One of the major talking points the left and the liberal media used to sell Americans on legalizing marijuana was that it would eliminate black market operations. But in a Tuesday report, CBS Mornings admitted that Maine’s weed legalization had not stopped possibly hundreds of illegal grow houses from sprouting up all across rural parts of the state. They also reported that China was behind most of them.
Co-anchor Tony Dokoupil opened the segment by boasting that weed was “legal for recreational use in 24 states plus Washington, D.C.” But he admitted that “that does not mean illegal growing operations have gone away. In fact, they're still booming.”
Teeing up the investigative report by correspondent Nicole Sganga, Dokoupil noted that illegal “operations are expanding, particularly in rural parts of the U.S., and they're surprising backers overseas who are tied to other deadlier drugs including fentanyl.”
Sganga’s report focused on the liberal state of Maine, which legalized weed but was seeing a disturbing surge in the number of illegal growing operations being funded by China. She spoke with Ray Donovan, a former chief of operations for the Drug Enforcement Agency, who explained the situation with Chinese organized crime:
SGANGA: Just one flashpoint in a billion-dollar black market marijuana boom now sinking its teeth into less populated states like Oklahoma, Colorado, and Maine.
DONOVAN: If I can go into Maine and buy a house for cheap that's rural, is very isolated.
(…)
SGANGA: But perhaps more shocking than the budding number of illegal grows: who is behind them.
DONOVAN: By and large, we see Chinese organized crime behind black-market marijuana.
There was apparently one grow house that was staffed with men who were human trafficked from China to tend to the plants while being trapped in the house.
One of the apparent takeaways CBS wanted viewers to have was that legal marijuana was still viable, there just needed to be an investment in enough law enforcement to crack down on the black market:
SGANGA: Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, but a majority of Americans now live in a state that has legalized weed. With some states still limiting cultivation and others imposing steep taxes, the marijuana underworld thrives.
DONOVAN: It is not something that's going to go away, especially if you are investing in legal marijuana statewide, then we're going to have to pursue the black market marijuana organizations.
While arguing that “people were tired of the war on drugs,” he admitted that “counterintuitively, when you legalize you actually need a big, strong law enforcement push in order to push the black market into the legal market, because people don't naturally want to volunteer to pay taxes, get regulated, fill out paperwork and forms.”
Cracking down on crime? What a novel idea!
Destroying the serious nature of the problem, they ended the segment with co-host Gayle King proclaiming, “I just want to try it one time before I die. Co-hosts Dokoupil and Vladimir Duthiers seemed more than happy to oblige:
DUTHIERS: We can make that happen, Gayle! Somebody around here can make that happen!
KING: I’ve never tried – I just want to try it one time.
DOKOUPIL: I don't want to fund the black market, but there are a lot of trucks just sitting around here in Times Square.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CBS Mornings
April 16, 2024
7:30:06 a.m. EasternTONY DOKOUPIL: There’s a growing acceptance, of course, of marijuana use across the country. It’s legal for recreational use in 24 states plus Washington, D.C. But, that does not mean illegal growing operations have gone away. In fact, they're still booming. A CBS investigation finds those operations are expanding, particularly in rural parts of the U.S., and they're surprising backers overseas who are tied to other deadlier drugs including fentanyl. Nicole Sganga takes us now to an illicit marijuana farm in the beautiful state of Maine, which is one of the states where the drug is actually legal.
[Cuts to video]
NICOLE SGANGA: Nestled along Maine’s rocky shoreline, the sleepy town of Machias.
CHIEF KEITH MERCIER (Machias Police Department): People lobster fish, they clam, and they log.
SGANGA: Population, about 2,000,
It’s sleepy.
MERCIER: Sleepy, very quiet.
SGANGA: But last fall, a pungent smell and a stream of vans darting to and from this barn woke up neighbors triggering a six-week investigation by local police and chief Keith Mercier, and unearthing more than $1 million in black market marijuana.
MERCIER: They had irrigation systems setup, they had heating systems, humidifying system. It was quite an impressive operation.
SGANGA: Hanging from the rafters, flowering under a sea of grow lights. A maze of more than 2,600 plants seized by police.
