Growing Marijuana For Profit Still Illegal, CA Sheriff Says

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It’s harvest season for outdoor cannabis growers, and a sheriff in one California county is using the occasion to warn local businesses and individuals about making money off of the medical marijuana trade.

“The advent of the 2015 marijuana harvest season has seen an increase in illegal marijuana cultivation in Riverside County, and the Sheriff’s Department would like to remind landlords, property owners and renters that growing and selling marijuana for profit remains illegal in California,” Sheriff Stanley Sniff wrote in press release.

Marijuana operations in California are technically supposed to be not-for-profit entities, but many ignore that law given the lack of statewide regulations and enforcement.

Sniff takes his job seriously: The sheriff’s department last year investigated and destroyed 75 illegal grows between April and September, according to the release, which resulted in 90 felony arrests.

So far this year, Sniff’s department has destroyed more than 36,000 cannabis plants, arrested 37 people for illegal cultivation, and seized over 254 pounds of processed marijuana.