A California taskforce stepped up its enforcement of unlicensed cannabis operators during the second quarter of 2023, seizing double the amount of illegal cannabis and nearly 20 times the amount of cash from the previous quarter.
The Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce is a coalition of law enforcement agencies and other government organizations, co-chair by the Department of Cannabis Control and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. From April 1 through June 30, the taskforce served 92 search warrants and seized more than 66,000 pounds of cannabis, valued by the state agencies at $109 million. The taskforce also seized 19 firearms and $223,809 in cash.
Although the taskforce seized more than double the amount of cannabis from the previous quarter, it did so while serving more than three times as many search warrants. The average amount of cannabis seized per warrant was about 720 pounds, down from more than 1,500 pounds per search in Q1.
“Our enforcement efforts are becoming increasingly diversified along the illegal cannabis supply chain as we served warrants on several unlicensed dispensaries in this quarter in addition to unlicensed cultivation operations,” said Bill Jones, chief of the Department of Cannabis Control’s Law Enforcement Division. “As the taskforce continues to evolve and the combined resources of our partners plays an even greater role in our operations, we will be disrupting the illegal market at several different points along their supply chain.”