{"id":670387,"date":"2026-09-18T11:43:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T11:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=670387"},"modified":"2026-09-18T11:43:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T11:43:28","slug":"violent-chinese-gangs-operate-an-illegal-marijuana-empire-in-california-under-newsom-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=670387","title":{"rendered":"Violent Chinese gangs operate an illegal marijuana empire in California under Newsom: report"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The legalization of marijuana in California reportedly spawned a large illicit market that is now being exploited by Chinese gangs, according to an investigation by Christopher F. Rufo and Haley Strack.<\/p>\n

The two published a report Wednesday that examined the explosion of illegal marijuana cultivation in Siskiyou County, California, particularly in the Shasta Vista subdivision near Mount Shasta.<\/p>\n

According to local law enforcement agents the two spoke with, large numbers of Chinese nationals have become involved in the illegal cannabis industry there, which authorities say has brought extensive environmental damage, property crime, violence, and other criminal activity to the rural community.<\/p>\n

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Chinese gangsters grew an illegal marijuana empire in Northern California \"\ud83c\udf41\". See it for yourself: pic.twitter.com\/jxqJS14fON<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Haley Strack (@StrackHaley) September 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Rufo and Strack described accompanying Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue during a raid on a marijuana-growing property. They reported finding hundreds of greenhouse-like structures, thousands of cannabis plants, large quantities of water being trucked in, trash and sewage left on properties, and illegal\/restricted pesticides bearing Chinese labels.<\/p>\n

Sheriff LaRue told Rufo and Strack that\u00a0individual properties can contain thousands of plants and that illegal cultivation in the Shasta Vista area could generate billions of dollars annually.<\/p>\n

LaRue also warned that\u00a0raids often have limited long-term impact because growers can return after authorities leave, while California\u2019s penalties for illegal cultivation can be relatively weak.<\/p>\n

The most striking part of the report was the rampant violence linked to these illegal marijuana farms.\u00a0Officials cited shootings, robberies, kidnappings, murders, and confrontations with law enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is this dread out here of the criminal enterprise doing all kinds of things, from violent crime to stealing water,\u201d LaRue said for the report. \u201cWith this illegal enterprise that we have, we have people that show up and are being kidnapped, or they\u2019re being tied up, they\u2019re being robbed, they\u2019re being shot . . . imagine having that as your neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n

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EXCLUSIVE: Chinese criminal gangs with links to the CCP have built an illegal cannabis empire in Siskiyou County, California. They\u2019re generating $2 billion a year in revenues and criminal growers are now 20% of the entire population.<\/p>\n

Gavin Newsom is doing nothing to stop them. pic.twitter.com\/w4hdf9VyEs<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Christopher Rufo (@christopherrufo) September 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to Rufo and Strack\u2019s investigation, the marijuana problem in Siskiyou County expanded substantially after California legalized recreational marijuana in 2016. Local officials said Asian growers began purchasing large numbers of residential properties around that time, eventually transforming parts of Shasta Vista into concentrated cannabis-growing areas.<\/p>\n

The investigation also examined who owns and controls the properties. According to LaRue, property records sometimes lead to people living elsewhere, while LLCs, proxies, and complicated ownership arrangements can make it difficult to identify the people ultimately financing and managing the operations.<\/p>\n

In Rufo and Strack\u2019s report, they focused heavily on the pesticide issue. The authorities said that illegal growers have used chemicals that can pose serious health and environmental risks, and several first responders reportedly became ill or were injured after encountering them. The article identified several specific chemicals that regulators classify as hazardous.<\/p>\n

Rufo and Strack also reported that\u00a0some investigators suspect the pesticide use could represent an intentional effort by Chinese criminal organizations to poison Americans through contaminated marijuana. Rob Roggeveen of the Marijuana Impact Group described this as potentially resembling chemical warfare.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis stuff is definitely being sent here to poison the plant that then gets ingested by the consumer,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd what better way to do it than on a product that\u2019s not going to get you right away? It\u2019s going to take time for it to fester in the body. It\u2019s chemical warfare at its finest.\u201d<\/p>\n

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CHINESE CONTROLLING CALIFORNIA POT INDUSTRY.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re growing it on American soil.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re spraying it with banned Chinese poison.<\/p>\n

Some of those chemicals are fatal if inhaled.<\/p>\n

Siskiyou County \u2014 under Mount Shasta \u2014 is ground zero. Chinese criminal networks turned a California\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/6nHobWJUo9<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Keith Ainsworth (@AinsworthKeith) September 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The report also noted the possible connection between these illegal marijuana-growing operations and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It pointed to cases involving\u00a0CCP-linked property ownership and other investigations into possible Chinese government connections.<\/p>\n

The report further argued that the possibility of CCP involvement deserves investigation, though it stressed that the evidence presented thus far doesn\u2019t establish that the Chinese government controls Siskiyou County\u2019s marijuana industry as a whole.<\/p>\n

Rufo and Strack also bashed California Gov. Gavin Newsom, suggesting that his administration has failed to adequately address the problem.<\/p>\n

LaRue said that, in his opinion, the governor is turning a blind eye to the problem for political reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state understands how bad this is, but they don\u2019t want to talk about it, I think, because it\u2019s bad press,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is exactly what he wouldn\u2019t want people to see. It really is another failure, under his leadership, whether he wants to own it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The legalization of marijuana in California reportedly spawned a large illicit market that is now being exploited by Chinese gangs, according to an investigation by Christopher F. Rufo and Haley Strack. The two published a report Wednesday that examined the explosion of illegal marijuana cultivation in Siskiyou County, California, particularly in the Shasta Vista subdivision… Continue reading Violent Chinese gangs operate an illegal marijuana empire in California under Newsom: report<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":670388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-670387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=670387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/670388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=670387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=670387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=670387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}