Two major state anti-illegal cannabis programs recently sent out press releases touting collective seizures of about $544 million worth of illegal weed.

But when it comes to controlling the black market in California, experts say it’s just a drop in the bucket.

Those in the middle of the fight against illegal pot, like Mendocino County Sheriff Matthew Kendall, can’t help but roll their eyes.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love it when those guys (state law enforcement officers) come to help,” he said, “but I’d need 50 police officers for 50 days to even begin to I put a little bit into it.”

Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall stands near an illegal cannabis grow in January 2022 in the Halls Valley area near Covelo, California.

(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

So far this year, an estimated $353 million worth of illegal plants have been seized through a California Department of Justice Programwhile a task force with the governor’s office seized approximately $191 million.

Despite those alarming numbers, some law enforcement leaders say the raids are barely slowing down the black market — which, according to a study by Beau Whitney, founder of the cannabis research firm Whitney Economics, accounts for more than half of the nation’s marijuana sales. the state.

“If we look at the statistics, it’s clear that these operations are not effectively or aggressively impacting the illegal market,” Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue said.

For example, the operations of the state Department of Justice’s Illicit Cannabis Eradication and Prevention Program, or EPIC, seized approximately 77,000 cannabis plants in 36 counties this year. However, Siskiyou County alone produces between 12 and 16 million illegal plants per year. Therefore, if EPIC focused only on Siskiyou for a year, it would eradicate only 6 percent of the estimated local black market, he said.

A member of the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Task Force removes cannabis plants from a greenhouse to bury during a raid on Mount Shasta Vista.

(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

That sentiment was echoed by Kendall, who noted that in Mendocino County’s 35 square miles of Round Valley alone, there are about 1 million illegal marijuana plants.

“The black market is as big and bad as ever,” he said.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Marijuana Enforcement Team told The Times there is still a lot of work to do to address the county’s black market, which has not abated at all in the past two years.

In 2022, a Times investigation found that California massive illegal marijuana market push legal growers to financial ruinexacerbating community violenceit causes massive amounts of environmental degradation and forces laborers to work in squalor and often dangerous conditions.

Since then, many law enforcement leaders say they believe the state has done little to address the problems fueling the black market — onerous taxation and regulations for legal producers, few consequences for illegal operators and limited access to legal marijuana across large areas of California.

“It’s like (state leaders) came into our counties, doused everything with gasoline and set it on fire,” Kendall said. “Then they start talking about EPIC doing this work that basically shows up with a garden hose.”

A spokesman for Gov. Gavin Newsom referred questions about concerns raised by local law enforcement leaders to the state Department of Cannabis Control, which did not respond to a request for comment.

California has legalized weed through Proposition 64a 2016 ballot measure that promised to “tax the cultivation and sale of marijuana in a way that drives out the illegal market.” Eight years later, the illegal market continues to thrive.

“California has done a terrible job of incentivizing (illegal) growers to convert,” said Whitney, the cannabis economist. “They taxed them heavily, they regulated them heavily, they couldn’t make any money.”

California levies a 15% excise tax on marijuana sales in addition to additional local marijuana taxes. A recent study by the cannabis industry research and analysis firm GreenWave Advisors found that legal weed companies owe the state more than $730 million in back taxes, with 72 percent of that owed by companies that went out of business.

Johnny Casali, center, and partner Rose Moberly talk with state inspectors about cannabis control at Casali’s Garberville farm in 2022. Casali and other growers face steep taxes and onerous rules.

(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

Another challenge is that more than half of California’s counties don’t allow the sale of marijuana, which restricts access to legal weed across large areas of the state and drives demand to the black market.

There are also major incentives for sellers to opt for the illegal market – they can avoid taxes and license fees, while knowing that the penalty for selling or transporting marijuana without the necessary licenses is only a misdemeanor.

“From a criminal mindset, growing marijuana illegally and selling it on the black market has a minimal downside and a massive upside,” said San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Lt. Larry Lopez.

Siskiyou County Sheriff LaRue had this to sayalthough there are increased penalties for certain violations involving tax evasion and environmental crimes, most illegal cultivation offenses do not have penalties severe enough to deter production.

Because enforcement is limited, Mendocino County Sheriff Kendall said raids by state agencies are like a game of Whac-A-Mole.

“We can cut it out, and of course it pops up again the next day,” he said.

Mendocino County Sheriff’s deputies destroy cannabis in a 2022 raid.

(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

Raids are also a limited law enforcement tool because they mostly result in the arrest of workers, not owners.

“It’s a common strategy for black marketeers to hide behind the workforce and stay out of the way of law enforcement,” LaRue said. “It’s rare for top level organizers to be anywhere near cultivation areas.”

Despite the setbacks and frustrations, Sheriffs LaRue and Kendall and Lt. Lopez still support the raids and welcome the state’s assistance.

But they say that to have a significant effect, the raids must be accompanied by policy changes that address the narrow profit margin for legal growers and minor penalties for illegal ones.

And after years of calling for change, there is a growing sense of exasperation among those on the front lines.

“We’ve reached a point in the state of California where the architects of these laws — the governor, the legislators — refuse to talk to the carpenters, and they’re the sheriffs and the police chiefs,” Kendall said. “When we say this won’t work, it falls on deaf ears.”