Illegal Marijuana Grows Overrun Northern California: Congressman Asks FBI to Investigate Transnational Networks as Siskiyou County Eradicates 332,000 Plants in a Year
The office of U.S. Representative James Gallagher (CA-01) announced that on October 19, 2026, Gallagher wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel urging a coordinated federal investigation into the transnational criminal organizations operating thousands of illegal marijuana grows across Siskiyou and Shasta Counties in Northern California, asking the FBI to work directly with local sheriffs, Homeland Security Investigations and EPA Region 9.
Illegal cultivation has expanded across rural Northern California, where entire properties are covered with rows of plastic-covered hoop houses drawing on hauled groundwater, leaving residents facing depleted water supplies, safety threats and contamination risks. A 2022 Siskiyou County Civil Grand Jury report estimated 5,000 large-scale illegal cultivation sites, while more recent reporting suggests up to 7,000 illegal growers in the Mount Shasta Vista subdivision alone, potentially producing up to $2 billion annually. The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office reported eradicating more than 332,000 illegal plants and seizing over 54,000 pounds of processed marijuana in 2025 alone.
The letter raises serious concerns that Chinese organized-crime networks may be financing and directing portions of these operations. Investigators have identified cultivation properties owned by individuals outside the county, while on-site managers often hold no ownership interest, patterns consistent with foreign-financed schemes uncovered elsewhere in California; the letter cites a 2018 federal investigation in the Sacramento region that revealed a marijuana trafficking network funded by wire transfers from China's Fujian Province and straw purchasers, resulting in civil forfeiture actions against more than 100 properties. According to local reporting, Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue has said roughly 60 percent of the growers his deputies encounter at Mount Shasta Vista are Chinese nationals and about 40 percent are Hmong.
The letter also flags highly toxic pesticides: county investigators have identified more than 27 pesticide compounds at grow sites, including chemicals banned in the United States and products bearing Chinese-language labels suspected of being illegally imported. The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors declared a local state of emergency on July 1, 2025, and EPA Region 9 has directed an investigation into illegal pesticide importation and distribution. Sheriff LaRue said his agency has made over 800 arrests and eradicated over 2 million contaminated marijuana plants in five years, and criticized the State of California for repeatedly turning a blind eye to the multibillion-dollar black market. The FBI has not publicly responded to the letter.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：锡斯基尤县境内的沙斯塔山（资料图）。图片：Radomianin，CC BY-SA 4.0，取自 Wikimedia Commons
