Voters approved ballot measures to allow and tax cannabis in every Inland Empire city where it was on the ballot Tuesday, Nov. 6, except one.

In San Bernardino County, voters approved measures to allow cannabis, tax it or both in Adelanto, Colton, Hesperia and San Bernardino. In western Riverside County, voters favored such measures in Banning, Jurupa Valley, Moreno Valley and Perris. But Hemet bucked the trend by voting to continue a council-backed ban and against allowing and taxing non-retail cannabis.

And in Pomona, voters gave more than 70 percent of the vote to a measure allowing the city to tax future legal cannabis businesses, according to Los Angeles County registrar results posted just before 5 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 7.

The San Bernardino County numbers are final but unofficial. Riverside County’s numbers, posted at 7:30 a.m., don’t yet include some vote-by-mail, provisional or damaged ballots.

Prop. 64, which legalized recreational marijuana statewide, also gave cities and counties the power to regulate commercial cannabis within their borders.

Each measure needs a majority to pass. In cities with competing proposals, if both receive more than 50 percent, whichever measure receives more “yes” votes will become law Jan. 1.

San Bernardino County

Adelanto: Measure S took more than 71 percent of more than 2,500 votes cast. It will tax cannabis businesses up to $5 per square foot of space used for cannabis cultivation and nurseries, and up to 5 percent of the gross receipts from the retail sale, delivery, manufacturing, processing, testing and distribution of cannabis and related products.

Colton: Measure U won 69 percent of nearly 6,000 votes cast in Colton. It will put a tax on cannabis businesses of up to $25 per square foot of space utilized for cannabis cultivation/processing, and up to 10 percent of gross receipts from the sale of cannabis and related products.

Hesperia: With more than 60 percent of the vote, Measure T is set to add a tax of between 1 percent and 6 percent on all commercial cannabis businesses except cultivation. Every square foot of space used for commercial cannabis cultivation would be taxed up to $15 per year. Both taxes could increase annually based on the consumer price index.

San Bernardino: The city’s two marijuana measures, both put on the ballot by the City Council, won by commanding margins as the Fourth District Court of Appeal decides whether to uphold or overturn a judge’s invalidation of Measure O, which voters approved in 2016.

Measure W, with nearly 64 percent of the vote, will impose a Cannabis Business Tax of up to $10 per square foot for cultivators and up to 6 percent of gross receipts on other businesses operating in the city.

Measure X had nearly 60 percent and will authorize council members to approve one commercial cannabis business permit per 12,500 residents of the city. With the current population of the city, the council could approve up to 17 permits.

Riverside County

Banning: Two measures, both put on the ballot by the Banning City Council to allow cannabis in the Industrial Zoning District and tax it, both had between 60 and 62 percent of the vote.

Measure N will authorize the city to enact an annual tax of between $15 and $25 per square foot for marijuana cultivation businesses and up to 10 percent of yearly receipts for manufacturing and testing businesses.

Measure O will add a 10 percent yearly tax on the gross receipts of cannabis retail businesses in the city, which the council could raise as high as 15 percent in the future.

Jurupa Valley: Six months after voters shot down their proposal to allow marijuana businesses in parts of Jurupa Valley, the same advocates are narrowly winning in their attempt to pass another ballot measure. This time, there’s one key difference: It would mean tax money the city could spend on other city services.

Measure L took nearly 52 percent of the vote, leading by 345 votes out of 8,903 cast. It would allow up to seven dispensaries and tax them $25 per square foot of space used for retail marijuana sales and $3 per square foot on other commercial cannabis activity.

Moreno Valley: The City Council voted in March to allow dispensaries and other marijuana businesses.

Measure M had more than 72 percent of more than 16,00 votes cast. It will allow a tax on those sales of up to 8 percent per year, along with a maximum of $15 a year per square foot of growing space for commercial growers.

Perris: Measure G, which had 71 percent of more than 4,000 votes, would impose a tax of up to 10 percent on cannabis distribution and manufacturing businesses that the City Council voted in January to allow.

Those operations are in two industrial zones: one in north Perris, and one in the southern part of the city.

Hemet: Nearly two out of every three voters — 65 percent — rejected Measure Y, which sought to allow an unlimited number of non-retail cannabis businesses in manufacturing zones as long as they’re not in residential zones, within 600 feet of schools or within 1,000 feet of three or more cannabis businesses. They would be taxed $10 per square foot.

