Witnesses are sworn in to testify about alleged illegal marijuana crime networks in various states run by Chinese nationals at a House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Accountability hearing Thursday. Photo by Bridget Erin Craig/UPI
WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- States including Oklahoma, New Mexico, Maine, and Oregon are grappling with an influx of illegal marijuana linked to Chinese criminal networks, raising national security concerns and straining local law enforcement resources, lawmakers said Thursday.
"They entered this country, for these home grow operations, hundreds of pounds of illegal, contaminated marijuana is introduced to the hands of people all over the United States, from Oklahoma to New York," said Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., chairman of the House Homeland Security Oversight, Investigations and Accountability Subcommittee.
A committee hearing Thursday focused on how China is growing illegal marijuana in multiple states and how that is tied to larger criminal networks, including Mexican cartels.
From what he said he witnessed in his home state, Brecheen provided a scenario of the operation.
