Albania, Colorado, Texas: bad times for illegal growers!

One after the other, several operations to destroy illegal cannabis cultivation took place in the United States.

In Colorado, hunters discovered a «secret garden» in the San Isabel National Forest late last week. They alerted the police, who discovered 11,700 cannabis plants and cultivation equipment. Two men were arrested at the site. According to the local Forest Service, this is one of the largest eradication operations to have taken place in Colorado.

In Texas, wild pig hunters spotted an illegal plantation yesterday. Alerted, the authorities went in search of possible suspects, but were hampered in their search by BigFoot hunters stalking Sasquatch. In the end, police found only the planting of 6,000 feet, some more than 3 metres high.

Illegal plantation seizures are rare but often consequential in the USA. In July 2014, a deer hunter came across a huge plantation of marijuana. The authorities had discovered over 100,000 plants in 29 fields. Despite the various legalization of cannabis in the United States, Illegal plantations continue to feed the black market, providing cheaper (and untaxed) substances. Free-riders take advantage of America's large, sparsely populated and difficult-to-access parks to conduct their business.

In Europe, we don't hear much about illegal plantations. L’Albania is on the hunt for crops which fuel the trafficking activities of criminal organizations, and since the beginning of the year has destroyed over 650,000 plants. The production of these crops is intended to supply European Union cannabis countries.