Indopedia All Things Marijuana
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The top U.S. prosecutor for northeastern California says he’ll prioritize black market cannabis, rather than going after the state’s newly legal marijuana market.
U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said Tuesday, May 29, 2018, that there is so much illegal cannabis being grown on federal lands and trafficked to other states that he doesn’t have the resources to target the world’s largest legal recreational marijuana market.
McGregor Scott, right, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California, accompanied by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, discusses an increase in the use of a banned pesticide at illegal marijuana farms hidden on public lands Tuesday, May 29, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif. Researchers found the highly toxic pesticide Carbofuran, which can’t legally be used in the Unites States, at 72 percent of grow sites last year, up 15 percent from 2012. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Federal law still bans cannabis sales and consumption, but Scott says he’ll focus on interstate trafficking, organized crime and damage to U.S. public lands.
The Trump administration appointee announced that U.S., state and local authorities will target the illegal grows with $2.5 million in federal money.
The money is driven by concerns about an alarming increase in the use of a banned and highly toxic pesticide at illegal marijuana farms hidden on public land in California.
Researchers and federal authorities are finding what they say is an alarming increase in the use of a powerful pesticide at illegal cannabis farms hidden on public land in California. They’re finding the pesticide residue in marijuana illegally grown in California but mostly destined for Midwest and eastern states.
Photographs showing the harm done to wildlife caused by the use of a banned pesticide at illegal marijuana farms hidden on public lands is displayed at a news conference, Tuesday, May 29, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif. Researchers found the highly toxic pesticide Carbofuran, which can’t legally be used in the Unites States, at 72 percent of grow sites last year, up 15 percent from 2012. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Researcher Mourad Gabriel tells The Associated Press that his team found the highly toxic pesticide Carbofuran at 72 percent of grow sites last year, up from 15 percent in 2012.
Nearly a third of cannabis plants tested positive for the pesticide.
Gabriel says the pesticide is so powerful that less than a teaspoon can kill a 300-pound bear.