How in the world did black market marijuana set up shop here?
MERCIER: Well, I think that was one of the draws was being rural community, it could go undetected.
SGANGA: Just one flashpoint in a billion-dollar black market marijuana boom now sinking its teeth into less populated states like Oklahoma, Colorado, and Maine.
RAY DONOVAN (former DEA chief of operations): If I can go into Maine and buy a house for cheap that's rural, is very isolated.
SGANGA: Ray Donovan is the former chief of operations for the DEA.
DONOVAN: That would allow them to continue to grow the marijuana crops uninhibited.
SGANGA: Law enforcement now cracking down, with at least 34 busts statewide. Since last June, more sites dotting the I-95 corridor now undergoing investigation.
This is not just a Machias problem.
MERCIER: No, this is a statewide problem. The information we have says that there is over 200 that are actively working right now.
SGANGA: But perhaps more shocking than the budding number of illegal grows: who is behind them.
DONOVAN: By and large, we see Chinese organized crime behind black market marijuana.
SGANGA: In February, 50 lawmakers penned a bipartisan letter to Attorney General Garland demanding answers about China's role in thousands of illicit marijuana grows nationwide.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): They're unregulated. They’re illicit. They're destroying homes.
MERCIER: Marijuana all over the place lying around.
SGANGA: Operators allegedly stealing more than $10,000 in power.
Just how much power was running through?
MERCIER: Substantial amount. Probably four or five times what a normal house would run.
STEVE ROBINSON: These locations consume huge amounts of electricity.
SGANGAL So, this is the spread sheet.
ROBINSON: Yes.
SGANGA: Native Mainer Steve Robinson meticulously tracks suspected illegal marijuana grows statewide and took us to one identified in court records.
This looks like a suburban dream home.
ROBINSON: If you look on this garage right here, there's a newly installed 400-amp service.
SGANGA: Purring over power records, findings published on his website, attracting the attention of lawmakers and law enforcement.
Why would anyone need that much power?
ROBINSON: If you’re running say, a car wash, a grocery store.
SGANGA: Or?
ROBINSON: Or if you're growing a lot of marijuana.
SGANGA: In some cases, the suspects arrested may have been victims.
MERCIER: We encountered three Asian males. They were being paid $1,000 a month to work 24-7.
SGANGA: Trapped inside sparse living quarters with blacked out windows.
DONOVAN: Some of the people have been brought here from China under the auspices that they’re working under a legit business.
SGANGA: It sounds like you're talking about victims of human trafficking.
DONOVAN: Yes.
SGANGA: Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, but a majority of Americans now live in a state that has legalized weed. With some states still limiting cultivation and others imposing steep taxes, the marijuana underworld thrives.
DONOVAN: It is not something that's going to go away, especially if you are investing in legal marijuana statewide, then we're going to have to pursue the black market marijuana organizations.
SGANGA: You think it’s time to sound the alarm?
DONOVAN: I do.
[Cuts back to live]
SGANGA: Donovan and other law enforcement sources told us some of the same criminal groups behind illicit weed are part of a larger criminal network tied to a deadlier drug trade: fentanyl. In fact, Donovan said the DEA first connected Chinese organized crime to these illegal weed grows by following some of the same criminals profiting off the fentanyl supply chain. Tony.
DOKOUPIL: What ever to make money. Nicole, thank you very much.
So, of course, one of the reasons why weed is legal in 24 states is because people were tired of the war on drugs. But, counterintuitively, when you legalize you actually need a big, strong law enforcement push in order to push the black market into the legal market, because people don't naturally want to volunteer to pay taxes, get regulated, fill out paperwork and forms. We're seeing that process play out in places like Maine.
GAYLE KING: I just want to try it one time before I die.
[Laughter]
DOKOUPI: Well, Gayle—
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS: We can make that happen, Gayle! Somebody around here can make that happen!
KING: I’ve never tried – I just want to try it one time.
DOKOUPIL: I don't want to fund the black market, but there are a lot of trucks just sitting around here in Times Square.
KING: Okay.
DUTHIERS: We're going to make that happen, Gayle.
KING: It’s bucket list. Bucket list.
