Op-Ed: Racketeering Bill Moves Maine Closer to Crackdown on Illegal Grow Operations
Late last month, lawmakers held a public hearing on L.D. 2204, Rep. John Andrews’ attempt to combat the rapid proliferation of illegal marijuana grows throughout rural Maine.
The bill is an imperfect solution with provisions which are undoubtedly troubling and unconstitutional. However, that doesn’t mean other ideas behind the bill aren’t worth pursuing.
Last year, we learned from a leaked Department of Homeland Security memo that there’s an estimated 270 illicit marijuana grows throughout rural Maine operated by Asian transnational criminal organizations.
Until this news came to light via national and Maine media reports early last year, little was being done about this real problem in countless rural Maine communities.
Since then, it appears efforts are finally underway by law enforcement to do something about it. Over the last few months, we’ve seen dozens of raids by law enforcement across the state. These raids often result in the seizure of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of illegal marijuana plants and dozens of pounds of processed marijuana.
But are these raids enough? It seems law enforcement in Maine is simply playing a game of whack-a-mole.
Click here to read Jacob Posik’s full op-ed in the Sun Journal.