To counter that measure, the City Council put Measure Z on the ballot, which bans marijuana businesses for at least two years. The continued ban was ahead much more narrowly, with nearly 53 percent of almost 11,000 votes counted.

ADELANTO — Five current city code enforcement officers, including the department’s supervisor, say Mayor Rich Kerr and new City Manager Jessie Flores have illegally shielded commercial cannabis cultivators from inspection and enforcement.

The protection, they add, goes beyond stand-down orders. It extends into the more serious charges of making citations disappear, altering reports and threatening the employment of officers trying to do their jobs.

The accusations were submitted to City Attorney Keith Lemieux and the city’s Human Resources Department on Oct. 2 on behalf of the five employees by attorney James Alderson, who now represents nine current or former city workers.

“I think it’s overall just a shame about what’s going on in the city on how Mayor Kerr and the Council are just destroying good people’s lives,” Alderson said by phone Friday. “And they’re doing it because of the corruption and until someone actually stops that, it’s going to continue.”

In text messages to the Daily Press, Flores said that all claims by employees are taken very seriously and that the city will be conducting an independent investigation into the allegations.

“Investigation will be conducted as expeditiously as possible,” he wrote, “and both the Mayor and I have offered our full cooperation.”

Kerr denied wrongdoing, calling the claims “false” and “absolutely incorrect.”

“I never protected any one person or any one company,” he said by phone. “Would I slow something down if I knew it was wrong? Yeah, I would. That’s my job. But I would never just tear a ticket up.”

Alderson said he would make the five code enforcement employees he now represents, including Community Safety Manager Steve Peltier, who oversees the department, available for an internal investigation into alleged charter violations by Kerr and Flores. He also suggested that a probe be opened into the dealings Kerr, Flores and the Council (except Councilman Ed Camargo) have with cultivators “since there is an appearance of illegal activity and abuse of authority.”

Ultimately, he said the alleged behavior was grounds for Kerr to resign and Flores to be fired.

To be clear, Kerr has acknowledged issuing a stand-down order in the past, when he told officers to back off an inspection of a purported illegal marijuana grow on Koala Road a year ago. But he said in November, when asked about it, that he believed the tenant possessed a certificate of occupancy to cultivate cannabis. It was ultimately determined they did not.

An applicant in that grow operation was directly tied to a company that later bought the city’s public works yard for $1 million. Two city employees in November, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, told the Daily Press that they questioned whether Kerr had a financial interest in the deal.

Kerr was adamant that he did not, but former City Manager Gabriel Elliott later reintroduced the suggestion when he reported to the FBI during a Nov. 15 meeting that Kerr had accepted a $200,000 bribe in the transaction.

Elliott also told federal investigators in that meeting, where he was accompanied by former City Attorney Ruben Duran, that Flores also had received financial kickbacks, which Flores later refuted. Elliott’s account to the FBI was described in a claim he filed against the city, but it did not indicate how he learned of the alleged bribes.

Three of the current code enforcement officers, in letters obtained by the Daily Press detailing their complaints, described the conditions where certain cannabis cultivation and extraction was occurring in the city: Illegal wiring, plumbing, structural integrity and hazards that violated the law.

Yet those three employees — Roman Edward De La Torre, Apolonio Gutierrez and Gregory Stephen Watkins — said they were “told not to cite or enforce or inspect” the facilities by Kerr and Flores, and then threatened with firing if they didn’t adhere to those commands. They also claimed they were told by cultivators to speak with Kerr and Flores regarding any alleged code violations.

All five current code enforcement officers claimed they had witnessed citations disappear “where the cited person has a rapport with Mayor Kerr.” All also say they are being subjected to a hostile work environment, harassment and retaliation.

Peltier, the department head, and Amber Lynn Tisdale, a fifth code enforcement officer, claimed that their verbal complaints to the city have gone unheeded.

Tisdale claimed she had witnessed code enforcement reports altered by Kerr and Flores as well as the two men engage in charter and Brown Act violations, concluding that her 15-year job was being put into jeopardy despite “excellent reviews” during her tenure. Additionally, she suggested that anyone who seeks to speak up regarding alleged wrongdoing, including city attorneys, is discharged.

