Refer Madness: Stigma Stricken Town Declares State of Emergency

The Taft Midway Driller Reports:

"Siskiyou County supervisors last week supported Sheriff Jon Lopey’s assessment that illegal marijuana grows are detrimental to the health and well being of local residents and approved the extension of a local state of emergency through 2020. Lopey said law enforcement continues to struggle with illegal marijuana grows and told the supervisors that over the course of 2019, detectives with the Siskiyou Unified Major Investigation Team served 154 search warrants throughout the county. SIMIT seized 44,369 illegal marijuana plants and confiscated 16,759.5 pounds of processed marijuana, he said. Nine arrests, 10 citations, and 15 firearms were seized, while $29,596.00 in drug currency was seized. In addition, during routine traffic stops, mostly near the end of the marijuana harvest season, Sheriff’s Office deputies seized 63 illicit plants and 2,074.4 pounds of processed or partially-processed marijuana from vehicles.

Though the state of California legalized the use, sale, and growth of cannabis, Siskiyou County has maintained local ordinances that make commercial cultivation of cannabis illegal throughout the county. Growers are limited to 12 plants inside an approved structure for medical marijuana. Recreational marijuana possession on private property, pursuant to Proposition 64, is limited to six marijuana plants, which may be grown in a residence or other approved, enclosed structure. Nonetheless, Siskiyou County is an incredibly popular place for large marijuana grow sites, Lopey said, with much of the product inevitably bound for black market sale. Lopey has long argued that the black market grow sites go hand-in-hand with other dangerous and illegal activities, including use or sale of harder drugs and environmental pollution. Siskiyou County has been under a local state of emergency for illegal marijuana every year since 2017. Lopey explained the resources used to combat illegal grows. In addition to SIMIT, the regional North State Major Investigation Team has been instrumental in combating the illegal marijuana problem"