Central Valley California
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
September 27, 2016
www.cvcaliforniahidta.org
From Giant Trees and Jumping Frogs to Pot Farms and Human Trafficking
Home to majestic Giant Sequoias, historic Gold Rush towns, awesome underground caverns and Mark Twain, Calaveras
County’s reputation as a relaxing tourist destination is being stained by large-scale marijuana cultivation and the crime
that comes with it. Residents were shocked by the September 2016 arrests of two Mexican nationals on charges including
human trafficking when it was discovered that they and other suspects had enslaved four brothers and forced them to work
tending more than 23,000 illegal marijuana plants at a rural property. The desperate brothers, who had been repeatedly
beaten, escaped after they overheard their captors agree to kill them after the marijuana harvest. While unconfirmed, there
are indications that the subjects operating the marijuana farm are connected to Mexican drug cartels.
A perfect storm of circumstances helped create the environment for
this shocking crime: In September 2015, California passed the
Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, which simultaneously
established infrastructure and rules for robust commercial marijuana
commerce while affirming the authority of cities and counties to
restrict or ban marijuana cultivation within their jurisdictions.
Counties adjacent to Calaveras quickly enacted ordinances to
severely restrict or prohibit marijuana growing, while Calaveras did
not. Part II of the storm came in the form of the Butte Fire, also in
September 2015. The fire devastated nearly 71,000 acres and
destroyed 475 homes, leaving a large group of desolate, fire-weary
victims who eagerly sold their properties for top dollar to marijuana
growers from outside the area. In short order, several hundred
marijuana farms were up and running around the county of fewer than
50,000 residents.
Marijuana farms now dominate the area devasted by the
Butte Fire in September 2015
In May 2016, the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors approved an urgency ordinance regulating medical marijuana
cultivation and commerce, citing the need to limit the number of new cultivation sites emerging as well as impose rules
intended to limit public exposure to marijuana farms and promote public safety. Cannabis activists lauded the ordinance
as a catalyst for post-fire economic comeback benefiting county residents. Skeptical locals characterized the ordinance as
a new revenue stream for county government, which collected $3.7 million in cultivation license application fees between
the passing of the ordinance and the June 30 deadline to apply. Regardless of how you look at it, Calaveras County turned
into a leading commercial marijuana region, with nearly 700 commercial grow sites in operation, almost overnight.
That kind of meteoric growth involving a high-dollar product like marijuana brings problems like the case described in the
first paragraph. There have been reports of marijuana farmers threatening their non-growing neighbors, and the Calaveras
County Sheriff has taken the extreme measure of soliciting the California Highway Patrol to augment deputies during the
marijuana harvest season, hoping that events such as a September 2015 grow site-related triple homicide are not repeated.
Generally, increased prosperity brings security and peace to communities. With marijuana…not so much.
In his 1865 short story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, Mark Twain introduced Americans to a
sleepy post-Gold Rush community with charming characters and a gentle pace of life, qualities that have attracted visitors
for generations since then. With the explosion of commercial marijuana cultivation in the region, one wonders how much
longer this image will endure.
Sources: Sacramento Bee, July 26, 2016; Calaveras Enterprise, May 12, 2016; Calaveras Enterprise, September 19, 2016