The GOP-controlled committee of Congress has set up a hearing on what is described as an “invasion” by China through illegal marijuana operations in the U.S.
The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, & Accountability set the hearing—titled “Invasion of the Homeland: How China is Using Illegal Marijuana to Build a Criminal Network Across America”—for Thursday, September 18.
Details about the scope and purpose of the meeting as well as the witnesses who will give testimony are not yet known. Certain lawmakers have been more interested in the illicit cannabis grown associated with China.
In a recent report attached to a H0use spending bill covering Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) bill, members directed federal agencies to investigate illicit marijuana grows–with a specific requirement to look into “any connections or links to Chinese transnational criminal organizations and/or the government of the People’s Republic of China.”
Chuck Grassley, R-IA, claimed separately in 2024 there was a proliferation in illegal cannabis activities in the U.S. that were associated with China. And he said there were also thousands of licensed marijuana business in Oklahoma that “had been flagged for suspicious activity during the last year had Chinese connections.”
Susan Collins (R, ME) raised her concern with federal officials in hearings regarding Chinese-linked grow houses located in Maine.
The prohibitionist group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, or SAM, took advantage of the increased attention to this issue and released an advertisement in July, arguing that President Donald Trump would be empowered by a proposal to reschedule cannabis.
After sending a letter in 2023 to Senate leadership about a bipartisan Cannabis Banking Bill that included “inappropriate” references to China’s investments as part of a “misguided” attempt to get amendments to broaden the law, a large marijuana lobbying organization apologized.
The House Committee’s decision to take up the topic now is unclear, but the timing of the move coincides with a critical moment in federal marijuana policy. Advocates and stakeholders in particular are waiting for the President’s decision on moving cannabis from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act to Schedule III.
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On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee passed a bill that includes provisions to prevent the Justice Department from redistributing marijuana.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee also approved on Wednesday a bill repealing a Washington, D.C. statute expanding the expungement of marijuana possession.
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