Posted on 09/27/2025 8:00:16 AM PDT by DFG
Chinese gangs are taking advantage of loose marijuana rules in Oklahoma to grow and transport marijuana to other states for sale on the black market, authorities say.
Oklahoma narcotics officials told Congress $153 billion worth of marijuana is unaccounted for and likely leaving the state for the black market in other states.
As many as 85 percent of licensed grow sites have connections with Chinese owners or operators, according to Mark Woodward, information officer with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.
Since 2022, the state has shut down more than 6,000 illegal growing operations. Most U.S. states have made marijuana legally available, but taxes and regulations have pushed up its price, leaving an opening for black market sales.
Donnie Anderson, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, said at a press conference in March 2025 that his department was conducting raids on illegal marijuana operations every day.
Here’s what we know about the ongoing crisis.
Black Market Operations Flourish
Oklahoma approved medical marijuana in 2018, licensing its cultivation and sale within the state. The state then reported an explosive growth of growers as the law established no cap on the number of farms that could be licensed to grow marijuana and no limit on how many marijuana plants each farm could cultivate.
The majority of these sites are run by Chinese nationals, according to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.
By the end of 2022, Oklahoma had 8,400 farms licensed for growing marijuana. The state stopped issuing new licenses in 2022. As of mid-2025, there are under 2,000 licensed farms, which is still more than enough to meet the needs of the 325,000 patients licensed to use marijuana for medical purposes.
As the state has increased the reporting required of the licensed growers, it has come to light that an enormous amount of marijuana is not accounted for.
Between March 2024 and March 2025, medical marijuana dispensaries sold 1.7 million pounds of marijuana in Oklahoma, according to Anderson, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. But farms licensed to grow marijuana reported growing 87 million plants of marijuana, with a typical yield of one pound per plant.
Anderson told Congress on Sept. 18, 2025, that the marijuana produced by 85 million plants is unaccounted for. That amount is worth around $153 billion, according to state estimates. It is unknown where all the unaccounted product went.
Locals Recruited as Straw Owners
The Oklahoma law, passed in 2018, prohibits marijuana grown in the state from being transported to other states.
Enforcing that law is a challenge. Oklahoma is at the intersection of North-South and East-West interstate highways. In addition, to obtain a license, growers must have two years of residency in the state. Anderson told Congress that some out-of-state operators paid local “straw owners” to fraudulently obtain an Oklahoma license.
These operations are growing marijuana in Oklahoma and transporting the drug to other states for sale. And in one case, one Oklahoma man was registered as owning 300 farms, said Anderson.
The vast majority of these grow sites have a Chinese connection. According to Woodward, currently there are 1,995 active farms in the state, and 85 percent are Chinese-operated or owned.
Several recent convictions of Chinese operators in Oklahoma show the connection between Oklahoma marijuana cultivation and East Coast Chinese criminal organizations.
One case from December 2024 involved Jeff Weng and Tong Lin, who were convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Weng operated out of Brooklyn, New York, while Tong Lin oversaw the grow operation in Wetumka, Oklahoma. According to witness testimony, they transported more than 56,000 pounds of marijuana out of Oklahoma over seven months.
Rising Crime and China Connection
Along with Chinese gangs operating in the state has come an increase in money laundering, illegal gambling, human trafficking, sex trafficking, as well as theft of water and electricity, according to authorities.
Anderson testified to Congress about the rise in crime, specifically the murder of four Chinese nationals in 2022 at an illegal marijuana farm. More murders took place in 2024 and 2025 at marijuana grow sites.
Local officials are concerned about not only the harm to communities, but also the involvement of an unfriendly foreign power. In his testimony in Congress, Anderson highlighted the threat to national security, noting that many grow sites are located near critical infrastructure, including military bases such as the McAlester ammunition facility, which serves as a national stockpile.
In their investigations, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics has documented transfers to the Bank of China as well as connections to Chinese regime-owned businesses. Anderson said the state can’t solve this problem by arresting bad actors. He is looking for state and federal officials to take action.
Currently, Oklahoma has 325,000 patients with a medical need for marijuana. Anderson is calling for the state to right-size the production of marijuana to match the need.
Every state that has legalized marijuana has lost money in revenues. Too easy to go to the black market.
I wouldn’t really describe the legalization schemes of the many States as libertarian. Some States allow for cultivation for personal use. Others do not. All were sold to the people as tax-revenue enhancers as a way to get voters to approve them, or legislators to enact them. Big Government...not libertarianism.
</chuckle>
I’ve seen stories on Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Maine having Chinese-run illegal grow operations. NM was a native who was illegally providing the leases to them, but it was the Chinese working them and providing the backing.
Chinese gangs , so they’re Illegals , time for ICE
Chinese stoners sitting around smoking choom and eating Cheetohs and talking bad about Texas.
Chinese revenge for the Opium Dens.
My State. Our legislature needs to rein this in! I thought they passed a law that no nationals from other countries are allowed to own marijuana farms.
Every corner a dispensary in Muskogee. When they don’t smoke it they eat it and drink it. And when they smoke it they roll it up in their draft cards.
Thanks. OK is a strange admixture of strong conservative religious and nihilistic libertarian.
Chinese pot farms on Navajo land is a big problem here in New Mexico.
Oh the farmer and the cowmen should be friends, oh...
Like most things done in Oklahoma, the legislature screwed this one up too. They have now created a monster they are afraid to constrain.
Want to see how not to run a state? Look to Oklahoma. It is a failure. Terrible roads, schools, services, medicine and a lot of the people as well. It is one big speed bump from state line to state line. Sections of somewhat decent but expensive roads from nowhere to nowhere that are typical of how the state runs without vision, strategy or even tactical action. It is mostly just random motion if there is any motion at all. Activity is confused for purpose.
Problem is, they don’t even suspect it should be a whole lot better than it is.
Cleo Epps missed her calling. How many remember the Queen of the Bootleggers.
My Brother-in-law was born in Muskogee. Every time that song came on the radio he hid his head in shame.
In all fairness, his parents were on the way from Plano TX to Tulsa when her water broke in Muskogee in 1946.
While I was in high school there we had a juke box in the cafeteria. If someone played it, somebody would go kick the juke box and cause it to skip to the next song.
There was this one guy would would play it, then guard the juke box to keep anyone away from it while it was playing.
If your brother in law is the right age, he may remember that.
Buy American
What do you think if part of those profits are channeled to China?
I think I saw something about this in “Tulsa King.”
Libertarian Party Platform:
National borders: Throw open the borders completely; only a rare individual (terrorist, disease carrier etc.) can be kept from freedom of movement through “political boundaries.” Eliminate the Border Patrol and ICE.
Homosexuals: total freedom in the military, gay marriage, adoption, child custody and everything else.
Abortion: zero restrictions. No impediments full 9 months.
Pornography: no restraints, no restrictions.
Drugs; Meth, Heroin, Crack, marijuana: zero restrictions. Vending machine availability.
Prostitution: legal and unrestricted.
Military Strength; minimal capabilities.
They are equally evil as are democrats.
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