Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin highlights cannabis market concerns

Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin was one of the keynote speakers Tuesday at the “SoCal Cannabis Summit”.

Much of his talk focused on enforcement — cracking down on illegal grow operations, and so-called “pop up” shops, which are undercutting and slowing the growth of the licensed, legal players.

“With a county-wide approach, we really do have a big hammer,” said Hestrin.

After speaking from the podium, Hestrin spoke with News Channel 3, about the formation, one year ago, of the county’s “Cannabis Regulation Task Force”, made up of a handful of investigators from his office, who work with deputies and detectives from the sheriff’s office, and local police departments, in shutting down black market operators.

“They’ve been shutting down illegal dispensaries very aggressively,” said Hestrin.

Another issue Hestrin is focused on, the number of drivers, “under the influence” of marijuana, and the accidents they cause.

Saying hard data to measure the problem in the county has not yet been accumulated, he says he is definitely noticing a troubling trend.

“What we are seeing anecdotally is a lot more marijuana-related fatalities, a lot of that is a mixture of alcohol and marijuana, or opioids and marijuana,” said Hestrin.

Summit attendees Tuesday also heard the District Attorney, and state “Cannabis Czar” Lori Ajax, talk about concerns over “environmental problems” associated with black market growers and dealers, with dealers in some cases, selling marijuana grown or treated with banned pesticides, or other harmful chemicals.

“We think it is really important to direct people to the right places where they can get legal cannabis,” said Ajax.

“What we are finding, at least preliminarily, is the presence of illegal and banned pesticides,” said Hestrin.

The District Attorney also asked attendees who operate in the market legally, to help law enforcement address the “unintended consequences” of legalized marijuana use — including keeping impaired drivers off the roads.