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California is making some progress in the fight to curtail illegal marijuana grows in the state. However, Attorney General Rob Bonta says it’s still a tough fight to suppress illegal pot sales entirely and direct people to licensed dispensaries.
Bonta says the Eradication and Prevention of Illicit Cannabis program, or EPIC for short, managed to seize over 100,000 pounds of illegal marijuana worth about $350 million in recent months, arresting almost 300 people across 36 counties.
Even with all that success, Bonta says it’s a battle to beat the illegal sellers, who can undercut the prices of the legal sellers.
According to Bonta, part of the solution is more enforcement. The other part is changing regulations to make it easier for legitimate businesses to operate and profit while competing with, if not beating, the cartels.
“We’re always trying to regulate to the point of necessity and then stop and don’t overregulate,” Bonta said. “I think those are all part and parcel of a broader multi-pronged approach to get where the people of California want us to be, where the legislature envisioned us to be, and where we’re not today, which is having one singular unified legal marketplace for cannabis.”
Bonta says they will have to get some cooperation from the legislature, possibly to reduce certain regulations and lower the tax revenue the state takes so legitimate dealers can prosper and drive the illegitimate dealers out of business.
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“}]] California is making some progress in the fight to curtail illegal marijuana grows in the state. However, Attorney General Rob Bonta says it’s still a tough fight to suppress illegal pot sales entirely and direct people to licensed dispensaries. Read More