The effort of using drones to spot illegal grows is supported by legal operators who can’t compete with illicit operations.

A dystopian reality of government-controlled drones hovering overhead is a reality for growers in Nevada County, California, but the effort to locate illegal operations is supported by local cannabis organizations such Nevada County Cannabis Alliance. 

In many areas in California, growers have the challenge of competing with illicit operations amid an epic oversupply problem—driving some operators into the black market. 

Seventeen pharmacies in San Diego County will soon begin distributing leaflets to patients warning of potential interactions between prescription drugs and cannabis.

The pilot program not only provides patients with information about possible cannabis-drug interactions, but also seeks feedback through online research to assess whether such information is useful to patients.

Rudolph Petersen faces up to 10 years in federal prison for allegedly taking the bribes.

One corrupt police officer in California who pleaded guilty to accepting bribes spun a web of lies and deception worthy of a Breaking Bad episode.

On September 7, Rudolph Petersen, 34, pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge for accepting at least $14,000 in cash from a drug trafficker in exchange for escorting massive shipments of pot and other drugs, and searching a police database to supply the trafficker information on suspected snitches, according to  a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Customers shop inside the 420 Central dispensary in Santa Ana on the first day to buy recreational marijuana in California on Jan. 1, 2018. Corona officials are considering allowing a maximum of 17 dispensaries, or stores, in the Riverside County city — one for every 10,000 residents. (File photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Nearly two years after banning industrial, medical and retail marijuana cannabis operations within Pico Rivera, City Council members have put the legalization of such businesses back on the table.

Jackie McGowan, a long-time supporter of cannabis reform, is running as a replacement candidate if current California Governor Gavin Newsom is recalled.

California Governor Gavin Newsom faces off September 14 in a pivotal recall race as the state’s future hangs in the balance. Forty-six contenders appear on the ballot including Democratic challenger Jackie McGowan—who vows to make reforming California’s cannabis industry a priority including lowering taxes and restrictions.

A federal judge has blocked a Northern California county’s ban on trucks delivering water to Hmong cannabis farmers, saying it raises “serious questions” about racial discrimination and leaves the growers without a source of water for basic sanitation, vegetable gardens and livestock.

On Friday, Chief U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller issued a temporary injunction against Siskiyou County’s prohibition on trucked-in water deliveries to Hmong farmers growing marijuana in the Mount Shasta Vista subdivision in the Big Springs area north of Weed.

Sonora, CA  — A Mexican National convicted of operating an illegal marijuana grow in the Stanislaus National Forest will spend the next four and a half years in prison.

37-year-old Eleno Fernandez-Garcia of Michoacán, Mexico, was also ordered to pay $45,688 in restitution to the U.S. Forest Service for the environmental damage that the toxic chemicals and cultivation operation had on public land, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert.

Cyber attacks are now commonplace. Ransomware attacks, in particular, have skyrocketed in frequency and size. High-profile data breaches have cost businesses in the United States millions of dollars in losses and incalculable reputational harm. Just like those in any other industry, cannabis cyber attack risks pose a clear and present danger of financial consequences.

If you want to get into the cannabis industry in California—where more than $5 billion worth of legal, adult-use cannabis is on pace to be sold this year, according to tax figures—and you want to do it quickly, don’t bother with selling adult-use cannabis. Instead, you want to grow it.

Most cities in the state still don’t allow retail adult-use sales. Many of those that do cap the number of dispensaries allowed within city limits. And almost everyone running a retail storefront says that high taxes and an abundance of cheap, illicit-market weed is killing them. It’s not a good way to make money!

California State Park Peace Officers have uncovered an illegal cannabis grow site within Sonoma Coast State Park.

On Tuesday, Aug. 17, State Park Peace Officers assigned to the department’s Special Enforcement Team discovered at the state park, in Upper Willow Creek, that water was being diverted by the illegal growers from a creek and channeled into several large pits lined with tarps.

It is believed the creek water from these human-made wells was used to water cannabis plants within the grow site.

A total of 1,500 plants were documented at the site. Approximately 1,000 pounds of trash was also documented, including fertilizer, rodenticides, a generator, gasoline and plastic irrigation lines.