How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine
Illegal Chinese marijuana grows have taken over much of rural Maine.The government is either incapable — or unwilling — to do anything about it.
The Maine Wire has identified more than 100 properties that are part of a sprawling network of Chinese-owned sites operating as unlicensed, illicit cannabis growing operations in rural Maine.
According to an unclassified memo from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) obtained by the Maine Wire, the illicit grows are operated by Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs).
The properties cover Somerset County, Penobscot County, Kennebec County, Franklin County, Androscoggin County, and Oxford County.
The sites were purchased over the past three years by single adults, primarily from New York and Massachusetts, using cash or financing arranged through a handful of mortgage companies.
The Maine Wire investigation began following the leak of a separate DHS memo that revealed the existence of more than 270 such sites in Maine.
That memo, first reported by Jennie Taer of the Daily Caller News Foundation, offered the first public confirmation of what law enforcement officials have long known, but what neighbors to these properties and legal marijuana entrepreneurs have only suspected.
Namely, that Chinese foreign nationals are exploiting Maine’s lax marijuana laws, the Biden Administration’s immigration policies, and cheap real estate in rural Maine to grow a fortune using exploited illegal alien laborers.
Nationwide, there are approximately 749 properties that DHS has linked to Asian TCOs.
The leaked memo included a spreadsheet, which has not been made public, that identified “270 properties within [Maine] that are actively used by the Chinese in relation to their operations.”
Local, state, county, and federal officials, speaking mostly on the condition of anonymity, have confirmed to the Maine Wire that various law enforcement agencies have known about this foreign network of illicit drug manufacturing and distribution for more than two years.
On Sept. 15, DHS sent the following memo to Maine law enforcement asking for help gathering intel on the properties:
We are requesting a response by state, county, and/or local law enforcement officials with any information regarding illegal marijuana grows being operated in their areas by suspected Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO). This collection effort is supporting a national intelligence gathering initiative to identify a comprehensive picture of the threat posed to national security by Asian TCOs operating illegally in the United States.
A typical response may include:
confirmation that this activity is occurring
the number of suspected grows in your area of responsibility
reports by concerned citizens or local officials relating to illegal grow operations by Asian TCOs
or any other information respondents may deem of value.
“There are hundreds of these operations occurring throughout the state. It’s upsetting to those who live near these operations, and even those who are following Maine laws and procedures,” Penobscot County Sheriff Troy Morton told the DCNF.
Maine’s congressional delegation has called upon the Department of Justice to shutter the operation, but Attorney General Merrick Garland has yet to respond in writing.
Most of the properties were acquired after Maine legalized the sale of recreational pot in 2020.
According to the DHS memos, the sites are operated by Chinese foreign nationals, some who are in the U.S. illegally. DHS believes the network earns an estimated total income of $4.37 billion per year, some of which is returned to entities in the People’s Republic of China.
The locations of the sites — and the names of their owners — have not been publicly released.
