Daniel Marsh: State needs to help counties dealing with illegal weed patches

One thing for sure, with the advent of legal marijuana in our state, many Northern California counties are begging for fiscal help to combat illegal grows. They cannot keep up with this unlawful activity. The state government at the very least needs to give strong fiscal aid for local law enforcement to help with this issue.

Give the better tools to those counties that desire help, and it might have desirable side effects – like helping keep the federal government out of local and California law enforcement of this controversial issue. Many of the illegal marijuana grows are said to be sponsored by Asia and south-of-the-border organized crime cartels. This makes it hard for small rural counties to compete.

Human trafficking has been evident in many of these operations. With increasing government tax revenue from the legal sales of marijuana, giving fiscal aid to counties requesting help will be widely appreciated. Direct grants to affected counties must be generous. All of this and other public policy means can be used to protect the public’s desire to have recreational use of marijuana.

This story was originally published January 9, 2018 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Daniel Marsh: State needs to help counties dealing with illegal weed patches."