With more eyes and hands devoted to enforcement, Butte County officials said Tuesday they expect to clamp down harder on illicit marijuana plantations across the county in coming months.
Officials presented the Butte County Board of Supervisors with statistics showing a significant uptick in the number of investigations into suspected illegal marijuana grows since planning and land use staffers were placed in charge of enforcing the county’s stringent anti-marijuana ordinance, Measure A.
After investigating a total of 179 suspected illegal grows last year, 74 cases have been launched so far this year. Code Enforcement Supervisor Chris Jellison said his beefed up team could complete as many as 600 by the end of December.
The potential profits remain a lure. Jellison said the sheriff’s department estimated that there were 3,500 active grows last year.
Authorities hired six part timers, mainly retired law enforcement, to help crack down on illegal grows. Officials expect the number of tips to continue rising sharply as word spreads that complaints may now be made completely anonymously.
Enforcement remains complaint driven, but Tim Snellings, director of the Butte County Department of Development Services, told the board other changes have given authorities the upper hand.
“We are seeing that people reject our request for inspections, which leads us to get an inspection warrant,” Snellings said. “That’s following a new process. The judge has given inspection warrants where we can serve the warrant and then, within five minutes, do the inspection.”
The county’s ordinance, which is being challenged in the courts on several fronts, tries to balance voter approved state law allowing marijuana cultivation for medical purposes, with a desire by local elected officials and law enforcement to stamp out those seeking to supply the lucrative recreational market.
Jellison described as “very few” the number of marijuana growers that have been able to comply with all facets of the ordinance.
