“Weaponized DOJ’s priority is to destroy Trump. Fentanyl sprayed marijuana (AKA synthetic “weed”) can wait till 2025.” — Reader comment
“Career politicians have no interest in fixing the system. Most are in office to keep the graft flowing and get their cut.” — Reader comment
“Launching in 1876, G.H. Bass & Co. made shoes in Maine. G.H. Bass & Co. introduced Bass Weejuns, the world’s first penny loafer, in 1936. In 1998, Phillips-Van Heusen Corp., the parent company of G.H. Bass & Co., closed the Maine plant and moved the manufacturing operations to other factories in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.” – Reader Comment
“Just another hollowed out factory in a hollowed out town, tons of them across the United States. Don’t worry, we’re busy hollowing out the nation now, so we’ll have the complete set.” – Reader Comment
Reader # 1: “My point was that the this is not the first time China has set up an illegal shop in our backyard and our elected officials and the entire intelligence apparatus had “no idea” what was happening. All things considered, I find that a little odd.”
Reader #2: “It’s a big *** country and if you don’t want to be found, and are smart about it, then you aren’t going to be found, easily.”
Reader #3: “But they sure as hell find out when you underpaid $10 in taxes right quick.”
“And you get a useless toked out population that will readily keep voting for welfare.” – Reader Comment
“Angus King and Susan Collins. Two useless, life-long Politicians that have milked Maine of millions for years of non-productivity. Maine would be a LOT better if they sh!tcanned these two and voted for someone who really cared about their future, instead of importing Somalians into the state and destroying their future. PS-Angus King is NOT a Republican, he’s an Independent. Collins isn’t a Republican either, she’s a RINO imposter.” — Reader Comment
“Those two Senators from Maine are quite pathetic.” – Reader Comment
“It’s what they voted for, isn’t it?” — Reader Comment
“Once you get off of 95 in Maine and take local roads, there are more smoke shops per capita than any other place I have seen in the country. Towns in the middle of nowhere with maybe 300 people will have 3 or 4 shops, some requiring a medical card, others not. Take a ride up to the Carrabasset Valley which is all local roads for hours, and there are more smoke shops than groceries or gas stations. It seems the locals don’t enforce laws because in many of these towns, there are no other jobs to be had. But that is exactly why politicians have been opening up to smoke shops…it does not improve life in their towns, just more tax revenues than cigaretts, and that means more money for politicians to spend.” — Reader Comment
“Funny how there are all sorts of repercussions to have open borders and politicians and bureaucrats who can be bought off by criminals. Meanwhile law abiding taxpayers and businesses get screwed.” Reader Comment
NOTE: Look to the leftist (butch) governor Janet Mills and her phalanx of democrat majority career politicians in the State’s legislature for this travesty.
Do-nothing Democrats who ignore taxpayers while they slurp and burp at the trough provided by a paucity of employed Mainers whose paycheck barely makes ends meet in the face of rising property taxes, groceries, and fuel oil. Meanwhile their so-called “leaders” sprinkle barely sustainable “largesse” to the thousands of unemployed who are on the dole and have been since industry left the state for China factories. And the belly-crawlers in Portland ensure Mainer’s votes, guaranteed by ranked choice voting. It’s a despicable racket.
Will this national spotlight wake up Mainiacs? Who depend on their local TV “news” stations (emanating out of the cesspool of Portland which controls the propaganda) and/or the Bangor Daily for their “news?”
Or will they finally wake up and read the Maine Daily Wire, a real news outlet that IS reporting the truth.
The useless leftist Gov. Janet Mills
Hundreds Of Illegal Chinese-Owned Marijuana Operations Taking Over Maine
On Tuesday, Nov. 28, local law enforcement shut down an illegal marijuana grow that was being operated in a building located behind a licensed marijuana cultivation facility in Franklin County.
Officers from the Wilton Police Department were assisting investigators from the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy (OCP) during a routine follow-up inspection of a licensed facility in Wilton when they raided the illegal operation, authorities said in a press release posted on social media.
“It’s a place that has been on the radar,” State Rep. Mike Sobeleski (R) told The Epoch Times, adding that he had visited the facility previously. The Republican lawmaker said he had learned about the raid just minutes before Tuesday’s interview with The Epoch Times to discuss the illegal marijuana operations being run by Chinese nationals throughout the state.
Earlier this month, a man identifying himself as the property manager told the Maine Wire that the building was being used to grow marijuana and that operators paid about $30,000 per month in rent.
He also reportedly told the news outlet that the facility was being run by four Asian men who claimed they were from New York, California, Washington, and Massachusetts.
The property owner “has no connection to the internal operations of either the licensed or unlicensed marijuana cultivation facility,” according to authorities. The building is the former Bass Shoe Factory and is currently on the market for $6 million.
The facility had been under investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for possible ties to Asian transnational organized crime, the Maine Wire reported.
Marijuana is legal for recreational use for adults 21 and over in Maine. State law also allows adult residents to grow up to three mature plants and 12 immature plants for personal use.
OCP is responsible for the licensing, compliance, and general oversight of legalized cannabis for medical and adult use in the state.
In July, state law enforcement had identified 270 suspected illegal marijuana operations with an estimated revenue of $4.37 billion, according to an internal federal law enforcement document that was being circulated among Border Patrol agents. The Daily Caller originally reported the information after it obtained a copy of the memo.
