[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Chinese gangs have set up thousands of illicit weed farms across the US as they begin to challenge Mexican cartels for supremacy as America's cannabis kingpins.Authorities in Oklahoma, Oregon, California, New Mexico and Maine have all been battling a surge in Chinese weed farms, with some thought to be linked to criminal gangs known as 'triads'.
The spread is seemingly uncontainable, with police in Penobscot County, Maine, last week arresting three Chinese nationals at a weed farm and seizing 40 pounds of the drug alongside $4,700 in cash. It is thought to be one of around 270 illegal weed farms worth more than $4billion that have sprung up across the state since it legalized the drug in 2020.
Local law enforcement has carried out multiple busts already this year.
Meanwhile, around 2,000 'suspicious' marijuana plants in Oklahoma have been linked to China, accounting for two thirds of weed farms under surveillance, state narcotics police told Politico. Earlier this month, a Chinese ringleader was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to fatally shooting four people at an illegal medical marijuana operation in Oklahoma.
Mexican cartels have long dominated the market for illegal weed in the US, but officials are now warning that Chinese funding for such operations is skyrocketing.
| It is not known whether the money is coming from groups connected to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), but experts have pointed out that triads are usually only allowed to operate if they agree to act as informal 'enforcers' for the government. |
Last year, a Homeland Security memo leaked to the Daily Caller attributed the growth to Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs), with one official raising the possibility that profits are being funneled back to Beijing.
Chinese immigrant workers have alleged they were lured to northern New Mexico under false pretenses and forced to work 14 hours a day at an illegal marijuana plant backed with funds from a China-based energy giant, according to a lawsuit filed last year. The operation was shut down by police in 2020, but those behind it upped sticks to Oklahoma - taking many of their workers with them - before that farm was also busted in 2022.
The crackdown in Southern and Western states has been put forward as one reason for the explosion in weed farms in Maine.
For several years, Maine residents have spoken out about a surge in marijuana-odor filled homes popping up across the state, including near daycares and schools. The Chinese owners, who speak little to no English, have allegedly earned a notorious reputation throughout Maine for spending thousands on cultivating equipment, namely by demanding items from their phones.
Homes that have been identified as part of the extensive statewide apparatus appear to be found in everyday sleepy suburbs, yet are said to have been plaguing their neighborhoods as a strong marijuana smell emanates even from a distance away and are fitted with extensive electrical upgrades.
Experts estimate that a standard 2,500 square foot home can produce upwards of $3million of marijuana every year.
Some of the profits are allegedly sent directly back to China, while some of the ill-gotten gains remain in the US to keep up criminal activities.
According to an investigation by Maine Wire into 100 of the identified sites, they were all purchased since marijuana was legalized, by single Chinese adults primarily from New York and Massachusetts.
| Fascinating. |
Neighbors say it has become a near-monthly sight to see a van with New York or Massachusetts plates arrive at the pot-filled homes.
In January, Maine authorities raided an illegal Chinese-run marijuana operation in the aptly-named town of China in Kennebec County.
The Chinese-owned growing plants have emerged at a time when the marijuana industry is skyrocketing in the US, opening up million-dollar revenue streams for many - including the Amish community who were detailed in a DailyMail.com investigation last year.
Nationwide, Homeland Security has reportedly found a total of 749 properties linked to Asian TCOs, indicating Maine has become a particular hotbed for CCP activity.
| It comes amid growing frustration at the failure of law enforcement to crack down on the illicit operations, with Homeland Security allegedly pleading with Maine police to help them gather intel on the properties in September. |
Many in the legal weed industry say they have been forced to become extremely selective to avoid using the Chinese-grown marijuana, as it is often found to contain harmful chemicals including pesticides. The harmful elements to the product is another example of the struggle law enforcement have had in clamping down on the illegal marijuana grown by illegal immigrants.
'Regardless of where the individuals are from, the true problem involves conflicting state and federal laws,' Morton said. 'We also have little to no oversight, allowing for criminal activity to occur at a high degree.'
