A recent congressional hearing has highlighted the concerning role of the Chinese Communist Party in America’s drug supply chain. 

The House Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability organized the hearing on Sept. 18, titled “Invasion of the Homeland: How China is Using Illegal Marijuana to Build a Criminal Network Across America.” The witnesses who testified included current and former law enforcement officials and a legal scholar.  

Witness testimonies reveal three crucial points. First, Chinese transnational criminal organizations have seized control of marijuana cultivation and distribution across the U.S., from California to Oklahoma to Maine. They exploit lax regulations and bypass residency requirements through fraud and straw man ownership.

This surge in Chinese transnational organizations has not only fueled a troubling rise in violent crimes in those states, including human trafficking and money laundering, but it also poses significant national security risks, as some of these Chinese-operated marijuana facilities are situated near critical infrastructure and U.S. military installations. 

Second, Chinese nationals involved in illegal marijuana operations rely on WeChat for communication and financial transactions. WeChat is an encrypted Chinese messaging app, owned by Tencent—a company closely linked to the Chinese Communist Party. Unlike domestic platforms, WeChat’s foreign location complicates U.S. law enforcement’s legal processes and electronic surveillance. Chris Urben, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent, warned lawmakers, “No other global crime network has access to a state-protected, trusted communications system like that. We must disrupt WeChat.” 

Third, witnesses........

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