Peltier also accused Flores of using another code enforcement officer, one who has not filed complaints, for “his own personal assignments” and then requesting Peltier falsify the employee’s time card to vouch for the employee’s time. “My client will not do so,” Alderson wrote to city officials.

“I’ve just never seen such blatant misconduct in my life by officials,” Alderson said by phone, adding that the majority Council — excluding only Camargo — were effectively ratifying the alleged behavior.

Perhaps most notably, the suggestion that city officials would act to protect commercial cannabis companies from inspections is a transgression first raised in an FBI affidavit providing probable cause for the arrest of former Adelanto Mayor Pro Tem Jermaine Wright.

Wright, who has pleaded not guilty to federal bribery and attempted arson charges, was accused of vowing to obstruct code enforcement efforts for a cannabis developer in exchange for cash. The developer was in fact an undercover FBI agent.

In responding to the claims Friday, Flores also sought to articulate how the current administration would be more accountable than those that came before — an assessment that seemed to suggest officials were steadfast to see mismanagement and controversy in the rear-view mirror.

“In the past, we lacked council leadership, administrative management direction and oversight which has led to the problems throughout our city’s history,” he wrote via text. “We are changing that course very quickly!”

© 2018 Daily Press, Victorville, Calif.. Visit Daily Press at www.vvdailypress.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

HESPERIA — It was a historic day for one local municipality when the first legal medical cannabis business began making deliveries from the city’s green zone.

Medical Cannabis Educational Center in Hesperia celebrated its grand opening Friday by delivering medical cannabis-based products to legally registered patients in the High Desert and the Inland Empire.

“We are excited to be serving the entire High Desert and all of San Bernardino County,” said Arleen Curiel, 37, the owner and president of MCEC. “It has been an incredibly long journey to open our doors, but we finally crossed the finish line.”

Like a child on Christmas morning, 65-year-old Wayne Lanphere, of Hesperia, was all smiles when Curiel personally delivered the senior’s order of Calm Reserve Shelf Flower, the official first product order by MCEC.

“I broke my back in five places way back in 1996 and since then, I’ve been in extreme pain,” Lanphere told the Daily Press as he stood outside his home. “I will not use opioids and I will not use painkillers, so this is my alternative.”

After experiencing several “frustrating” encounters with other medical cannabis businesses, Lanphere said he chose MCEC because of their “reputation” and “great customer service.”

As Curiel drove back to the MCEC facility, she expressed her joy and said, “I could not have asked for a better first patient — this is why I do what I do, to help people like Wayne who really need the medicine.”

After being introduced to the local cannabis industry nearly two years ago by her brother, Jose, Curiel decided to spread her entrepreneurial wings by working toward opening the 3,000-square-foot facility that is now home to 30 employees.

“I remember when the city of Hesperia was adamant about not allowing the sale of medical cannabis in the city,” Curiel said. “It took a lot of work by a lot of people, but the City Council finally relented and today we’re helping people in Hesperia and across the High Desert.”

The MCEC facility includes a call center, a state-of-the-art security system, 24 surveillance cameras, GPS driver/product tracking map, computer data center and fulfillment area.

After returning to MCEC from making her delivery, Curiel was greeted with shouts of jubilation from company CEO Rick Casas and a group of employees who congratulated the conquering cannabis queen.

“We waited a long time for this, but we finally made it,” said Casas, as the sound of phones continued to ring throughout the building and employees filled multiple orders.

Nearly five minutes after opening, MCEC had already taken four orders for a variety of products, with a total price tag of over $500.

All MCEC orders must be delivered directly to the patient who placed the order. Drivers are trained not to enter homes and delivery vehicles only carry product that has been ordered. All vehicles are also equipped with security cameras.

“If you look around, you’ll see a high-tech professional business that is clean, orderly, proficient and very relaxed,” Curiel said. “It has a high-end and approachable boutique look, and it’s a place where our employees are proud to work.”

A communications major and graduate from California State University, Northridge, Curiel said the words “medical and education” validate what her company represents, adding that one of the goals of MCEC is to “end the stigma” that surrounds medical cannabis.

