Illegal marijuana farms take West’s water in ‘blatant theft’
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
LA PINE, Ore. (AP) — From dusty towns to forests in the West, illegal marijuana growers are taking water in uncontrolled amounts when there often isn’t enough to go around for even licensed users. Conflicts about water have long existed but amid a severe drought, illegal marijuana farms add additional strain on the precious resource. Illegal growing operations in Oregon appear to have increased even as the Pacific Northwest this year endured its driest spring since 1924. They are proliferating despite marjiuana legalization in West Coast states. California’s. Officials in a Northern California county banned trucks carrying 100 gallons or more of water from roads to tracts with 2,000 illegal marijuana operations.
