Northern California has long been associated with illicit cannabis cultivation. Humboldt County, 3 hours south of Oregon on the California coastline, was at the center of this activity. What started off as a counterculture movement in the 1960’s and 1970’s, has evolved into massive market for illicit cannabis cultivation and trafficking in what has been dubbed as California’s “Emerald Triangle” consisting of Humboldt, Trinity, and Mendocino counties. Many of these operations being run by transnational criminal organization and other criminal enterprises.
On this recent episode of “California Insider”, Humboldt County Sheriff Billy Honsal provides a first-hand account to the issues of illicit cannabis trafficking and associated crimes like human trafficking, labor exploitation, violent crime, and environmental damage from these grows sites in the “Emerald Triangle”.
This is an informative and thought-provoking account into what marijuana trafficking really looks like, and the hazards it represents to public health and safety interests.
View Time: ~30 minutes
Photo: California Insider