Sacramento begins widespread marijuana crackdown

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The Sacramento, California, police department plans to ask the City Council this week for an additional $850,000 in funding to continue a crackdown on its marijuana industry through the first six months of 2018.

According to the Sacramento Bee, California’s capital city began its months-long crusade in August, including a 60-day citywide sweep by the SWAT team that resulted in the seizure of 5,000 illegal cannabis plants, 10 arrests, millions of dollars in fines and 600 grow operations shuttered.

The crackdown comes in advance of the Jan. 1 launch of California’s recreational marijuana market.

Countering illegal operations and the black market has been a big question mark in the state, with some localities giving the issue little thought and others taking the matter seriously.

Sacramento, it appears, is taking the matter seriously.

The city sent out 959 warning letters to suspected illegal grow operations, the newspaper reported, and of those, 614 were closed down after police visited to inspect the premises.

Local officials have also issued $6.8 million in fines, served 12 search warrants and seized $15,000 in cash.