California just torched a mountain of illegal weed bigger than anything it has ever seized before.
On Tuesday, Governor Gavin Newsom’s office announced law enforcement eradicated 377,010 pounds of illicit cannabis valued at $609 million during 2025, blowing past every previous annual record.
This single-year haul is the largest destruction of illegal cannabis in state history.
The 2025 total dwarfs last year’s numbers. Through the first three quarters of 2024, the state seized “only” $426 million worth. That means in just twelve months California destroyed nearly 50 percent more black-market pot than the entire previous year.
The Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce, launched in 2023, deserves most of the credit. Working with local sheriffs, the California National Guard, and federal partners, the task force hit 555 illegal grow sites across 30 counties in 2025 alone.
They ripped out more than 1.1 million plants and arrested 262 people on charges ranging from cultivation to environmental crimes.
Yet even these eye-popping numbers barely scratch the surface.
Illegal Weed Still Crushes the Legal Market 10 to 1
Experts and state officials agree: the black market is roughly ten times larger than the regulated one.
The California Department of Cannabis Control estimates the legal market sold about $5.1 billion worth of cannabis in 2024. That means the illicit market could easily top $50 billion, some analysts say closer to $60 billion when you count wholesale value.
Small licensed farmers feel crushed. Many pay 15 percent excise tax, cultivation tax (now temporarily suspended), plus local taxes that can push the total burden above 40 percent in some counties. Illegal growers pay zero taxes and sell cheaper on every street corner.
One licensed grower in Humboldt County told reporters this summer, “I’m competing with guys who don’t pay taxes, don’t test for pesticides, and don’t care about water permits. How am I supposed to survive?”
Why the Black Market Won’t Die
Three reasons keep the underground alive and thriving:
- High taxes that make legal weed 30-50 percent more expensive than street weed in many areas
- Too few legal retail stores (only about 1,200 licensed dispensaries statewide for 39 million people)
- Slow and expensive licensing process that still keeps thousands of small farmers in provisional status years after applying
Governor Newsom temporarily cut the cultivation tax in 2022 and has pushed for more retail licenses, but critics say those steps are too little, too late.
Meanwhile, illegal grows keep popping up on public lands, stealing millions of gallons of water, dumping banned pesticides, and leaving behind mountains of trash.
Can California Save Its Small Farmers?
Some lawmakers want to slash the excise tax or let farmers sell directly to consumers like wineries do. Others propose amnesty programs for legacy growers who want to go legal.
Without bolder moves, industry watchers predict another wave of licensed farms will go bankrupt in 2026.
The record $609 million seizure proves California can find and destroy illegal cannabis when it wants to. The bigger question is whether the state can finally make the legal market worthy enough for honest farmers to stay in business.