Oklahoma’s Cannabis Market Faces Scrutiny Amidst Human Trafficking Probe
Oklahoma’s once-booming medical marijuana industry, characterized as “the Wild West of Weed” following its 2018 legalization, is now entangled in a human trafficking investigation. Thousands of cultivation operations emerged across the state, with many operating outside the law, utilizing scheme owners to circumvent residency requirements and push product onto the black market.
Prosecutors in a Massachusetts human trafficking case had planned to present testimony from a woman who alleged she had worked for a man at a brothel in Massachusetts. this individual,identified as Jian Lin,33,is also implicated in the ongoing Oklahoma investigation and remains at large. Authorities have accused Lin of facilitating human trafficking by picking up women from airports, transporting them to a brothel, and providing them with essential supplies like groceries and condoms.
The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Risky Drugs Control recently conducted a raid on HotStar Farm LLC in Jennings, seizing a significant quantity of cannabis, including 34,263 live plants and 378 pounds of processed marijuana. Investigations revealed that the farm held a fraudulent registration.
This progress comes as oklahoma’s Attorney General has repeatedly pointed to Chinese nationals as being responsible for the industry’s irregularities.The number of registered cannabis farms in Oklahoma has seen a dramatic decrease, dropping from 8,400 active registrations at the close of 2022 to approximately 2,100 currently.
