Month: April 2018

Pot tax scofflaws and the mirage of a cannabis windfall

This is a sheet the county prepared of delinquent marijuana taxes for growers. There are 29 scofflaws who are behind in paying their taxes, and the spreadsheet lists the current amounts in arrears.  In some cases the amounts due are over $60,000. At the April 10 board of supervisors meeting, the board received information about…
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Challenges Mount To Growing Legal Marijuana Outdoors In Sonoma County

SANTA ROSA (KPIX 5) – Sonoma County has many illegal marijuana grow operations, and there is growing opposition to allowing legal pot to be grown near homes in the county. A Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday was packed and the audience well defined, with green hats for the cannabis growers and red…
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The Latest: Raids cost Chinese gang ‘hundreds of millions’

SACRAMENTO, CALIF.  The Latest on raids on illegal marijuana houses (all times local): 3 p.m. U.S. prosecutors estimate that a Chinese-based crime organization will lose “hundreds of millions of dollars” in drug profits and the money it invested in homes in Northern California after authorities conducted raids. Law enforcement agents have seized roughly 100 houses…
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Chinese crime syndicate’s alleged pot grows lead to seizure of 100 homes in Sacramento area

In the largest operation of its kind, federal agents swept across the Sacramento region Tuesday and Wednesday targeting about 75 homes serving as suspected marijuana growing sites that authorities say are operated by a Chinese organized crime syndicate. The raids, which involved more than 500 federal, state and local agents, hit homes from Elk Grove…
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US seizes pot-growing houses tied to China-based criminals

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. Hundreds of federal and local law enforcement agents have seized roughly 100 Northern California houses purchased with money wired to the United States by a Chinese-based crime organization and used to grow massive amounts of marijuana illegally, authorities said Wednesday. The raids culminated a monthslong investigation focusing on dozens of Chinese nationals who…
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From the field: Latest Sonoma County Gazette pot Op Eds

https://www.sonomacountygazette.com/sonoma-county-news/letters-from-gazette-readers-april-2018 No commercial cannabis near homes I live in a RR (Rural Residential) area near Penngrove and Petaluma. We have paid taxes to live in this safe, tranquil residential area, originally zoned AR, since January 1989. My neighbors and I absolutely do NOT want the encroachment of cannabis growers in this area. None of us…
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Cannabis grows in violation of environmental laws

Dear Editor, The owners of two proposed cannabis grows in Bennett Valley are violating environmental or planning laws while the county allows them to continue to grow their lucrative crops. California Fish and Wildlife has determined that a grower on Matanzas Creek Lane has polluted and diverted a stream channel. Not long ago, the county…
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What you didn’t say, Mr Linegar,

To Sonoma County Ag Commisioner Mr. Linegar, I am writing this morning to comment on the quotes attributed to you in today’s Press Democrat article titled “Rural Neighbors Balk as Pot Farms Crop Up”. I was struck by what you did NOT say to reporter Julie Johnson. You did NOT say that you  are aware…
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Prop 64 decriminalized the PERSONAL use of marijuana

Prop 64 decriminalized the PERSONAL use of marijuana.  Anyone today in the State of CA is allowed to grow a more than adequate number of marijuana plants on their private property in order to use it for personal use.  Prop 64 did not give our County government any explicit voter approval to support, promote or…
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