“My eyes were opened when I saw how medical cannabis really helped people — that’s why I really want to drive home that initiative with MCEC and change the image of medical cannabis,” Curiel said. “The wellness and holistic aspects of medical cannabis are really near and dear to my heart.”

Part of Curiel’s passion behind spreading the gospel of medical cannabis to those who are ailing comes from a loved one battling cancer who was helped by the popular and controversial plant.

“We’re serving the High Desert and the Inland Empire now, but our future plans include expanding into Los Angeles and Ventura counties and beyond,” Curiel said. “I’m sure we’ll transition to recreational use at one point, but right now our goal is to clean up the reputation of cannabis by helping one patient at a time.”

Besides running her company, Curiel reluctantly shared how she is active in the local community, recently assisting a nonprofit that cares for families.

“It’s just part of who I am,” Curiel said.

MCEC is a fully state-sanctioned, for-profit corporation, Casas emphasized. MCEC transitioned from the former “Medical Marijuana Educational Center,” which was a nonprofit, mutual benefit corporation that served Prop. 215 patients. In January, the classification and model will no longer be recognized.

MCEC is the first of nearly a dozen cannabis delivery businesses in Hesperia which will begin transporting medical cannabis, edibles, concentrates and cannabis-related products to legally registered patients in the High Desert and surrounding region.

Marijuana deliveries must be made to residential addresses and no walk-up services are permitted. All medically related uses of cannabis are prohibited, except for delivery services to medical patients, according to the city of Hesperia.

MCEC patients have the option of ordering via call center, website and mobile app while tracking orders using real-time GPS, said Casas.

NuggMD.com and MCEC have partnered to help individuals obtain their medical cannabis card online. Once approved, the medical card from NuggMD is instantly emailed to the patient and MCEC.

For more information, or to place an order, call 760-299-6232, 833-420-6232, email info@mcecdelivery.com or visit www.mcecdelivery.com.

© 2018 Daily Press, Victorville, Calif. Visit Daily Press at www.vvdailypress.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

ADELANTO — A new measure to tax commercial cannabis developers will appear on the November ballot.

The cannabis tax — its measure letter was not known as of Friday — will effectively combine two existing taxes on commercial marijuana activities in order to simplify the taxing system, make the levy more defensible and bring it up to par with ever-changing state laws on cannabis.

Voters will be asked to approve a 5 percent tax on gross revenue receipts for all commercial marijuana activities with the exception of cultivation or nurseries, which will be subject to $5-per-square-foot levies.

The City Council approved on Aug. 8 sending the measure to the ballot by 4-1 vote, with Councilman Ed Camargo dissenting, after wrestling over whether to institute a minimum percentage tax.

Ultimately, it was decided to not enact a floor, meaning the tax could fluctuate between 0 to 5 percent, although it will begin at the latter.

© 2018 Daily Press, Victorville, Calif.. Visit Daily Press at www.vvdailypress.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

San Bernardino’s commercial cannabis regulations will appear on the November ballot, a move intended to clear up two years of muck surrounding marijuana businesses in town.

City leaders last week gave voters the opportunity to weigh in on rules they unanimously adopted earlier this year.

Councilman John Valdivia opposed their inclusion on the ballot.

Should a majority of voters approve San Bernardino’s regulations, lawsuits regarding 2016 measures O and N would likely be rendered moot, according to the city.

San Bernardino could realize significant litigation cost savings as a result.

“This is our opportunity,” Councilman Henry Nickel said, “in partnership with the industry, partnership with the community that does support regulation … to finally put this to rest once and for all.”

In recent months, city staffers have met with the San Bernardino Cannabis Community Association to discuss the regulations city leaders put into place in March.

The collaboration resulted in a handful of changes council members approved on Wednesday, Aug. 1.

Notably, cannabis business licenses will be valid for three years instead of one. While business owners still must pay annual fees, they needn’t go through the license renewal process annually. The council also struck down certain signage policies it originally put into place specifically for the cannabis industry.

Per the revisions, cannabis businesses must adhere to the same signage rules as other businesses.

Additionally, the council clarified a section prohibiting certain people from receiving permits, a due-process issue over which the city is being challenged in court.

Mark Estermyer, interim president of the cannabis community association, said his group was “100 percent” behind the city placing its commercial marijuana ordinance on the ballot.

“There’s no doubt in my mind” the measure will pass, he said. “This was the best move the city could have ever done.”

