Six Murders in the California Desert. The Black Market Marijuana Trade in California

In January 2024, six people were murdered in a remote part of San Bernardino County, California. Four of the bodies were burned. Days later, the San Bernardino County Sheriff said the murders were related to the black-market marijuana trade. In 2020, there was a seven-person homicide at an unlicensed marijuana cultivation site in Riverside County, California. When Californians voted to legalize and regulate marijuana in California in 2016, the legislation was touted as the “gold standard” and a model the nation would soon be following. Eight years later it’s become a cautionary tale of crime, violence, unkept promises, and environmental destruction. The black-market controls approximately 90% of the California marijuana trade and the spill-over has hampered the attempts of other states to legalize. On this episode of the Truth Nation Podcast, retired California Highway Patrol Chief Mark Garrett and Retired DEA Special Agent in Charge Bill Bodner discuss what went wrong with marijuana legalization in California. Was it about regulated, taxed and tested marijuana or in reality, was it just an attempt at social justice reform? Does it make sense that California treats moonshine and unlicensed liquor trafficking as a felony but cultivation of 100,000 marijuana plants as a misdemeanor? What role does the federal governments’ inaction on marijuana over the past 15 years play? Will de-scheduling or rescheduling make the situation better or worse? Tune in and hear the truth.