By Ray Cardello for February 9, 2024, Season 1 / Post 12

I have been writing about the illegal Chinese Pot Farms in Central Maine for months. I have been trying to raise awareness of this dangerous situation in our backyard. These Chinese Cartel operations not only involve drugs but possibly human and sex trafficking. I commend The Maine Wire, which has been at the forefront of this assault by Chinese nationals buying Maine properties to operate illegal drug operations not only to grow but also to export marijuana to Canada and other parts of the United States. They have been ringing the bell loudly and forcing other media outlets in the Pine Tree State to get on board. The problem has gotten worse, and maybe this will be the element that will get Mainers angry enough to demand action. The Maine Wire discovered and first reported that many properties owned by the Chinese Cartel were bought with money from a U.S. government program to assist foreign nationals to purchase property or start a business in America. To bottom line that statement, our tax dollars are funding the Chinese Pot Growers.

This Chinese operation is not unique to Maine. It is known that over 3,000 Chinese owned marijuana farms exist in California, Washington, Oklahoma, and Maine. Other states may be involved, but these are the hot spots today. Over 300 sites have been identified in Maine. Maine has liberal marijuana laws that allow the sale and use of marijuana for adult recreational purposes. This blurs the line on what is and isn’t legal, takes the attention of law enforcement away from marijuana, and places it more on Fentanyl and other narcotics. The four members of Maine’s federal delegation have been pleading for help from Merrick Garland and the Justice Department, but their pleas remain unanswered.

The Maine Wire has discovered a source for some of the funds used to purchase these Maine properties, and nobody should be pleased with their findings. Many property records indicated the funding originated from the Quontic Bank, a New York-based CDFI. Two Quontic loan officers, Steven Ho and Yang-Chan Weng, handled many of the Maine and Oklahoma transactions. These two targeted the Chinese immigrant community. CDFI was initially created by Congress in 1994 to help low-income immigrants access financing to purchase homes. COVID-19 saw the CDFI program enhanced with additional funds, and that money was used to finance homes in Maine that have become pot farms. That is U.S. taxpayer funds used to finance foreign-owned and operated illegal drug operations. Seventy of the Maine properties identified were financed using CDFI funding.

This is a very complex issue that many levels of government and agencies have facilitated. Maine made recreational use of marijuana legal, which changed the focus of law enforcement on pot usage. The Treasury Department made money available for banks to finance a substantial percentage of these illegal properties, and the Justice Department, Merrick Garland, and DHS have turned a blind eye to Maine’s issue. This complex issue will require Mainers to rise and demand the eradication of these illegal operations and the accountability they deserve from those involved.