San Bernardino voters also will decide whether to implement a cannabis tax that could generate between $810,000 and $2.4 million annually in revenue, according to HdL Companies, the city’s cannabis consultant. That money would be available to fund various city expenses, including police services.

An ordinance regulating commercial cannabis businesses adopted by San Bernardino city leaders earlier this year could appear on the November ballot.

The City Council on Wednesday, Aug. 1, is to decide whether to give voters a say on its regulatory framework, a move intended to address the fallout of a similar debate in 2016, when voters had three initiatives from which to choose.

Voters that year approved two citizen-backed measures: O, with 55 percent of the vote, and N, with 51 percent. A measure backed by the city, P, failed to win a majority.

In the time since, Measure O’s validity has been, and still is being, challenged in court. Measure N supporters, meanwhile, believe their initiative should become law in Measure O’s wake.

In March, city leaders approved regulations for commercial cannabis businesses in the event Measure O was ultimately deemed invalid. The state’s Fourth District Court of Appeal has yet to rule on the measure’s recent invalidation by a San Bernardino County Superior Court judge.

Wednesday, the city could take the first step in clearing up the muck surrounding the issue.

Should voters approve the city’s regulations in November, lawsuits regarding measures O and N would likely be rendered moot, city staffers say.

San Bernardino could realize significant litigation cost savings as a result.

In June, the city received about 30 commercial cannabis applications. Those business owners would have more certainty over the local regulatory environment should a majority of voters approve the city’s measure in November, a staff report says.

A citizen-backed initiative already has qualified for the 2018 ballot; a second, proposed by cannabis activist and real estate developer Stephanie Smith, did not have enough valid signatures to qualify for inclusion.

Under the city’s ordinance, which Smith is challenging in court, San Bernardino can award up to 17 commercial cannabis licenses between six business types: cultivation, microbusiness, manufacturing, retail, distribution and testing.

City leaders on Wednesday also could place on the ballot a measure establishing a cannabis tax projected to generate between $810,000 and $2.4 million annually, according to HdL Companies, the city’s cannabis consultant. That revenue would be available to fund various city expenses, including police services.

The City Council meets at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 1, at the Council Chambers, 201 N. E St. San Bernardino.

On this day, the pungent odor of marijuana was not wafting in the air, at least not on Morgan Lane. But it certainly was elsewhere — at the all-too-familiar marijuana compounds with padlocked front gates and pot grows concealed by chain-link and plywood fencing and black or green mesh fabric screening.

“I have been working for the post office for a year now. Driving the route, you smell it while you’re driving by,” said Garcia, 39, delivering mail at a home that just a week before had been raided by San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies. More than 1,000 pot plants and 16 pounds of processed marijuana were seized from the residence. Four people were arrested.

Although California law now allows the use of both recreational and medical marijuana, cultivation and sales of the drug can be strictly regulated by cities and counties. And in unincorporated San Bernardino County, marijuana cultivation for commercial purposes is prohibited.

In the past five years, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s Marijuana Enforcement Team has seized nearly half a million marijuana plants and nearly 17,000 pounds of processed marijuana from across the High Desert region, mostly in the areas of Newberry Springs, Phelan and Lucerne Valley — all pot-growing meccas for people seeking fortune in the booming industry.

“The High Desert area is definitely our busiest area for marijuana grows. They are spread throughout the county, but the highest concentration is the High Desert,” said Sgt. Rich Debevec, who heads the Marijuana Enforcement Team.

Remote location ideal for illegal pot farms

Since 2012, marijuana cultivation has ramped up in Newberry Springs, an alfalfa and pistachio farming community off Highway 40 known for the Bagdad Cafe, of the cult classic German film namesake. Debevec said the community’s remote location and cheap property make it ideal for illegal pot growing.

“They hear you can go to Newberry Springs and live and make some money,” Debevec said. “When you’re going to grow that many marijuana plants, it’s pretty easily detected, so the farther out, the better for them.”

Many locals appear indifferent to the increasing number of marijuana farms popping up in their community and are becoming immune to the presence of law enforcement, which shows up for raids in SUVs, pickups with trailers hitched behind and, sometimes, helicopters hovering overhead.

