Siskiyou County Sheriff Asks Residents to Stop Aiding Illegal Cannabis Grows

Photo by Matteo Paganelli

The Siskiyou County Sheriff is attempting to squeeze out the illegal marijuana grows in the area and is asking for assistance from local businesses in their mission.

While illegal commercial cannabis production continues to give headaches to local law enforcement and the surrounding community, the sheriff sent a reminder to residents to help them halt the production through supply delivery. They want to remind local businesses that it could be illegal to deliver products to these sites and could result in fines.

Here is the full statement from the Siskiyou County Sheriff:

The intent of this message is to educate the businesses in and surrounding Siskiyou County and to seek assistance in helping the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office and other County Departments in combating rampant, illegal commercial cannabis activity in Siskiyou County. The elimination of the illegal activity and associated violent crime is going to involve the whole community working together, and we ask the local businesses to help contribute to the solution.

In an effort to stop the proliferation of illegal commercial cannabis activity in Siskiyou County, we request our local businesses stop delivering supplies and providing services to known illegal commercial cannabis sites in Siskiyou County. State law allows for six cannabis plants for personal use, however, most of the grows contain hundreds if not thousands of plants that are contained in greenhouses, well exceeding what is lawful. Since these massive cultivation sites are illegal and very apparent, delivering and supplying services to these locations places businesses in danger of violating certain criminal codes, local ordinances, and subjecting themselves to fines and potential criminal prosecution.

Every party to a crime in California is either a principal or an accessory. Penal Code Section 31 states, “All persons concerned in the commission of a crime, whether it be felony or misdemeanor, and whether they directly commit the act constituting the offense, or aid and abet in its commission…” can be prosecuted as a principal offender of a crime. Knowingly delivering supplies and providing services to locations where illegal commercial cannabis is being cultivated is aiding in the commission of a crime.

Further, knowingly delivering supplies and providing services to locations where commercial cannabis activity is occurring is a violation of “unfair competition” which is defined to include any “unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice (Business and Professions Code 17200).” Unlawful business practices include “anything that can properly be called a business practice and that at the same time is forbidden by law.” According to Business and Professions Code 17206, “Any person who engages, has engaged, or proposes to engage in unfair competition shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) for each violation…”

Commercial cannabis activity is forbidden in Siskiyou County; therefore, knowingly delivering supplies and providing services to these locations are in violation of criminal statutes and local ordinances and subject to civil penalties and potential criminal prosecution for aiding and abetting in the illegal activity. We recognize drawing attention to these violations may be new to some people. We are hoping these measures will empower businesses to say “no” to delivering and supplying services when it is reasonably obvious they would be supplying to and supporting illegal commercial cannabis activity.

This would greatly benefit our enforcement efforts and have a tremendous impact on the explosive growth we are seeing around the county. Please help our county move forward and collectively focus on solutions. We must be united and committed to work together. Again, we ask businesses in and around Siskiyou County to partner with us and not work against us as we resist the organized criminal activity in Siskiyou County.

From all of us at the County, we greatly appreciate everyone for their support.

Active NorCal

Telling the Stories of Northern California

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button