Despite Legalization, Marijuana Black Market Hides In Plain Sight
Washington state legalized recreational pot in 2012, but the black market lives on. Pot grown legally leaks into illegal markets, while networks of illegal producers pretend they're licensed.
On a big-sky plateau on the eastern slope of the Cascades, a 10-acre parcel of land has been trashed by illicit pot farmers. Abandoned equipment rusts and jugs of chemicals molder.
Marijuana legalization wasn't supposed to look like this.
Five years into its experiment with legal, regulated cannabis, Washington state is finding that pot still attracts criminals.
Okanogan County Chief Criminal Deputy Steve Brown helped raid this farm last fall. What was striking, he says, is how brazen it was: located just off the road, within sight of neighbors. Before legalization, an operation like this would
