California task force tops $120M of unlicensed cannabis seized in 2024
Governor Gavin Newsom announced on 7 August 2024 that the Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce had seized over $120 million of unlicensed cannabis since January, destroying nearly 37 tons including 122,914 plants and taking 22 firearms. Recent operations ran across 11 counties.
Governor Gavin Newsom announced on 7 August 2024 that California’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce (UCETF) had seized more than $120 million worth of unlicensed cannabis since January.[1][2]The operations destroyed nearly 37 tons of unlicensed cannabis, including 122,914 illegal plants, and state officers also seized 22 firearms.[1][2]
In recent months the task force ran operations in 11 counties: Mendocino, Tuolumne, Shasta, Orange, Kern, Alameda, Yuba, Trinity, Los Angeles, Butte and Humboldt.[1]Newsom said the state would not tolerate illegal operations that threaten the economy and the health of communities, and the task force’s enforcement chief said its partners were disrupting the unlicensed market.[1][2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
A 70-year-old man was arrested and booked into jail after Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board officers and Snohomish County deputies searched a property near Monroe on 6 November 2026. Investigators seized approximately 2,700 live and dried marijuana plants from what they described as an unlicensed cannabis production operation.
HSI in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, said two go-fast vessels carrying about 3,200 kilograms of marijuana and 3,188 kilograms of cocaine were intercepted under Operation Iron Current, a case against a Colombia-based trafficking organization. ICE put the street value of the haul at more than $80.5 million.
Indiana State Police seized nearly 1,000 grams of suspected marijuana alongside cocaine, fentanyl and guns in Operation Iron Scale raids on 3 November 2026 across Fort Wayne, Huntertown and Noblesville. Twelve people were arrested on felony conspiracy and narcotics-dealing charges, with no separate marijuana charges reported.
Waynesville police seized more than $56,000 worth of THC products said to have been sold or given to middle and high school children, arresting one person. Police said many items contained marijuana or THC extracts in youth-friendly packaging and warned parents about their appearance.
