The Union Bulletin reports..
Approximately 13,000 pounds of marijuana valued at around $3 million were destroyed Wednesday, Nov. 10, just outside of three adjoining Touchet cannabis farms accused of growing more than allowed by state law.
Tub by tub, bundle by bundle, cannabis that had been ready for harvest was instead dumped into holes dug into the ground and mixed with dirt, rendering them useless to the commercial growers, while an agent with the state Liquor and Cannabis Board stood nearby and watched.
Evergreen Nirvana and Black Diamond Cannabis, licensed with the state to grow 30,000 sq. ft of cannabis canopy and Green Volcano, licensed for 10,000 sq. ft of canopy, were each notified recently by the state Liquor and Cannabis Board that they were growing significantly more than their allotted space. The three farms are all located on neighboring sites at the end of a dirt road near Touchet in Walla Walla County.
But owners of the farms argue that they are being suddenly and unfairly penalized by regulators in response to complaints made by competitors in the legal cannabis industry.
“I didn’t think it was funny, but (an LCB agent) joked: ‘You’re just doing too good,’” said Mark Hoffer, a part-owner of the three farms. “And that’s why someone turned us in.”
The trio of farms are the only pot-producers in Walla Walla County, which banned all recreational cannabis farms in 2014.
