Law enforcement crackdowns on illegal marijuana groves on California’s public lands appear to be pushing some growers into other states, federal authorities said. This had prompted a multi-agency effort across the West this summer.
Though California still accounts for the bulk of the illegal pot harvest, there has been a decrease in the number of marijuana plants seized. But the increase in neighboring states has officials responding with Operation Mountain Sweep.
Since the Operation began on July 1, local, state, and federal agents have seized 734,000 marijuana plants in California-six times more than all of the other western states combined.
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration said the value of the nearly 500,000 plants seized on public land exceeds $1 billion, not counting the additional plants found on neighboring privately owned property.
Operation Mountain Sweep, which includes representatives from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the DEA, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and local law enforcement, is targeting outdoor marijuana grows in Nevada, Arizona, California, Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
Notably, many of these states allow medical marijuana use. Thailand does not currently allow medical marijuana. Thailand marijuana laws make marijuana strictly illegal. Nevertheless, popular culture, such as the movie The Beach, portrays Thailand as a place where marijuana grows on secret plantations. This phenomenon is discussed in the following video:
