The California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) recently published an announcement regarding recent cannabis taskforce seizures. As of April 11, the Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce (UCETF) seized over $53,620,600 in illegal cannabis during the first quarter of 2024 (spanning between January 1, 2024-March 31, 2024).

Law enforcement seized 331,866 pounds of unlicensed cannabis product, destroyed 54,137 cannabis plants, and seized $34,858 in total cash, in addition to confiscating 11 firearms and arresting four people.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a press statement regarding the Q1 seizures. “California is home to the largest legal cannabis market in the world,” said Newsom. “As we continue to cultivate a legal marketplace, we’re taking aggressive action to crack down on those still operating in the shadows—shutting down illegal operations linked to organized crime, human trafficking, and the proliferation of illegal products that harm the environment and public health.”

UCETF acting chief, Nathaniel Arnold, praised the agency for continuing to provide results as it tackles the state’s illegal cannabis industry. “UCETF continues to strengthen its momentum by focusing on priority targets and strategically removing operations having a significant impact on the illegal cannabis supply chain,” Arnold said. “We are utilizing all the available resources from our partner agencies and are committed more than ever to providing public safety, protecting the environment, and helping the regulated market succeed and thrive.”

The DCC’s Law Enforcement Division Chief Bill Jones noted that UCETF’s success so far has been a group effort between numerous agencies. “A key to UCETF’s success is a collaborative approach relying on intelligence gathering, targeted investigations and leveraging the expertise of our members,” Jones said. “The Taskforce continues to play a crucial role in protecting the legal cannabis market while eliminating the often-dangerous activities associated with unlicensed cannabis operations.”

The UCETF works with the following agencies to investigate and act on illegal activity: “Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Department of Cannabis Control, Employment Development Department, Department of Fish and Wildlife, California National Guard Counter Drug Task Force, California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, California State Parks, and the Department of Tax and Fee Administration,” with the addition of other “federal and local partners.”

Eighteen search warrants were conducted in Q1 2024, including two in Alameda County, one in Fresno County, five in Kern County, one in Los Angeles County, two in Riverside County, one in San Joaquin County, and six in Orange County.

The UCETF was created by Newsom in October 2022, and since then it has seized $371,199,431 in unlicensed cannabis product from a total of 236 warrants.

Within the first month of operation, UCETF conducted 13 search warrants in Los Angeles. It eradicated 7,503 plants and 936 pounds of cannabis flower over the course of two days. After that initial announcement, UCETF released numbers by quarter, as seen below.

Q4 2022

Warrants Served: 30

Cannabis Seized: 19,401 pounds

Plants Eradicated: 29,687

Retail Value Seized: $32,012,854.50

Q1 2023

Warrants Served: 21

Cannabis Seized: 31,912 pounds

Plants Eradicated: 52,529

Retail Value Seized: $52,644,020.50

Q2 2023

Warrants Served: 92

Cannabis Seized: 66,315 pounds

Plants Eradicated: 120,970

Retail Value Seized: $109,277,688

Q3 2023

Warrants Served: 60

Cannabis Seized: 61,415 pounds

Plants Eradicated: 98,054

Retail Value Seized: $101,349,657

Q4 2023 

Warrants Served: 24

Cannabis Seized: 13,393 pounds

Plants Eradicated: 20,320

Retail Value Seized: $22,294,571

Q1 2024 

Warrants Served: 18

Cannabis Seized: 31,866 pounds

Plants Eradicated: 54,858

Retail Value Seized: $53,620,600

UCETF Totals So Far (Q4 2022-Q1 2024)

Warrants Served: 236

Cannabis Seized: ~234,588 pounds

Plants Eradicated: 401,458

Retail Value Seized: $371,199,431

So far, the UCETF’s seizures peaked in Q2 2023, and have since been reduced significantly. The DCC did not address what the reason might be for the reduction in warrants and plant/product seizures overall.

Regardless, the DCC is committed to its efforts to protect the legal cannabis industry. “California is effectively decreasing the illegal cannabis market by leveraging the strengths and knowledge of over 20 state agencies and departments alongside our local and federal partners. The UCETF’s progress in 2023 reflects California’s ongoing commitment to disrupting  and dismantling illegal cannabis activity,” said DCC director Nicole Elliott in January. “I look forward to working with all our partners in 2024 to build on this progress.”

Last year in September, there was a raid on a legal cannabis business called Se7venleaf in Costa Mesa, which at the time was thought to be conducting business illegally. Law enforcement seized 100 pounds of cannabis flower, various boxes of cartridges and vaporizers, among many other business-related items (security cameras, devices, and documents). In late March, the Costa Mesa police were forced to return all of the seized items. “They didn’t like that they had to return the stuff,” said Se7venleaf co-owner Matteo Tabib. “They didn’t like that they were wrong, and they didn’t like that they were embarrassed and that nobody was charged. They gave no consideration that me and Michael and our employees’ lives are not in a good place right now.”

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Glass bongs, money counters, a La-Z-Boy recliner and a snow cone machine were among the goods auctioned off Friday at an auction hosted by the CHP and CDTFA to raise money for unpaid taxes on cannabis businesses.

The California Department of Taxes and Fee Administration released a notice last week about the auction, held Friday, February 16 in Los Angeles. The notice said that the property to be sold had been seized from 10 cannabis businesses in the Los Angeles area, nine of which were operating illegally according to the CDTFA. One was a legal dispensary that hadn’t paid its taxes. In total, the 10 businesses owed more than $14.4 million in unpaid taxes.

“Seizing and auctioning property from cannabis businesses that evade the law is a tool to recover the taxes owed to the state,” said CDTFA Director Nick Maduros in a statement.

Public notices of sale for the seized property to be sold Friday have been issued by the CHP and they are readily available online at the CDTFA website. The list of items to be sold can be described as varied at best and bizarre at worst, given who will be selling them.

Some notable items included multiple boxes of glass bongs, speakers, refrigerators, the aforementioned snow cone machine and La-Z-Boy recliner, cameras, televisions, sandwich boards, framed art and other miscellaneous items.

Proceeds from the auction will be put towards the unpaid liabilities owed by these ten businesses. This is the first such time that California government entities have auctioned off seized items from cannabis businesses, and it certainly marks the first time the California Highway Patrol has ever sold bongs to anybody that I’m aware of. 

That said, commercial properties seized from delinquent California cannabis businesses have been auctioned off in the past. In March of 2022 the CDTFA released a notice about the auction of a property in Whitter associated with a cannabis business, accused at the time of illegal sales, which owed over $850,000 in unpaid taxes. The CDTFA said at the time they hoped to recover at least $220,000 from the sale of this property.

“Unlicensed cannabis operators not only undercut legitimate businesses, but they also cheat California communities out of revenue for vital programs,” Director Maduros said in 2022. “These businesses are not licensed under the laws approved by California voters, and many of their products are unregulated.”

California has ramped up enforcement of illegal cannabis businesses in recent years with the introduction of the Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce in late 2022. Since its creation by Governor Gavin Newsom, UCETF has seized over $317 million in unlicensed cannabis as the result of serving 218 search warrants across .

“Since its inception in late 2022, California’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce has hit the ground running with year-round operations that spanned from the Oregon state line all the way down to San Diego,” said California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Director Charlton H. Bonham. “We’ve sent a strong message that illegal operations that harm our natural resources, threaten the safety of workers, and put consumer health at risk have no place in California. While there is more work to be done, we made progress last year and I look forward to going further alongside our county, state, and federal partners.”

Since its inception, UCETF has also seized 128 firearms during raids on cannabis businesses. They have seized and eradicated 347,321 illegal cannabis plants in their history and seized over 189,000 pounds of dried cannabis bud in 2023 alone.

“California is effectively decreasing the illegal cannabis market by leveraging the strengths and knowledge of over 20 state agencies and departments alongside our local and federal partners. The UCETF’s progress in 2023 reflects California’s ongoing commitment to disrupting  and dismantling illegal cannabis activity,” stated Director Nicole Elliott of Department of Cannabis Control (DCC). “I look forward to working with all our partners in 2024 to build on this progress.”

The CDTFA and CHP auction took place at the CHP parking lot at 777 W. Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90015 Friday, February 16. You can call 1-951-880-1990 for more information. Neither the CDTFA or CHP have yet indicated if they plan to auction off more bongs in the future.

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On Jan. 16, the California Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce (UCETF) released its first annual report of money, illegal cannabis plants/products, and firearms obtained in its seizure operations last year.

In total for 2023, which was the UCETF’s first full year of operation, the task force stated that it has seized more than $312 million in illegal cannabis. Additionally, it reported that it also seized 189,854.02 pounds of cannabis, eradicated 317,834 cannabis plants, served 188 search warrants, seized 119 firearms, and seized $223,809 of money on-site.

According to the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) Director Nicole Elliot, the UCETF has made some serious progress in eliminating illegal operations. “California is effectively decreasing the illegal cannabis market by leveraging the strengths and knowledge of over 20 state agencies and departments alongside our local and federal partners. The UCETF’s progress in 2023 reflects California’s ongoing commitment to disrupting and dismantling illegal cannabis activity,” said Elliott. “I look forward to working with all our partners in 2024 to build on this progress.”

California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Director Charlton H. Bonham provided a statement detailing the importance of eliminating illegal cannabis cultivation and processing operations. “Since its inception in late 2022, California’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce has hit the ground running with year-round operations that spanned from the Oregon state line all the way down to San Diego,” Bonham said. “We’ve sent a strong message that illegal operations that harm our natural resources, threaten the safety of workers, and put consumer health at risk have no place in California. While there is more work to be done, we made progress last year and I look forward to going further alongside our county, state, and federal partners.”

The UCETF was created when Gov. Gavin Newsom called for the creation of a task force in June 2022, through a combined effort of the DCC, CDFW, and Homeland Security Division of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. By October 2022, the UCETF immediately took action, and early totals showed that it destroyed 11,260 illegal cannabis plants and 5,237 pounds of flower, with a combined total of $15 million. “California is taking immediate and aggressive action to stop illegal cannabis and strengthen the burgeoning legal market throughout the state,” said Newsom. “By shutting down illegal grow sites and applying serious consequences to offenders, we are working to curtail the criminal organizations that are undercutting the regulated cannabis market in California.”

The task force’s Q4 numbers include $22,294,571 worth of cannabis products seized (with 13,393.65 pounds of product), 20,320 pounds of cannabis seized, served 24 search warrants, seized 26 firearms, and seized $35,195 in cash during on-site warrant investigations.

In a breakdown by county, the UCETF seized the most cannabis in Alameda County ($77,828,338.50), followed by Siskiyou County ($70,747,875), Mendocino County ($48,073,113), Los Angeles County ($28,317,139.69), and Kern County ($21,578,438).

Also in October 2022, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP), had seized and destroyed more than one million cannabis plants that year across 22 counties. “The illicit marketplace outweighs the legal marketplace,” Bonta said. “It’s upside down and our goal is complete eradication of the illegal market.”

He also announced that a campaign called the Eradication and Prevention of Illicit Cannabis (EPIC) would help target illegal cannabis labor and environmental violations as well. “The California Department of Justice’s CAMP task force works tirelessly each year to eradicate illegal grows and reclaim our public lands, but shutting down these grows is no longer enough,” Bonta explained. “With the transition to EPIC, we’re taking the next step and building out our efforts to address the environmental and economic harms and labor exploitation associated with this underground market.”

