California produced at least 13.5 million pounds of marijuana last year — five times more than the 2.5 million pounds it consumed.
Where did all that extra pot go?
The answer, experts say, is that much of it ended up in other states — some where marijuana is still illegal.
As California prepares to allow cannabis sale for recreational use, that surplus has become a problem.
“If we want to avoid intervention from the federal government, we need to do everything we can to crack down on illegal activity and prevent cannabis from being exported out of state,” Assemblyman Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale) said.
The wide gap between production and consumption came to light in a recent study commissioned by the state Department of Food and Agriculture.
Marijuana is an illegal drug under federal law, and U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions has said he favors stricter enforcement. Under the Obama administration, the Department of Justice had placed a lower priority on enforcing the law in states that allowed medical marijuana.
States interpreted a 2013 memo by then-Deputy Atty. Gen. James Cole that they could avoid federal intervention as long as they tried to stop serious marijuana crimes, such as sales to minors, gang sales and exports to other states.
The new California Bureau of Cannabis Control is scrambling to put regulations in place to begin issuing state licenses to grow, transport and sell marijuana starting Jan. 2. Those rules explicitly prohibit the export of marijuana to other states.
Lackey, a retired sergeant for the California Highway Patrol, introduced legislation last month naming the CHP as the lead state law enforcement agency investigating black market cannabis.
Currently, no agency in the state runs point on drug enforcement. It’s policed by a combination of city and county law enforcement and the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement.
Lackey said his bill, which will be debated early next year, will help stop the export of marijuana.
Law enforcement officers in places like Texas are worried about California’s exports. A spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety said Interstate 40, which spans from East to West Coast, “has become a major drug corridor.”
In one 48-hour period in early August, highway troopers stopped three vehicles from California on the same stretch of Interstate 40 east of Amarillo, seizing $2.5 million worth of marijuana.
First came 60 pounds of marijuana worth $364,000, smuggled inside a Dodge Caravan driven by a man from Eureka, heading to Memphis, Tenn.
State troopers also confiscated 69 pounds of marijuana worth $418,000 from a minivan being driven to Tulsa, Okla., by a woman from Phelan, Calif.
Three hours later troopers seized 300 pounds of marijuana worth $1.8 million from another minivan heading east. They arrested a woman who allegedly was driving the drugs from Fresno to Tulsa.
“Any amount of marijuana coming out of California and going through our state is a problem because it’s not a legalized drug in Texas,” said Lt. Bryan Witt of the Texas Department of Public Safety. “If we catch anybody with any amount from California, they will be arrested. Our marijuana laws will be enforced.”
credit:420intel.com