Republican U.S. Senator from Maine Susan Collins was briefed Thursday by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram on efforts to combat Maine’s hundreds of illegal Chinese-owned marijuana grow operations, as well as the opioid epidemic and the rise of crystal meth use in the state.
[RELATED: Triad Weed: How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine…]
This briefing comes on the heels of a Maine Wire investigative report that identified more than 100 properties in rural Maine that are part of a vast network of illicit Chinese marijuana grows.
Sen. Collins said in a Friday press release that she and Administrator Milgram “discussed the recent reporting on the illegal Chinese marijuana growing operations in Maine and the potential harm they pose to our public health and national security.”
“We must put an end to these criminal enterprises that are flooding our State and infiltrating our rural communities,” Collins said. “I will continue to push the Department of Justice, including the DEA, to work with state and local law enforcement and shut down these illegal operations.”
Collins and the Maine congressional delegation wrote a letter in August to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting information on what steps the Department of Justice was taking to shut down the illegal grow operations.
Following the Maine Wire’s investigation, Sen. Collins and Democratic Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) renewed their calls for a federal investigation into the illegal drug houses, citing “the severity of the potential harm these illegal Chinese marijuana growing operations pose to communities throughout Maine.”
TRIAD WEED
- How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine
- State Law Enforcement, Feds Struggle to Clamp Down on Illegal Chinese Drug Operations in Maine
- Maine Legislature Will Consider Proposal to Fight Chinese-owned Marijuana Operations
- Collins, Golden Renew Call for DOJ Action Against Illicit Chinese Marijuana Grows Following Maine Wire Report
Collins and the DEA Administrator also discussed the growing opioid epidemic and the increased use of crystal meth in Maine.
Overdose deaths in Maine have been on the rise in recent years, with a total of 2,232 Mainers suffering fatal overdoses from 2019 to 2022.
The most recent state statistics report a total of 7,538 total overdoses in Maine in 2023 as of September, with 462 of those overdoses being fatal.
“No community is immune from the opioid epidemic, and I commend the men and women of the DEA for their work to combat illicit opioid trafficking and distribution,” Collins said Friday. “While we continue to target deadly opioids, we must not lose sight of the need to protect our communities from other emerging threats.”
Collins described the increase in crystal meth seizures in Maine — from 3 kilograms in 2021 to 72 kilograms in 2022 — as “incredibly shocking.”
Edward, has any of the authority’s given a reason why state laws aren’t being enforced? That would be an interesting conversation….let us know if you can
When can we expect to see the Chinese smuggling Fentanyl precursors to these locations and starting to use them as pill mills for domestic production and sale, thereby cutting the cartels out of the action?
The Chinese economy is in crisis we hear. Here’s a great way to have the US bail them out, in a habit forming way.
And when will the cartels take exception, and turn the Chinese locations into war zones?
It will be an international version, on our turf, of the gang turf fights of decades in our inner cities.
Isn’t the nexus of this problem how the Chinese operators get into the country to begin with, and how are they being financed?
This seems to me like a situation ripe for widespread national investigation on many levels.
“We must put an end to these criminal enterprises that are flooding our State and infiltrating our rural communities,” Collins said. “I will continue to push the Department of Justice, including the DEA, to work with state and local law enforcement and shut down these illegal operations.”
…the grifting wench probably invited them here! Someone PLEASE primary this fake senator!
It gets dismissed if it’s not in their community. Ive called DEA and our local law enforcement to no avail . I’ve also e mailed our senator . It’s bull how it’s being ignored
This requires swift aggressive action…
Yeah, Collins will do some urging and essentially nothing because she is a pointless neocon , go with the flow, RINO.
GOP really needs an enema.
Also of concern..national SECURITY concern, is the illegal biolab discovered in Reedley, CA. Breibart has another report out on the investigation, which imo is absolutely infuriating! The CDC has definitely dropped the ball on that one.
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2023/11/17/report-govt-breakdown-enabled-chinese-run-bio-lab-california/
Why federal enforcement? Are local and state enforcement so incompetent that they can’t handle crimes in our state? Why it the state police sitting around on this, is it because we have a junkie as governor? Illegal drugs, illegal chinese agents and nobody does squat, but by God they’ll drag parents out of school board meetings if they disagree with the indoctrination and tag them as terrorists! Either do something or disband the state police!