In the span of three days in July, Southern California officials announced that 91,000 illegal marijuana plants with a street value of $45 million had been found and destroyed, and state regulators served tax warrants on a dozen illegal cannabis retailers in the same region.

There are scores of such instances from the 2½ years since the launch of California’s regulated cannabis market. Barely a week goes by in the state without at least one bust of an illegal marijuana company.

State agencies including the Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) and the Department of Fish and Wildlife have teamed up with law enforcement agencies to serve warrants, seize illegal products and prosecute bad actors. Federal agencies such as the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration also have been involved. 

And yet, the illicit market continues to thrive. 

The BCC has a backlog of “thousands” of complaints related to alleged illegal marijuana operations, spokesman Alex Traverso said in mid-July. The agency is even swearing in 87 new peace officers this year to target illegal marijuana companies—but still, Traverso acknowledged that the sheer size and scope of California’s problem makes his agency’s efforts look like baby steps.

“It’s a complicated puzzle, and every day we try to fit another piece in,” he said.

‘A David and Goliath Situation’ According to some industry insiders, the illicit market is stronger than ever.

“We’ve barely scratched the surface” of the illicit market since January 2018, said Pamela Epstein, general counsel for Eden Enterprises, a can-nabis company in Oakland, California. She characterized the conflict between legal and illegal operators as “a David and Goliath situation.”

That’s because the illicit market is a vast web of home growers, unlicensed stores and delivery services, street dealers, informal medical caregivers and nebulous networks that are—above all else—adaptable. That ability to pivot stands in stark contrast to the rigid regulatory system with which legal companies must conform.

“If a deal happens in a private residence, it’s never going to be anything that anyone’s going to be able to stop,” said Johnny Delaplane, co-owner of Project Cannabis, one of San Francisco’s licensed retail shops.

He reiterated a common industry statistic that roughly 70% of cannabis sales take place in the underground market, a figure that most in the industry believe has not budged much since 2018.

Some in the legal market say they’ve heard that prices in the illicit sector have been dropping, making it even more difficult for legal retailers to compete with them.

Hundreds of illicit storefronts in Los Angeles have pivoted and now advertise themselves as CBD stores, but they also sell marijuana products without a permit, said Jerred Kiloh, president of the United Cannabis Busi-ness Association.

“They’re becoming so nimble that their pricing has become even lower, so now we have an even bigger problem.