On 4 November 2019 Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced that California’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) had eradicated 953,459 illegally grown cannabis plants during the 2019 season, in the largest illegal-grow eradication program in the nation.[1][2] Agents raided 345 illegal grow sites across 35 counties, arresting 148 people and seizing 168 weapons.[1][2]
Three teams and 120 search warrants
The operation divided agents into three teams covering northern, central and southern California and combined the state justice department with federal, state and local agencies.[1] National Guard Coordinator Colonel Robert Paoletti said the effort targeted the unlicensed black market to protect growers operating within the voter-approved legal system.[1] During the season CAMP teams helped serve more than 120 search warrants on public-land grows that officers said discharged trash, banned pesticides such as carbofuran and methyl parathion, and illegal fertilizers into the state’s waterways.[1][2]
Who took part
The 2019 operation drew on the U.S. Forest Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the National Guard, the Bureau of Land Management and the Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program alongside state and local departments.[2]
