The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s cannabis compliance team has been cracking down hard on illegal cannabis grows where operators are not following local rules or getting proper permits.
“Since August, the county sheriff’s department has seized over 775,000 plants and that's tens of thousands of pounds of product,” says County Supervisor Das Williams.
While Proposition 64 allows for the recreational use of cannabis, anyone selling cannabis is required to be licensed under the state of California.
The County of Santa Barbara has additional requirements involving local land permits and local business licenses in unincorporated areas of the city.
Williams says they're weeding out the suspected bad operators while letting compliant operatorscontinue to sell regulated and approved cannabis products.
Williams also says cracking down on bad operators, especially in the Carpinteria Valley, is reducing the odor that nearby residents have issued complaints about.