“They come in caravans,” said Bagdad Cafe employee Michael Wright, a 42-year resident of Newberry Springs. He said there is no escaping the strong odor of fresh-cut marijuana piled in trailers as law enforcement hauls it away for destruction after a raid.

“You can smell it as they drive by. Some of it’s flying out the top,” Wright said. Locals, he said, often scavenge for any trace of marijuana left behind at the raided properties.

In Phelan, about 16 miles west of Hesperia, a sheriff’s MET raid on June 21 netted more than 3,100 plants from four domed greenhouses, an outbuilding and an outdoor garden at a home on Pacific Road and 932 pounds of processed marijuana from three residences. Fifteen people were arrested by MET deputies assisted by the California National Guard Counterdrug Task Force.

Chinese immigrants arrested

Many of the growers arrested in recent years have been Chinese nationals, raising questions about why they are here, how they are recruited and who is financing their operations. During the raid in Phelan, deputies arrested Zhixue Fan, a 62-year-old Chinese citizen; Guoxo Yang, 48, of San Gabriel; and Jia Zhi Shi, 39, a Canadian citizen.

From August 2015 to June 6, sheriff’s deputies arrested dozens of Chinese immigrants during raids in Newberry Springs, where hundreds of pounds of processed marijuana were being packaged and shipped out across the country, mainly to the East Coast. Those arrested came from all over California and the rest of the country — Tennessee, Las Vegas, Porterville, Fresno and New York, among other cities.

Debevec could not say whether the growers are involved in a Chinese crime ring, but he has reached out to federal authorities. He would not elaborate.

In Northern California -— Sacramento, Placer, Yolo and Yuba counties, specifically — Chinese marijuana cultivation operations at suburban homes have led to five indictments in the past five years and the seizure of more than 100 properties believed to have been purchased by a Chinese crime syndicate, court records show.

One indictment, filed in August 2017 in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, alleges that over a four-month period in 2016 one of 10 defendants received three wire transfers totaling $146,955 from China Construction Bank in Fujian, China. The money was used for down payments on homes to be used for marijuana cultivation.

They were making large cash down payments on homes, usually 50 percent down, and the rest was financed by hard money lenders,” said Michael Anderson, supervising assistant U.S. attorney and head of the white collar crime division for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Eastern District in Sacramento. “It’s a fairly interesting and direct link back to China. An unusual method of financing.”

Federal prosecutors allege that at least $6.3 million has been wired from Chinese banks to the U.S. in the past five years to purchase properties for commercial marijuana cultivation. Each wire transfer was for less than $50,000, the threshold at which financial institutions would have to report the transactions.

Human trafficking at play

Anderson said some of the Chinese nationals identified in the Northern California cases may have been working the marijuana grows to pay off a debt for their safe passage to the U.S.

“Indoor marijuana grows associated with criminal organizations raise significant concerns about human trafficking,” Anderson said. “Investigators pay particular attention to the individuals found at the grows, some of whom may be working to pay off debts to the criminal groups.”

The elusive culprits in all this are the “dragonheads” — those who fund and organize the marijuana growing operations, said Thomas Yu, a retired Los Angeles County sheriff’s detective who investigated Asian gangs for years. He said federal prosecutors have only scratched the surface, and to really make a dent they need to take down the ringleaders, or “dragonheads.”

“Those cases, for lack of a better word, they’re being prosecuted in a vacuum. They’re not prosecuting the guys who are the dragonheads at the top of the food chain,” Yu said.

He said the Chinese crime syndicates recruit skilled farmers from Fujian, China, to cultivate marijuana in the U.S., as well as electricians to bypass electricity needed to power the hydroponic equipment used for indoor cultivation. “They steal (electricity) from the power poles,” Yu said.

Unlike hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin, penalties for marijuana cultivation and distribution are particularly lenient in the U.S., especially in states like California, Washington and Colorado, where the drug is now legal for both medical and recreational use. Most offenders get off with probation and fines, which may be why Chinese crime syndicates are exploiting opportunities to cash in on the expanding and lucrative marijuana industry in the U.S., Yu said.

Debevec said another trend has emerged among marijuana growers in recent years that could explain the proliferation of pot farms in the High Desert: an exodus of growers from the San Bernardino Mountains, once a hot spot for large-scale marijuana cultivation.

