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.   ...