In response to the reports, lawmakers in Maine sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting information about the alleged illegal Chinese marijuana growing operations.
“These illegal growing operations are detrimental to Maine businesses that comply with State laws, and we urge the Department of Justice (DOJ) to shut them down,” Republican Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins, along with Democratic Reps. Jared Golden and Chellie Pingree wrote in their letter dated Aug. 24.
They posed a series of questions regarding the agency’s knowledge of the alleged Chinese connection to the illegal growing operations and what actions the DOJ is taking to shut them down across the state.
“What is the DOJ doing to address illegal operations, including illegal operations that are run by foreign governments or entities?” they asked.
They further inquired, “How are the profits from these illegal operations being returned to the country of origin?”
It is unclear whether the attorney general has responded to the August inquiry.
Ms. Collins’ office did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for more information.
Vague Enforcement Laws in Maine
Mr. Sobeleski said the state’s enforcement laws make it difficult for state and local authorities to shut down illegal operations until the feds get involved.
“They’re not sure who’s going to be the responsible [agency] to go in there based on the fact that this is a legal person on the property, and there are guidelines you have to go by on that,” he explained. “So, there’s no clarity in who enforces the law.“
Through an investigation, the Maine Wire located over 100 illegal marijuana facilities that are allegedly operated by Chinese nationals. Many of them are operating in homes that are often near schools and childcare facilities.
Joe Turcotte, a spokesperson for Mr. Sobeleski, said residents become frustrated when they file multiple complaints with local authorities who refuse to help.
Mr. Soboleski said he had visited many of the houses where the illegal operations occur. He said the operators have boarded up the windows and doors to cover up the illegal activity inside. Neighbors complain of the constant smell of marijuana coming from the houses and trash litters the lawns and roadways.
There is also a safety issue when home-cultivating operations illegally run 400 amps of electricity into buildings housing grow operations, posing a fire hazard.
“We’ve actually had houses burn from the heat and electricity from these grow operations,” Mr. Turcotte explained.
Another concern is that the houses are being used for other illegal activities.
“They could be used for trafficking other harder narcotics,” Mr. Soboleski said, adding that illegal immigrants could also be staying in the homes.
The Maine Wire reported that law enforcement has raided only two other properties in the state.
A raid in the town of Carmel led to the seizure of over 3,000 marijuana plants. Four Chinese men were arrested in connection with that operation and are facing felony charges.
Nearly 1,000 plants were seized in another raid in Dexter. However, no arrests were made.
Mr. Soboleski recently sponsored legislation that would provide state and local law enforcement agencies with the authority to enforce laws against illegal marijuana operations.
His bill, known as “An Act to Provide Investigative Authority to the Maine State Police, Sheriffs, and Local Police Regarding Maine’s Recreational Cannabis Laws and Ordinances to Ensure Proper Enforcement,” was “shut down” by the legislative council earlier this month, he said.
“We have the mechanisms to take these [illegal marijuana operations] out, but it’s a matter of the political will to do it,” Mr. Turcotte said.
A National Problem
Illegal marijuana grows are being operated in numerous states across the country.
The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) seized more than 72,000 pounds of illegal marijuana in Wagoner County and another 250 pounds in Lincoln County on Nov. 9.
“Our state has been overrun with criminals who are trafficking drugs in our local communities and throughout the country,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a press release on Nov. 14. “I will not tolerate this serious threat to public safety. I am proud of the work of the Organized Crime Task Force and our law enforcement partners for their efforts to eliminate this blight on our communities.”
The Wagoner County seizure was among the largest in state history.
A week later, OCTF, along with the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, served search warrants on six medical marijuana grow operations in Pottawatomie County, where they seized 77,236 untraceable and untagged plants, nearly 2,000 pounds of untraceable marijuana, and several firearms, according to a separate press release Nov. 17.
“We are sending a clear message to Mexican drug cartels, Chinese crime syndicates, and all others who are endangering public safety through these heinous operations,” Mr. Drummond said in a statement. “And that message is to get the hell out of Oklahoma.”
Oklahoma voters approved the use of medical marijuana in 2018. Earlier this year, voters rejected a state initiative to allow for the recreational use of the drug.
In California, the Unified Cannibas Enforcement Taskforce (UCETF) seized more than $101 million in illegal marijuana during the third quarter of 2023, the agency announced in October.
“Many of these illegal cannabis operations are linked to organized crime, and in addition to threatening the environment and communities, the products [from] these operations pose a direct threat to consumer health and the stability of the legal cannabis market.”
Since the task force’s formation in 2022 through the third quarter of 2023, UCETF served more than 200 search warrants and seized nearly $300 million in unlicensed marijuana.
I hate this happening to beautiful Maine.. These marijuana laws are gonna destroy every state eventually but the DS wants everyone to be stoned so they don’t pay attention or care what’s happening. It’s too easy for this to happen. Ugh! So many losers just don’t care anymore. Mississippi, my home state which has been a welfare state for so long has gambling and now medical marijuana. They don’t have a chance.
Would wager that Michigan is not far behind Maine. Whitmer is as bad or worse…..many of her deeds just starting to surface….
Get the word out that some pot is laced with Fentynal…kinda like playin’ Russian Roulette…our enemies, foreign and domestic, are diabolical and will continue their destruction of our country at all costs.