“Our National Forest grows were huge. We’d get thousands of plants in a forest grow,” Debevec said. “That’s a federal crime and a 10-year mandatory minimum. They realize they can come down here into the valley and do it in smaller plots and face less charges if they get caught. It definitely wouldn’t be a federal charge, and, in a lot of cases it would be a misdemeanor.”

And so the marijuana growers continue flocking to the High Desert to harvest their crops, which has some, like Newberry Springs postal worker and resident Jessica Garcia, somewhat perturbed. She’s tired of the stink marijuana brings to her community, literally.

“I wish they’d go away,” she said.

Organizers of the Chalice California marijuana festival announced they’ve postponed the event and will be issuing refunds after the city refused to give them permission to let attendees buy and consume cannabis on site.

“At this juncture, we believe it is best and safest to all of our guests,” the Chalice team wrote in a July 4 message to ticket holders.

A separate post continued: “We must take a stand that cannabis culture and business brings value to cities.”

No future date or venue has been announced, and organizers didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bassnectar, Ludacris and other acts were set to perform at the marijuana-themed festival, which was originally expected to attract some 35,000 people to the San Bernardino County fairgrounds in Victorville July 13-15. But new laws require festival organizers to get permission from their local city or county if they want a state license that permits marijuana sales and consumption. After they got shut out by the city, the parent company behind Chalice on June 19 sued Victorville and the state, touting the event’s solid safety record and estimates that it had a $33 million impact on the high desert in 2017.

At a special meeting June 29, the Victorville City Council officially refused to approve the event, saying it conflicts with a city ordinance that bans all marijuana sales.

Chalice organizers said they’ll be refunding all tickets within the next 14 days.

Festival founder Doug Dracup wrote on Instagram that he’d rather postpone the show and “do it right” than put on a show that isn’t up to their standards.

Ticketholders took to social media to express their frustration.

“We’re out $500 because our Airbnb host wouldn’t give us a full refund after finding out this event got postponed,” one person wrote on Facebook. “We, the attendees, are losing a lot of money because of this.”

A few social media fans showed solidarity, with one person who planned to fly in from New Jersey for the event posting: “Just want to let you guys know I stand with you. … Keep on fighting for this culture.”

The decision came after a few dozen people spoke in support of the festival, citing the economic benefit Chalice brings to the community, its solid safety record and an opportunity to help move newly legalized cannabis culture “out of the shadows.”

“There’s a lot of jobs that are going to be lost out there, a lot of revenue that’s going to be lost out there,” said Adelanto Mayor Rich Kerr. Fair officials have said last year’s event generated $33 million in local spending.

But Victorville officials insisted that their city code prohibits cannabis sales and events, and that they can’t change the rules without going through a formal process.

Councilwoman Blanca Gomez suggested having the planning commission review the city’s entire cannabis ordinance, but no one on the council seconded her motion.

Gomez said she and other council members can’t comment on the festival because Chalice organizers filed a lawsuit against them earlier this month. State officials, also named in the lawsuit, sent a letter expressing a similar position.

The festival has been held at the fairgrounds in Victorville since 2016 under the state’s once-loose medical marijuana laws. City Manager Keith Metzler told the council he believes the festival can still happen this year as it has in years past, and that he doesn’t believe the argument that they’ll lose significant revenue without city approval.

However, California laws that kicked in Jan. 1 that legalize the recreational use of marijuana also limit marijuana-themed festivals to county fairgrounds and require organizers to get permission from local authorities before they can get a state permit for cannabis consumption and sales.

After the San Bernardino City Council denied approving permission for April’s High Times Cannabis Cup festival, vendors said the event — held without sanctioned sales and consumption of cannabis — was a “ghost town.”

Chalice is still slated to take place in Victorville next month, with music acts including Ludacris and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. But Ryan Heil, who helps produce Chalice, said vendors with contracts valued at more than $1.1 million are already threatening to pull out. And he expects a 60 percent loss in revenue without city approval for marijuana consumption and sales.