In 2023, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 turned 50 years old. As the effort continues to try to preserve the nation’s many native creatures, agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (FWS) have begun to put the spotlight on how illegal cannabis operations are harming the lives and environments of endangered animals. The California Spotted Owl is one such creature. “Management or cleanup activities that remove toxicants and other chemicals from trespass cannabis cultivation sites in California spotted owl habitat,” FWS explained last year. “Cleanup of these sites may involve activities that may cause localized, short-term disturbance to California spotted owls, as well as require limited removal of some habitat structures valuable to California spotted owls (e.g., hazard trees that may be a suitable nest site).”

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife also announces annual data collected from discovering and eradicating illegal cannabis operations in an effort to preserve waterways and natural animal habitats. This includes the preservation of a wide variety of species, such as southern torrent salamanders, coastal tailed frogs, steelhead and coho salmon, which rely on access to clear, cold water that is often polluted or diverted to illegal cannabis cultivation sites.

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California’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce (UCETF) seized nearly 100,000 cannabis plants over the last three months, according to an announcement from the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. State officials lauded the seizures on Friday, saying that illegal weed grow sites pose a threat to consumer safety and are often associated with organized crime.

Bill Jones, chief of the Law Enforcement Division for the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC), noted that the task force had focused on some of the largest unlicensed cannabis cultivation sites in California during the third quarter of 2023.

“For the last three months UCETF has been focused on larger, outdoor cannabis operations that posed a significant threat to the environment and public safety,” Jones said in a statement to the press. “Many of these illegal cannabis operations are linked to organized crime, and in addition to threatening the environment and communities, the products these operations pose a direct threat to consumer health and the stability of the legal cannabis market.”

More Than Thirty Tons Of Weed Seized

For the three months that ended on September 30, the UCETF eradicated a total of 98,054 illicit cannabis plants, down from the 120,970 plants seized in the second quarter of this year. The task force also confiscated 61,415.75 pounds of cannabis, which was nearly on par with the 66,315.01 pounds of weed seized over the previous three months. State officials noted, however, that the totals for the third quarter were achieved through the serving of 60 search warrants, a 35% reduction in the number of search warrants served in Q2.

The task force also confiscated 69 firearms during raids at unlicensed marijuana cultivation facilities between July and September, a 363% increase compared to the previous quarter. The searches during the third quarter resulted in no seizures of cash, however, while $223,809 in cash was confiscated during the preceding three months. 

“Over the past quarter, UCTEF conducted several highly coordinated operations that will disrupt the illegal supply chain and improve consumer and public safety. The task force focused on rural areas where illegal cultivators have been conducting unlicensed operations,” said Nathaniel Arnold, acting chief of Enforcement for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “These enforcement numbers represent the hard work and commitment from our multiagency teams. I applaud our officers and partner agencies who worked tirelessly to identify these clandestine operations and provide a good measure of public and consumer safety.”

The UCETF also reported that the cannabis seized as search warrants were being served last quarter has an estimated street value of $101,349,657, down nearly $8 million from the $109,277,688.94 estimate from the previous quarter.

Police estimations of the street value of seized marijuana, however, are routinely inflated and have been for years. Instead of reporting the wholesale value of the weed confiscated from large operations, law enforcement officials will often value cannabis based on the gray market price of one gram, increasing the estimate greatly but misleadingly.

“Inflating valuations of drug busts in the press” is a “fairly common tactic in law enforcement,” as Alex Kreit, a law professor at Northern Kentucky University and director of the school’s Center on Addiction Law & Policy, said in an email to Forbes in 2021.

“That’s not to say it is legitimate; I think it is incredibly misleading,” he added. “But I do believe it’s common.”

Task Force Created Last Year

The UCETF is a multi-departmental effort created through California Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2022-2023 budget to target illegal cannabis operations. The task force works closely with the DCC, the CDFW, and the Homeland Security Division of the California Office of Emergency Services. The UCETF has been charged with coordinating state efforts and increasing cannabis enforcement cooperation between state, local and federal partners. 

