Law enforcement officials in San Bernardino County, California have filed charges against 11 individuals after a huge subterranean cannabis cultivation operation was discovered by police. At a press conference on Monday, San Bernardino District Attorney Jason Anderson and Sheriff Shannon Dicus announced the group faces charges of felony cultivation of marijuana, violating environmental law, and misdemeanor possession of marijuana for sale.

Law enforcement officials pegged the value of the cannabis products seized from the property in Newberry Springs at $9 million on the illicit market, although estimates from police and prosecutors have come under fire in recent months for being unrealistically inflated.

The charges against the defendants are related “to an industrial-sized subterranean illegal marijuana grow in Newberry Springs, a processing warehouse, and other properties used in conjunction with the selling, manufacturing, and distribution of cannabis,” according to a statement from law enforcement officials.

California Property Raided Twice

Police first served a search warrant at the property in the small California high desert town in August 2020, according to arrest records from the sheriff’s department. At that time, law enforcement officials discovered eight greenhouses with approximately 2,000 cannabis plants and more than 100 pounds of processed marijuana on the property. The owner of the land at the time was identified as Cheng Lin, who also faces a felony conspiracy charge. Two defendants who were detained at the site during the raid have also been charged.

Prosecutors allege that after the first raid, Lin sold the property to a second individual, Qiaoyan Liu, who also faces a felony conspiracy charge. On March 3 of this year, police raided the property a second time. During that action, officers with the sheriff’s department’s cannabis enforcement team discovered a large red shipping container known as a Conex box next to a house at the location.

“Upon searching the Conex box, deputies discovered the floor opened and were able to descend into an underground bunker,” the statement reads, according to a report from the Victorville Daily Press. “The bunker was 230 feet in length by 60 feet in width. It was constructed with over 30 Conex boxes approximately 15 feet below the ground.”

The underground facility covered 14,000 square feet and contained more than 6,000 illicit cannabis plants. Deputies also discovered a reserve of 5,500 gallons of fuel to power “generators that were used to air out the space and cure the plants,” according to Anderson.

Prosecutors also allege that “processed marijuana was found in the residence of Cheng Lin, as well as a commercial lease agreement in Cheng Lin’s name, for a commercial building in which law enforcement found numerous items used for the cultivation of marijuana and over (200) pounds of marijuana product.”

Felony Charges Filed

The district attorney is seeking a felony upgrade for the charges of illegal cultivation based on a provision of state law that permits stricter penalties for operations that harm the environment. Defendants in the case have been charged with “illegal discharge of waste and intentionally and with gross negligence causing substantial harm to public lands and other public resources.”

Anderson said that the case is indicative of law enforcement’s response to unlicensed cannabis cultivation in the area. He also vowed to seize property from owners of land used to grow cannabis illegally.

“Once we can say that these properties are known to contain a nuisance, we’re gonna take the property,” the district attorney said on Monday.

“If those folks can’t remediate the properties through appropriate sentence(s) that we may get in this particular case, then we will work with the county to try to take that property and then sell that property,” he added. “The taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for the illegal conduct that’s been engaged in here.”

Anderson said that enforcing the laws against unlicensed cannabis cultivation protects growers who have taken the effort, time, and expense of obtaining licenses to operate legitimately.

“You’re putting unfair competition on an industry that’s trying to be regulated,” Anderson said about illicit cannabis growers. He went on to compare the illicit cannabis cultivation operation to a counterfeit Amazon distribution warehouse.

“We have a bootleg Amazon selling illegal or counterfeit products out of a warehouse that’s buried underground,” he said. “Who can compete against that? Jeff Bezos couldn’t compete against that.”

Eight defendants who were on the property at the time the second search warrant was served have been charged in the case, including five defendants who have been arrested and charged. Law enforcement officials also issued arrest warrants for six additional people not yet in custody.

The post California Officials Bust Huge Subterranean Pot Farm appeared first on High Times.

The post California Officials Bust Huge Subterranean Pot Farm appeared first on Paradise Found.

The Isle of Man (located in the middle of the Irish Sea, between Ireland and the U.K.) is attempting to enter the cannabiz, and in a big way.

Peel NRE, a local firm, has outlined proposals to build an indoor cultivation facility and is currently asking for views from the public. The enterprise is just one of several belonging to John Whittaker, a billionaire and island resident. The planned complex would include cultivation units, plus research and development facilities.

According to the finance director Chris Eves, there has “never been a better time to grow the industry than the post-pandemic era.” Licenses for the production and export of medicinal cannabis have been available since June 2021 on the island.

Indeed, Eves said that it was the change in the law on the island, along with the zoning of the company land for employment use, that allowed such plans to progress.

Initial planning applications are still on the drawing board but will be submitted later this year.

Will The U.K.’s Islands Drive Cannabis Reform on The Mainland?

Progress towards legalization in the U.K. has moved forward in fits and starts for the past couple of years. Theoretically it is possible to obtain a medical cannabis prescription here, but in reality, the only people getting access are those willing to pay for private doctors (i.e. not on the NHS or national healthcare insurance that covers everyone who is legally allowed to live in the U.K.), and those willing to face down the Home Office and apply for individual licenses with a willing doctor.

It has literally taken dying children and showdowns at Heathrow over imported (medical) CBD oil to move the needle, and so far, it has not moved much.

In the meantime, the CBD industry has struggled to get certifications and licenses in an environment where the cultivation of any part of the cannabis flower remains illegal on the mainland.

However, the picture appears to be different on islands off the mainland. This starts with the Channel Islands of both Jersey and Guernsey where efforts have been underway for several years to get cultivation and processing off the ground for (at minimum) a medical market.

That said, unlike the Channel Islands, Isle of Man residents will not be able to use the drug they produce until further reform happens locally. The island government passed a resolution in January 2021 to legalize the growing, production, and export of medical cannabis. In the meantime, patients who attempt to cultivate are still being fined and prosecuted.

On the mainland, Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, has pledged to begin a unique new decriminalization trial in two of the city’s boroughs.

When Is Real Reform Coming to the U.K.?

This is a question many on the ground are asking, particularly post-Brexit and post-COVID. However, with ethics, sex, and other scandals engulfing the British Royal Family, the Prime Minister, and the largest police force in the country, it appears that things are a bit rocky politically at the moment. Cannabis reform is going to be far down the list of things to get done, in spite of those who have run on pro cannabis reform platforms of late — from Germany to Louisiana.

This is particularly salient because post-Brexit, the U.K. is diverging from European regs and laws not to mention looking at dire figures when it comes to living standards and employment. That said, tragically, the Labour government and its leaders have repeatedly dropped the ball on this issue and everyone else is too busy defending themselves from the latest scandal du jour.

What Is Likely to Happen?

Cannabis reform at this point is a zeitgeisty political issue everywhere. Given the major money now backing reform in the U.K., it is unlikely to hold the tide back much longer on domestic reform, even in small and incremental steps. Indeed, this is clearly what Khan is banking on, beyond disgust with the rampant problems that have surfaced at the Metropolitan Police Service (the country’s largest police force).

Expect to see other city trials after London’s kicks off. Not to mention the issue’s day in Parliament. Beyond this, as an economic booster, the issue is a no-brainer.

And who knows? It may even attract some oddball, well-known figures, looking for alternative sources of income, no matter whose nose they put out of joint in doing so. Dodgy reputation might even help.

Prince of York cannabis, anyone? Harry, after all, is living in Cali, now.

The post Isle Of Man Plans $136 Million Facility Off Coast of U.K. appeared first on High Times.

The post Isle Of Man Plans $136 Million Facility Off Coast of U.K. appeared first on Paradise Found.