Here’s Cannifornian coverage of the 2017 Chalice festival:

Ice Cube, Thievery Corporation, Cypress Hill to headline Chalice cannabis festival

Chalice festival takes cue from Coachella with weed-inspired live art

These photos show you what it’s like to be at Chalice 2017

Glassblowing on display as artists make pricey pipes at Chalice cannabis festival

Who makes the best marijuana flowers and concentrates? Chalice 2017 judges weigh in

PHELAN — It was already in the mid-80s early Thursday morning when detectives arrived to the first illegal marijuana grow raid of the day, and the heat only grew more searing by the hour.

Yet none of this seemed to deter the six-man San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Marijuana Enforcement Team (MET) from their work. They steadily moved through stuffy, pungent grow houses and sheds, cutting down thousands of plants, seemingly immune to it all.

“My daughter already knows what marijuana smells like. I asked her, ‘Baby, how do you know that?’” MET Sgt. Eric Deverec said with a chuckle. “She said, ‘Because that’s what you smell like, Daddy, all the time.’”

The team was hard at work raiding an illegal grow operation at a home in the 13900 block of Pacific Road on Thursday morning — the first of five such illegal operations in the Phelan and Pinon Hills area. The first location yielded over 2,800 plants, Deverec said. The others each had several hundred plants and pounds of processed marijuana.

“Since marijuana was legalized, we’ve seen a lot of misconceptions about it. People think it’s just a free-for-all, but it’s not,” Deverec said, looking over rows of growing pot plants. “There are still laws and rules about it. This is nowhere near legal.”

Deverec became the team’s sergeant about two months ago, according to Sheriff’s spokeswoman Jodi Miller, but he served on the team for several years as a detective previously. As such, he’s seen more than his share of illegal grows all through the county, including Thursday’s, in which the Daily Press was invited to come along.

Three men were found and detained at the first home, and the team detained two others at the second location, a home on the 13600 block of Wilson Ranch Road. Deverec said the men would all be transported to the High Desert Detention Center and booked on suspicion of illegal cultivation of marijuana.

Yet he also acknowledged the seeming futility of arresting the men in the first place. Many detained at MET raids often elude criminal charges, the Daily Press has found while checking through court records.

“We can only do our part of it,” Deverec said. “As long as there is an illegal operation — and under the current law, anything over six plants is illegal — we will continue to conduct these raids, detain these people, and send these charges to the DA’s office. But what happens in the courtroom is not up to us.”

The majority of the people detained — Deverec put the number at somewhere close to 98 percent — have been from Asian countries such as China, Laos, and Cambodia, and it can often be difficult to determine how deeply they’re tied to the operations.

“We are still investigating why they’re here,” Deverec said. “There is a theory these people might be indentured servants, but we’re not sure yet. And there’s often not a whole lot of cooperation. Some of it is the language barrier at times.”

He acknowledged the apparent links between the raids here to the large-scale raids in Northern California, found to have ties to a Chinese crime syndicate, according to the Associated Press. Deverec mentioned coming across workers at illegal grows on San Bernardino National Forest land who were promised money for successful harvests.

“It’s possible we could be seeing something similar here,” Deverec said.

The first location off Pacific Road had been raided for an illegal pot grow the year before, Deverec said. The home was red-tagged by county Code Enforcement. Officials said they may still pursue criminal charges against the property owner once the investigation is through.

Tips from the public often lead the team to illegal grows, Deverec said.

“We often get calls from residents reporting they can smell something, or that their neighbors are never home yet the lights are always on,” Deverec said.

The team was joined by several National Guard members — part of the state’s California Counter-Drug Task Force, Deverec said. The men helped clear the plants, secure the properties, and detain any persons found there.

Many of them, along with the MET members, spoke candidly of their experiences going on these raids. They mentioned the environmental damage forest grows can wreak on nature, and the toxins and black mold found in indoor grows. They spoke of house fires that spread to other homes, sparked by faulty electrical wiring used to power large-scale grows.

When asked what he would say to those who think going after marijuana grows, especially after the drug’s legalization for recreational use in 2016, was pointless, Deverec noted many of the above instances.

“People think this is a waste of time until it affects them,” Deverec said. “I liken it to driving — driving is legal, but there’s still a whole lot of things you can’t do while driving. It’s the same with marijuana.”

All five grow operations remain under investigation. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Sheriff’s Gangs/Narcotics Division at 909-387-8400 or NARC-MET@sbcsd.org. Persons wishing to remain anonymous can contact the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-782-7463 or online at ?www.wetip.com?.

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