Record 5.2 million cannabis plants seized across California in 2008
State and federal officers seized more than 5.2 million illegally grown cannabis plants across California in the 2008 eradication season, a new record worth an estimated $15.8 billion wholesale. Raids in 40 of the state's 58 counties led to more than 221 arrests and 244 confiscated weapons.
Top narcotics enforcers gathered in Sacramento to announce a record seizure of marijuana plants from public and private lands: raids in 40 of the state’s 58 counties yielded more than 5.2 million plants seized and destroyed.[1]Nearly 70 percent of them were growing on state and federal land, and the eradicated plants would have had a wholesale value of $15.8 billion.[1]The 2008 eradication season ran from July through October.[1]
The officers reported more than 221 people arrested and 244 weapons confiscated during the season.[1]The U.S. attorney said the cartels favor California for its vast rural public land, including the national forests, its temperate climate and local acceptance of marijuana in some areas.[1]In and around Sequoia National Park, which regularly leads the nation in large-scale cultivation, 524,000 plants were seized.[1]The counties with the most eradicated plants were Lake with 499,508, Tulare with 395,489, Shasta with 394,375, Mendocino with 231,802 and Humboldt with 145,762.[1][2]
CAMP’s own count
The Campaign Against Marijuana Planting’s season summary counted 2,905,232 plants seized, valued at $11.6 billion wholesale, in 542 raids with 143 arrests and 142 weapons seized.[2]The larger 5.2 million figure adds the federal partners’ seizures to the CAMP total.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The briefing took place on the Wednesday before the account's 23 November reposting, which this report reads as 19 November.
The 5.2 million combined state-federal total and the CAMP-only 2.9 million season figure cover different scopes, and this report uses the combined total as its headline figure.
The 15.8 billion dollar wholesale figure is the officials' estimate, not a measured sale price.
The opened sources name no individual defendants among the 221 arrested and give no court outcomes.
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.
Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies eradicated about 720 marijuana plants at an illegal creekside greenhouse grow near Mt. Hamilton Road in September 2026. No suspects were found at the remote site, where officers also reported illegal water diversion from a nearby creek.
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.
