California sheriff asks Elon Musk for help with county’s illegal weed problems

Perhaps Elon Musk can do anything. That seems to be the thinking of a California sheriff who recently issued a tweet to urge the billionaire to help squash the region’s ongoing continuing illegal cannabis problems.

Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue’s message to Musk was short and simple. “Please help us!” LaRue urged.

In an accompanying video (warning: contains disturbing content), the sheriff noted that his team was out every week serving search warrants.

“But the problem is the quantity of grows that we’re faced with. It’s astronomical. There’s so much of it that it’s hard for us as a small rural community to investigate and stop.”

Also, he notes contentions that water being shipped to these sites is being used for drinking or livestock purposes, well, doesn’t hold water.

“When you are getting 4,000 gallons of water delivered multiple times a day to a swimming pool,” a simple check will show the resource is being pumped directly into cannabis greenhouses.

“I am saddened that our local community is suffering. It is my job as a sheriff to uphold my oath to take care of the community,” he said.

“I own it to the community to do all that I can. I just need help from people above me. We’re committed to doing our job even if the legislature is not committed to doing their job,” he concluded.

The jab could be referring to a Facebook post earlier this month aimed at federal and state representatives. LaRue pointed out that video and satellite surveillance has revealed roughly 5,000 unpermitted hoop house-style structures and outdoor cannabis grows illegally cultivating on both federal and private property within the county.

“This industry is operating without permits and refuses to comply with state and local laws,” the sheriff noted in the post.

“In the last few years, illegal cultivation has exploded in size, gaining an exponential presence on the black market and reaching billions of dollars annually. As a result, there has been a dramatic increase in homicides, property crime, animal abuse and other violent crime in our community,” he added.

There are also environmental concerns revolving around trash, chemical use and scarce water resources.

By this time in 2021, the sheriff’s office had destroyed more than 39,000 illegal cannabis plants and 13,600 kilograms of processed illegal cannabis. Compare that to date in 2022, when 100,000-plus illegal cannabis plants and 16,800 kilograms of processed illegal bud have been destroyed.

LaRue called on the State of California to declare a state of emergency. It should further acknowledge the rampant black market industry endangering communities, develop bipartisan laws that adequately penalize and deter environmentally reckless illegal cultivation, animal abuse, labour exploitation and draining of local resources, protect and support legitimate agriculture by enforcing laws against illegal cultivators and offer assistance by funding law enforcement to confront the problem.

According to KOBI 5, as of May 27, the sheriff had not received a response, sparking the release of the call for Musk to lend a helping hand.

It’s unlikely that LaRue actually expects the billionaire to respond, but with his following on social media, it is an effective way to raise the profile of an issue.

It’s not the first time Musk and fellow billionaires have been asked to take part in cannabis developments.

Last fall, a South African politician said he thought cannabis in space may prove key to reindustrializing the Vaal region’s economy, but he just needed the likes of Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos to get the effort off the ground.