Inside the Chinese-funded and staffed marijuana farms springing up across the U.S.

[sl8]

https://www.npr.org/2024/06/24/1238497863/chinese-marijuana-farms-new-mexico
(8 min. audio at link)

Inside the Chinese-funded and staffed marijuana farms springing up across the U.S.

JUNE 24, 2024 5:00 AM ET
Emily Feng

Last summer, New Mexico state special agents inspecting a farm found thousands more cannabis plants than state laws allow. Then on subsequent visits, they made another unexpected discovery: dozens of underfed, shell-shocked Chinese workers.

[...]

They are part of a new pipeline of migrants leaving China and making unauthorized border crossings into the United States via Mexico, and many are taking jobs at hundreds of cannabis farms springing up across the U.S.

An NPR investigation into a cluster of farms, which the industry calls cannabis “grow” operations, in New Mexico found businesses that employ and are managed and funded largely by Chinese people. They’re seeking opportunities in a flourishing U.S. cannabis market after the coronavirus pandemic led to a global economic crisis. But some of the businesses have run afoul of the law, even as states such as New Mexico have legalized marijuana.

[...]

Investigations by nonprofit news outlet ProPublica have found links between Chinese diplomats, Chinese Communist Party-affiliated organizations, local Chinese criminal syndicates and some marijuana operations in the United States.

[...]

[Irish_Dem]

1. China has a big interest in funding the US drug problem.

Why?
How does this benefit them?

[yagotme]

8. Consider the idea that China is acting as an enemy.

Then ask your question. Makes sense now, doesn't it? More money for them, less for us, our citizens taking more drugs, less eligible for military service, etc.

[Irish_Dem]

10. Yes of course. Puzzle pieces fall together nicely.

China wishes to shift geopolitical power to their benefit.
They are determined to be the 21st century global superpower.

They believe they deserve to be restored to greatness and spread
autocracy across the globe. They are after all special and brilliant.
At least in their own minds.

They must weaken and destroy democracies across the world.
One way is to showcase democracies as drug addled, violent, ignorant
societies.

The global autocratic bloc has been working on this plan quite successfully.

[Elessar Zappa]

12. I don't think marijuana use is a problem here.

Fentanyl is though and the pre-cursor chemicals that arrive at Mexican labs come from China with the CCP looking the other way.

[Easterncedar]

2. Dozens of Chinese operations found so far this year in Maine

The sudden surge of illegal indoor pot farms run by Chinese gangs has taken the state by surprise. New operations are constantly being discovered in old farms and warehouses. If it’s going on like this throughout the country, the scale of the criminal infiltration is staggering.

I supported legalization of marijuana in hopes, among other benefits, of undercutting the profits of organized crime. I was clearly wrong about that.

[eShirl]

3. it's the illegality in the other states that makes it profitable for them to grow in Maine

they're not selling it to Mainers, the market's flooded with legal weed and prices have been dropping (especially for medical)

[Easterncedar]

4. Good point

And we should all know our farmers! I buy medical edibles from a grower I know.

[Blues Heron]

5. legalize it and get the price down to the true price which is very low - its a weed after all

truth is weed is inherently almost worthless, the current incredibly high price is due to unnatural market forces. The same ag system that can kick out potatoes for pennies/oz could do the same with weed. Anything above basically rock bottom/practically free is some artificial market force which basically creates the conditions for what we see here with Chinese grow ops.

[uncle ray]

7. yes, "weed" is cheap and easy to grow.

growing the best quality organic, mold free, pest and pesticide free cannabis on a commercial scale is exponentially more difficult and expensive. it cannot be done in thousand acre fields. the legal cannabis industry has chewed up and spit out thousands of growers and investors who thought they knew how to scale up and failed.

[Blues Heron]

9. just look at the next most expensive ag product - Omakase strawberries - lovingly tended in special vertical hydro grows

extremely fragile, prone to mold etc. in demand at the finest restaurants, etc etc. - $10/oz

anything more than that is BS

[dalton99a]

6. Kick

Investigations by nonprofit news outlet ProPublica have found links between Chinese diplomats, Chinese Communist Party-affiliated organizations, local Chinese criminal syndicates and some marijuana operations in the United States.

[msfiddlestix]

11. I noticed what appeared to be labels from China on pre-rolls in a dispensary

I have serious vision impairment but still can manage to see it while shopping around for a specific variety of pre-rolls. I think I avoided any from what I purchased, but that sent up alarms because I was under the impression the inventory was primarily from local growers. When I saw those markings on labels, it sent up a red flag to me.

Now I will make inquiries thanks to your report.

[Calculating]

13. The cannabis industry will always have problems while it's in a legal gray area

It needs to just be legal like tomatoes or something. It's a natural plant that can be grown by anyone with a mediocre amount of growing skill.