A $2.8M pot bust in San Juan County, N.M. appears to may have just scratched the surface of a far larger illegal cannabis operation on Navajo lands involving dozens of farmers and hundreds of Chinese immigrant laborers. The situation has triggered a federal investigation.
Searchlight New Mexico
Searchlight reports:
“A vast network of industrial-scale black-market cannabis farms that now stretch across the Shiprock Chapter. Over 1,000 workers from predominantly Chinese neighborhoods in Los Angeles and New York have arrived on the reservation to manage and work the farms.
“Hundreds of cannabis greenhouses have been built atop 36 farms traditionally dedicated to corn, a food staple that is central to Navajo ceremonies. Transformation of the land has created simmering resentments across the community.”
