California illegal pot seizures top $1.5 billion in value

Authorities seized more than $1.5 billion worth of illegally grown marijuana plants in California this year — an amount an industry expert said is roughly equal to the state's entire legal market — as part of an annual eradication program, officials said Monday. The raids netted more than 950,000 plants from nearly 350 growing operation sites this year through the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting program, an effort known as CAMP that dates to 1983 and is considered the nation's largest illegal marijuana eradication program. Consumers are projected to spend $3.1 billion in California's legal cannabis industry and $8.1 billion in the illicit market this year, according to a report from industry advisers Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics.

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