"The golden state legalised marijuana production in 2016, but strict curbs have led to a thriving black market. Its hub is in Siskiyou county, where the environmental damage is clear to see".
"In the shadow of Mount Shasta in northern California, a sea of makeshift greenhouses and plywood huts sprawls between the conifer trees of the high desert. From the air, many of the polytunnels look in bad shape, their plastic covers torn by the wind to reveal what’s inside: hundreds of cannabis plants packet tightly together, their distinctive green leaves easily identifiable against the volcanic soil.
This remote area of Siskiyou county is known for its goldrush history, black bears and returning grey wolves, but in the last few years it has also become a hub for California’s parallel market in cannabis production. More than 6,000 hectares (15,000 acres) of illicit cannabis farms cover the Republic-leaning county, which voted not to legalise commercial farming despite the statewide vote for legalisation in November 2016.
Several thousand people are thought to be living in the seasonal encampments where illicit cannabis is grown near Mount Shasta, often without an official connection to water or sewage supplies. Many producers are Hmong Americans, and tensions have erupted with law enforcement over water access, prompting accusations of racism. Trucks transporting millions of dollars worth of cannabis have been stopped on the highway, and there is growing concern among authorities about the consequences for the surrounding ecosystem.
As legalisation has spread around the world and governments increasingly treat the plant like any other crop, attention has turned to the environmental impact of cannabis. The plant is often energy intensive, can lead to intense use of pesticides, and is another unwelcome demand on scarce water in some regions.
A 2012 study estimated that 1% of US electricity was used for cannabis cultivation, rising to 3% in California, according to a separate study. No estimates exist of the land footprint of cannabis production but there is evidence that weed growing has become a new agricultural frontier. A 2018 study on two counties in California found that nearly 90% of farms were constructed in natural areas, most commonly on forest."
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