Black Market Weed!! Yes Please?!
Illegal marijuana farms are popping up in central Maine, causing trouble for local businesses. A few months ago, the police caught a group of people from China growing marijuana illegally in Carmel. However, the issue persists.
The illegal growers are very secretive, making it hard to track them. They often use old houses, making it challenging for authorities to discover their operations. Newport Town Manager Jim Ricker mentioned that these sites are easy to identify—they usually have boarded-up windows and multiple electricity meters. In one case in Carmel, court documents revealed that the house’s power bill was as high as $6,900 a month, suggesting a large-scale illegal operation.
These illegal marijuana farms are causing problems for legal dispensaries. They sell their unregulated, low-cost marijuana in the market, impacting the profits of local businesses. Jennifer Belcher, the owner of Dirt Road Acres in Dixmont, explained that these illegal growers sell marijuana at almost half the price compared to legal farmers. This unfair competition is hurting legal businesses, leading to shutdowns.
The impact on legal businesses raises the question of how to stop these illegal operations. In Carmel, the police took significant steps, monitoring the property and searching for evidence. However, such actions are rare, and most illegal growers go unnoticed and untargeted. Albert Tempesta, the Newport code officer, faces challenges in enforcing regulations without a warrant. When he tried to investigate one site, the people inside claimed not to speak English and shut the door.
Currently, many illegal grow sites continue to operate without hindrance in Central Maine, posing a challenge for local authorities.
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