The task force has been actively working since late summer 2022 and has been taking aggressive action in an effort to protect communities, consumers and the environment. Since its inception, the UCETF has eradicated 277,314 plants and seized 101 firearms, according to data from the task force.

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The California Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce (UCETF) recently announced its progress on “aggressively” combating the illegal cannabis market.

Between Jan. 1 and March 30, UCETF shared that there was a 43% gain in the number of plants eradicated (52,529 plants in Q1 2023 compared to 29,687 in Q4 2022). The agency also served 21 warrants in the first quarter of the year, compared to 30 in the previous quarter (a 30% decrease).

The agency eradicated 31,912 pounds of cannabis, which is a 43% increase from Q4 plant eradication of 29,687 plants. Between the two most recent quarters, there was a 39% increase in terms of retail value for cannabis products seized ($32 million vs. $52.6 million). UCETF’s most recent seizures earlier this year also netted an 87% increase in money seized on size during the searches, with $95,646 in Q1 2023 compared to just $12,602 in Q4 2022.

Chief of the Law Enforcement Division, Bill Jones, said in a press statement that working with the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) has led to a higher rate of success and seizure. “As the DCC Law Enforcement Division focuses on illegal indoor cultivations, unlicensed dispensaries, and unlicensed manufacturing and distribution operations, the multi-agency, cross-jurisdictional approach of UCETF allows us to leverage the expertise of each participating department to disrupt a broader scope of illegal businesses,” said Jones. “Significantly improving our results speaks to our effectiveness and will help support the legal cannabis market.”

Chief of Enforcement for California Department of Fish & Wildlife, David Bess, stated that the overall increase in numbers will continue to rise. “This multiagency task force has hit the ground running, allowing partners with the opportunity to contribute to their area of expertise. UCETF has quickly made an impact on the illegal cannabis supply chain, which in turn is helping the regulated market succeed,” Bess said. “The gains and successes made by the task force speak directly to the efficiency and dedication of this multiagency collaboration and we expect to see this type of continued success throughout the year as UCEFT moves into outdoor cultivation enforcement season.”

The UCETF was created through California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2022-2023 budget to target illegal cannabis operations through a multi-department effort. It works closely with the DCC, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, as well as the Homeland Security Division of Cal Office of Emergency Services. It also collaborates with numerous California agencies such as the California Highway Patrol, Department of Justice, Department of Public Health, Labor and Workforce Development Agency, and many more.

UCETF has been operating since summer 2022, but in October 2022 it announced its first major crackdown on a site in the San Fernando Valley. “California is taking immediate and aggressive action to stop illegal cannabis and strengthen the burgeoning legal market throughout the state,” said Newsom in a press statement at the time. “By shutting down illegal grow sites and applying serious consequences to offenders, we are working to curtail the criminal organizations that are undercutting the regulated cannabis market in California.”

Since last year, UCETF has seized $84,652,875 in unlicensed cannabis products, eradicated 82,216 plants, and served 51 search warrants so far.

In August 2022, the DCC announced that between 2021-2022, state law enforcement had seized more than $1 billion in illegal cannabis products. “This important milestone was reached through close collaboration with local, state, and federal partners and furthers California’s efforts to go after activities that harm communities and the environment, including water theft, threats of violence, elder abuse, and human trafficking to name a few,” the DCC wrote. “These operations and the products they produce threaten consumer safety and the vitality of legal and compliant licensees.”

While some government agencies are targeting illegal operations, others are reviewing the negative impacts of the War on Drugs. Recently the Reparations Task Force released a detailed report about reparations, and ultimately recommended “that compensation for community harms be provided as uniform payments based on an eligible recipient’s duration of residence in California during the defined period of harm (e.g., residence in an over-policed community during the ‘War on Drugs’ from 1971 to 2020).” The task force will convene once more before submitting its final report on June 29.

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