Approximately 13,000 pounds of marijuana valued at around $3 million were destroyed Wednesday, Nov.
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 growers had established their operations as a legal land use before the county adopted a moratorium on medical marijuana operations at the end of June 2016.
ft of land, the growers did not believe they had run afoul of regulations, said Michael Rothwell, an attorney representing the growers.
This is an important distinction, Hoffer said, because while indoor growers can squeeze a lot of plants into a tight space with grow lamps, outdoor operations like those found in Touchet need to be spaced out in order to make the most use of the sunlight.
To explain the confusion, Rothwell points to the state’s definition of “plant canopy” for cannabis growers, which limits the square footage dedicated to live plant production, including the space for maintaining mother plants, propagating plants from seed, and the actual flowering plants, among other uses.
“Our best understanding is that they’ve been operating in a non-compliant fashion in this entire time and it was a lack of understanding of the officer that previously looked at it,” said Cpt.