigators spearheaded the multi-agency operation and thanked the following agencies: San Diego County Sheriff, Orange County Sheriff, Los Angeles County Sheriff, Kern County Sheriff, Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, Riverside Police, Hemet Police, Murrieta Police, Cathedral City Police, Riverside County Gang Task Force, PACT Team, Coachella Valley Narcotic Task Force, CA Fish and Game, FBI, US Drug Enforcement Administration, Cal Fire, American Medical Response, Riverside County Animal Services, CA Water Board, Riverside County Code Enforcement, and the Riverside Sheriff’s Association.

Sheriff Bianco told MyValleyNews that most of the marijuana being grown in the region was being shipped out of state, and was grown by cartels and gangs that are “protecting themselves from thieves and with that comes guns and gunfights and shootings and robberies and everything that comes along with it.” The Sheriff said that one of the locations for which he had a warrant was investigated the night before the raid for a murder on the property. A local man interviewed on ABC7 News (with his face obscured) said that the water table was being impacted by large grows in the area.

The Riverside County Planning Department plans to grant only 50 cannabis cultivation licenses in the county. The permitting process, which closed on February 15, required a “development agreement” promising increasing profits, which many small farmers were unable to comply with. Others were fearful of giving up their farms’ addresses, which was required to apply or attend a March meeting of interested parties at the county. It is unknown whether or not anyone who gave their address to the county was targeted in the raids. The search warrants reportedly came about as a result of air surveillance.

Gem Montes of Inland Empire NORML commented, “Local officials seem to be clearing the way for corporations to take over the cannabis businesses from the small farmer in Riverside.” Patch.com reported, “When the Board of Supervisors held hearings on the licensing regime earlier this year and last fall, several Anza Valley residents complained that it was too onerous.”

Bianco was elected last November, unseating the former sheriff with the support of the union that represents the Sheriff department’s deputies, the Riverside Sheriffs Association. The 3,800-member union funneled more than $850,000 into Bianco’s campaign coffers, allowing him to spend money on campaign consultants, mailers and television spots. According to The Desert Sun: “The organization feuded with the [former] sheriff for more than three years over how the department implemented new policies regarding body-worn cameras and drug testing after officer-involved shootings.”

It’s unclear if the action was related to Governor Gavin Newsom’s promise made in February to deploy the California National Guard against marijuana grows in California. Multijurisdictional task forces have long been deployed against marijuana grows in California. Calls to the Governor’s office were responded to, but no further information was provided.

“With California bracing for another wild fire season, it’s hard to believe this was a reasonable allocation of resources, especially if licensing rather than raiding was a viable option,” said Ellen Komp of California NORML.

Rumor is, the actions are heading North.

 

The corporate takeover is here.

 

They basically threw away their entire year's tax money of weed in the garbage in one small community of growers. Imagine the money they could make if these idiots licensed these people and made it reasonable to do so.

 

I'm saying you have to be super rich / corporately (and in some cases politically) connected to get these stupid licenses. You're underestimating all the fees I saw a lawyer for this. The cities limit the number of licenses and this causes people to have to try to dance like monkeys for approval. The loophole also exists where these big corps are buying many licenses all over the place. The whole setup economically is extremely poor, the tax collection numbers prove it. This is why they're raiding now thinking this will somehow stop people from growing and people will suddenly start forking over 80$ an eighth.

 

Weeds gotta come from somewhere 6 plants ain't gonna go beyond you and your friends.