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A US Army veteran living in Southern California is furious with local law enforcement after Hemet County Sheriffs raided his property and confiscated what the farmer says was fully legal industrial hemp.
The anonymous farmer first told his story to the cannabis news Instagram page The Blacklist. In his account, the hemp cultivator said that cops procured a search warrant after spotting a greenhouse on the property with aerial cameras. When no one was home, he claims the Hemet County sheriffs busted down the door to the man’s home, destroyed 267 hemp plants in his greenhouse, and illegally confiscated cannabis and firearms from the property.
“On the day of December 9th 2019, the Hemet County Sheriff’s and Riverside County City Council conducted an illegal raid,” the aggrieved farmer wrote in his message to The Blacklist. “I’m a US law abiding, tax paying citizen, US ARMY Cavalry Scout, wounded in action, Purple Heart recipient, PTSD diagnosed, 33-year-old with daily chronic pain of the neck, back, hips, knees, and right ankle, insomnia, among other injuries… We had 267 Industrial hemp vegetation plants with zero flowering plants in our 3500-square-foot greenhouse, out of sight, with zero smell invasion or nuisance.”
Law enforcement officers in the rural enclaves of Riverside and Hemet counties have recently taken a hard line stance against unlicensed cannabis growers. In the years since legalization was enacted, California has struggled to rein in the state’s massive black market. In response, police have executed highly publicized raids on unregulated farms as a show of force against illicit operators.
But as government officials, cops, and consumers alike continue to sort out the intricacies that separate industrial hemp from full-strength cannabis, legal hemp businesses have been repeatedly caught in the crosshairs. From robberies and police seizures, to retail and cultivation raids, America’s newest cash crop is still being unfairly persecuted.
In California, the anonymous grower is hoping to bring attention to what he says was an unfounded bust, and he wants the police to face repercussions for their actions.
“The City of Riverside outright violated all of our civil rights and liberties, with no respect to the constitution,” the farmer wrote. “The warrant is bogus and states no sound evidence to us operating an illegal grow.”
It is not yet clear if the farmer plans to pursue legal action against the county officials or law enforcement officers who approved and participated in the raid.
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