Maine Lawmakers Reject Bill That Targets China-Run Marijuana Farms

The defeat comes in spite of indications that the farms are being used to fund human trafficking and fentanyl operations.

Marijuana plants grow at the Green Pearl Organics marijuana dispensary in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., on Jan. 1, 2018. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

In a surprise defeat, Maine lawmakers—mostly Democrats—killed a bill that would have put an end to the growing number of massive Chinese pot farms in the rural reaches of the state.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the operations are linked to the Chinese Community Party (CCP) and are being used as a major funding source for large-scale human trafficking and the fentanyl drug trade.

“It is a good day to be a Chinese communist gangster in Maine,” the bill’s main sponsor Rep. John Andrews (R-Paris) told The Epoch Times following the defeat of his bill.

Mr. Andrews said he is concerned the nearly 300 marijuana farms being run by Chinese nationals across rural Maine will nearly triple as a result of the rejection of his proposed legislation by both the state’s House and Senate.

“The legislature failed their constituents by killing this bill. It sends a message to the CCP that Maine will continue to ignore this problem. I expect we'll have over 1000 of these illegal farms in a year’s time,” he said.

The bill was rejected on April 9—first by the Maine Democrat-dominated 151-member House in an 84 to 61 vote and then by the Senate on April 10 in a non-roll call vote.

Mr. Andrews’ bill, LD2204, would have prevented Chinese nationals—and citizens from other countries classified by the DHS as “adversarial nations”—from purchasing land in Maine.

It would also have established racketeering penalties against organizations like the CCP for using marijuana farms to raise revenues for illegal reasons.

According to the Republican lawmaker, Chinese-run  marijuana farms in Maine have yielded about $5 billion in revenues, which he fears is part of a bigger plan to “take down the United States.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), among several organizations that opposed the bill, called the legislation racist and unconstitutional.

“It also unfairly targets immigrants and punishes people because of where they were born, not what they have done,” said Michael Kebede, a policy attorney for the ACLU  in a statement.

Over recent months, several Congressional leaders sent letters to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, and U.S. Department of  Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram, demanding an investigation into the CCP-run pot farms in Maine and other U.S. states including Oklahoma and Oregon.

Each of the letters referenced a leaked Homeland Security memo that identifies ties between thousands of marijuana farms in the United States and Asian transnational criminal organizations.

“Much remains unknown, but experts assert “the number of farms funded by sources traceable back to Chinese investors or owners has skyrocketed,  as have the presence of Chinese owners and workers … at illegal grows,” according to a Feb. 2, 2024 letter signed by 50 members of the U.S. Congress.

The letter also claims that operators of the marijuana farms are engaging in “human trafficking, sex trafficking, ketamine trafficking, illegal gambling, and international money laundering.”

In a Jan. 12 inquiry, Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green and August Pfluger, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence, outlined cash payments made for large tracts of land in the United States by Chinese investors for marijuana growing operations.

“Members of Congress have routinely raised their concerns with real estate purchases made by entities domiciled in the People’s Republic of China (PRC),” they said.

In a Jan. 25 letter, Maine’s four Congressional leaders indicated that the leaked DHS memo was specific to U.S. border agents and also made it very clear that they felt the Biden administration should play a role in fixing the problem.

In a series of questions specific to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), they asked: “What is the DOJ doing to address illegal growing operations, including illegal growing operations that are run by foreign governments or entities?”

The three Democrats and one Republican—Sen. Susan Collins—also asked: “What action is the DOJ taking to swiftly shut down any illegal marijuana growing operations in the state of Maine?”

And, “What support is the DOJ providing to Maine law enforcement agencies [state, county, and municipal] as they work to identify and arrest those participating in illicit activity related to illegal marijuana growing operations?”

According to Mr. Andrews, the task of raiding the farms had largely been left to local law enforcement, mostly sheriff’s departments who already are taxed with a vast area to cover.

As recently reported by The Epoch Times, other legislative efforts to help Maine’s law enforcement with the massive drug operations were also shot down by state Democrats.

The rejected measures included a December bill entitled “Act to Provide Investigative Authority to the Maine State Police, Sheriffs, and Local Police Regarding Maine’s Recreational Cannabis Laws and Ordinances to Ensure Proper Enforcement.”

Mr. Andrews cited a recent report by The Maine Wire that a brother of Maine Democratic Gov. Janet Mills recently processed a land acquisition to a Chinese national, to show how “deep the politics on the issue runs.”

An independent review by The Epoch Times of the documents referenced in the article showed that the governor’s brother Paul Mills, a real estate attorney based in Farmington, was listed as the “preparer” of a Feb. 22, 2024, real estate tax declaration for nine acres of land in Penobscot County, Maine—the epicenter of Chinese-run pot farms in Maine.

The document indicated the land was a “gift to her mother” from a Chinese woman in Malden, Massachusetts. The document listed an address in southern China for the buyer.

Mr. Mills did not respond right away to inquiries by The Epoch Times about the transaction.

After defeating the bill, the Maine Legislature approved a bill that prohibited the state from entering into contracts with any companies “owned or operated” by the Chinese government.

“But CCP’s illegal weed is okay!” Mr. Andrews said.