U.S. Officials Warn Lawmakers that Chinese State-Backed Networks Are Fueling Billions in Illegal Marijuana Sales

(Photo Credit: Claire Caulfield/KJZZ)

Officials testified that the illicit trade in that state alone has reached an estimated $153 billion, with operations tied to violent killings, forced labor, and activity near sensitive military sites.

At a hearing of the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Director Donnie Anderson described the scope of the problem. He said Oklahoma’s permissive medical marijuana framework allowed transnational syndicates to gain control of thousands of grow sites through fraudulent licenses and shell companies. Many of the operations are run by Chinese nationals who conceal their involvement through straw buyers, attorneys, and real estate intermediaries.

Anderson told lawmakers the networks are not only a criminal issue but a national security threat, pointing to suspicious grows near pipelines, military installations, and even the McAlester ammunition plant, which houses nearly a third of the Pentagon’s stockpile. “The impact of black-market marijuana in Oklahoma is unlike anything I have encountered in my career,” Anderson said, warning that the Chinese Communist Party uses encrypted platforms like WeChat to maintain control and evade U.S. law enforcement.

The hearing also detailed human tolls, including multiple execution-style murders linked to Chinese-run grows. Witnesses emphasized that the networks extend well beyond marijuana, with ties to fentanyl trafficking, money laundering, and human smuggling.

Legal scholar Paul Larkin urged Congress to treat the operations as state-backed criminal conspiracies that fall under federal RICO statutes, while former DEA executive Chris Urben highlighted how Chinese money laundering groups have become dominant in the global drug economy. Urben said their control of encrypted communications gives them unique protection compared to other organized crime networks.

Subcommittee Chair Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma said the activity is not confined to one region but stretches from Maine to California. He warned that Chinese-run grows have established themselves in suburban communities, tribal lands, and national parks, often outgunning local sheriffs tasked with responding.

Witnesses agreed that without federal intervention, including the use of RICO prosecutions and direct confrontation with the Chinese government, the networks will continue to expand.

Congressmember Troy Carter (D-LA) spoke about the failures of prohibition, calling the federal government’s criminalization of marijuana “nothing short of disastrous for our communities, for our economy and for justice in America.”

Carter pointed to disproportionate arrest rates in Black and brown communities and emphasized that with most Americans now supporting legalization, it is time to acknowledge marijuana prohibition has failed. Carter argued that dismantling foreign criminal networks depends on expanding and reinforcing regulated markets, not weakening them.

He also noted that President Trump has backed rescheduling marijuana at the federal level. “Like President Trump, I believe we should end endless arrests for cannabis conduct and focus on the real bad guys, those who are pushing fentanyl and other deadly forms of drugs”.