California CAMP eradicated 614,267 cannabis plants in the 2018 season
Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting removed 614,267 illegally grown plants in more than 254 raids across 40 counties during the 2018 season, with 52 arrests and 110 weapons seized. The take was less than half the 1.26 million plants of 2017, which his office partly blamed on wildfires.
🇺🇸 California (40 counties) · California, United States
On 4 October 2018 Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced that California’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) had eradicated 614,267 illegally grown cannabis plants during the 2018 season, in the largest illegal-grow eradication program in the nation.[1][2]Agents raided more than 254 illegal grow sites across 40 counties over twelve weeks, arresting 52 people and seizing 110 weapons.[1][2]
Where and how
Four teams covering northern, central and southern California targeted grows hidden mostly on protected public land such as the Trinity Alps Wilderness and the Palomar mountains, Becerra said at a San Diego press conference.[1][2]One site diverted water from the San Joaquin River in Stanislaus County, and several others used federally banned toxic pesticides.[2]The operation combined the state justice department with the U.S. Forest Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the National Guard and local agencies.[1]
A smaller haul
The 2018 take was less than half the 1.26 million plants eradicated in 2017 and the more than 1.5 million destroyed in 2016.[2]Becerra’s office partly blamed the drop on that summer’s wildfires, which burned over 688,000 acres of northern California and destroyed legal and illegal crops alike, alongside the effect of recreational legalization.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
California Department of Justiceoag.ca.govAttorney General Becerra Announces 52 Arrests Across 40 Counties as Part of Statewide Campaign to Combat Illegal Cannabis Grows
The attorney general's release says 40 counties and more than 254 grow sites, while Merry Jane reports 39 counties and 254 grows; the report uses the official counts.
The release names no individual suspects or case outcomes among the 52 arrests.
The 110 seized weapons are mentioned in the text but the figures schema stores no weapon count.
California's Unified Cannabis Enforcement Task Force seized or destroyed 55,308 pounds of illicit cannabis and eradicated 108,226 plants between July and September 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom's office said. The quarter's operations across nine counties led to 14 arrests, nine firearms and $29,215 in cash, and brought the state's nine-month total to more than $230 million in cannabis.
Arrested 14Plants destroyed 108,226Cannabis 25.0873 t
Humboldt County sheriff's deputies eradicated about 3,102 cannabis plants and destroyed about 36 pounds of processed cannabis at two unlicensed grows near Alderpoint and Garberville on 5 and 6 October 2026. No arrests were made and the cases were sent to the District Attorney for review.
On 25 September 2026 New Mexico's Regulation and Licensing Department Enforcement Bureau and the Organized Crime Commission raided 102 Howell Road in Estancia, Torrance County, seizing and destroying about 6,300 mature cannabis plants in 21 greenhouses weighing an estimated 21,000 pounds. The case remains open for prosecution.
On 16 September 2026 U.S. Forest Service officers, Glenn County’s Major Crimes Task Force and a Forest Service helicopter team eradicated about 700 cannabis plants from an illegal grow in remote Mendocino National Forest. No arrests were reported.
