Camarillo – Since federal immigration agents attacked one of the state’s largest licensed cannabis operators this month, cannabis industry insider calls have been erupted with messages of fear, sadness and confusion.
“It sent a shockwave to the community,” said Hirsch Jain, founder of Ananda Strategy, advising the cannabis business. “Everyone uses text threads.”
The Glasshouse brand, which helped the cannabis business make Santa Barbara and Ventura counties the new marijuana capital of California, has long been one of the most prominent companies in the state’s wild legal cannabis frontier. Some call it “Walmart of Weeds” because of its streamlined, low-cost production methods, huge market share, and the phalanx of wealthy investors and powerful lobbyists.
However, federal immigration agents plunged into the property of Camarillo and Carpinteria’s company on July 10th, amid a cloud of tear gas. Masks and rioting equipment agents marched for hours through the company’s vast greenhouse as workers fled and panicked. One worker, Jaime Alanís Garcia, died after it turned three stories while trying to avoid capture.
For a glass house, the aftermath is devastating. Shares trading on the Canadian Stock Exchange fell to $5.27 on Thursday from more than $7.75 per share the day before the attack. Some workers have either disappeared or bolted to immigration or customs enforcement detention, but it’s scary to return. Sources close to the company said that the others were so hurtful that Glasshouse brought in a grief counselor.
Glass House Brands has long been a well-known company in California’s wild legal cannabis frontier.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Beyond California’s wider world of legal cannabis, many growers and entrepreneurs have wanted the Trump administration to legalize drugs — people are also being shaken up. Has the lawsuit against Glasshouse been shown to end federal law enforcement ceasefires against legal cannabis in California and dozens of other states?
And, among the world’s largest cannabis companies, what did that mean for Glasshouse itself? Can this smooth business entity, founded by a former cup, special education teacher and a former tech entrepreneur, be in the position where federal agents allegedly arrested more than 12 undocumented minors on the ground?
“This couldn’t come at a bad time,” said Jain, a cannabis consultant, adding that the images and rhetoric that were whipped across social media in the wake of the attack “stricken the ability to legalize this industry in California and the American public’s eyes.”
He added that “it allows for a surge in illegal industries that are not accountable and engaged in much more creepy practices because they did not justify the legal cannabis industry.”
Working conditions in the cannabis industry are extremely harsh, as recorded in a 2022 investigation that revealed that wages stolen workers were forced to live in illegal and dangerous situations and sometimes died at work.
Glass House has long been promoting working conditions without reports of injuries or deaths prior to the attack. Sources close to the company say they pay workers more than the minimum wage, and internet job offers reflect that.
Still, like almost every farm in California, some of the people who worked there were no documents. The company directly employs some people and relies on farm labor contractors to supply the rest of the workforce. Sources close to the company said the labor contractors have proven they meet all laws and regulations, including being 21 or older when necessary to work in California cannabis.
A few days after the attack, federal officials announced they had detained 361 people, including 14 minors who could not work for cannabis under California law. It was not clear how many people were not documented, whether they were working in surgery or who were nearby. At least two American citizens were caught up in the Dragget. He is a security guard heading to work at Glass House and a professor of philosophy in the Channel Islands, California, protesting the attack.
Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem said earlier this month that Glasshouse was targeted.
A Glass House official declined to comment on the article, but said in a previous statement on X that the company never hired minors and was in compliance with all applicable employment laws. Sources nearby the company said that federal officials whose search warrants were presented to Glasshouse on the day of the attack were suspected of undocumented immigrants and illegally employing them, but did not mention child labour.
Over the past few years, the company has been named in lawsuits by workers, along with labor contractors, who have been sexually harassed, suffered discrimination, reduced overtime wages, and needed to eat and rest.
One worker at Glasshouse – who asked him not to be identified as not hidden by immigrant agents during the attack before fleeing – he said he was employed to work in Glasshouse’s cannabis operations through one of his labor contractors, and evaluated his work all year round, not seasonal like many farming jobs.
However, he complained that the contractor had paid him repeatedly late and forced him to borrow money to earn rent. He also said that the supervisor put intense pressure on employees to work faster, yelling at workers, refused to allow breaks, yelling to eat quickly and return to work before the break period was over.
Sources close to the company said the complaints relate not to glass homes but to people employed by labor contractors in regards to the actions of those contractors.
Many of the suits are pending, and the glass house is named as co-defendants. Company officials declined to comment publicly.
Sources close to the company say Glass House takes responsibility under California’s labor laws seriously and is committed to ensuring that all labor practices within its operations meet the highest standards.
Sources added that the attack has shaking companies that have always tried to run with books, and that despite exponential growth in recent years, it seeks to maintain a close sense of closeness.
“It’s very sad,” the source said.
The United Farm Worker Union published breaking news in English and Spanish following the attack on Glass House. Anyone who is not a US citizen “stop working in the cannabis industry, even in national licensing duties.” The union said “Contacting federal agencies can have serious consequences, even for people with legal status, as cannabis remains criminalised under federal law.”
Tottech Legal Centre, a Coachella Valley-based group that supports immigrants and farm workers, issued a similar message. Toddeck has warned non-citizens to avoid working in the marijuana industry and to avoid discussing marijuana use and possession with federal agents, even if it is legal in California.
Federal agents are raiding the glass house brand on Laguna Road, Camarillo.
(Julie Leopo/Age)
About half of California farm workers have been undocumented, according to researchers at UC Merced. Cannabis industry experts said it’s too early to know if the attack on Glasshouse will affect the cannabis workforce or if more licensed cannabis businesses will be attacked.
“My best guest is that this is what happens on more farms,” said Meilad Rafiei, CEO of Cannabis Consulting Group.
Among the undocumented workers at Glasshouse on the day of the attack was Alanis, 56, who had been a California farm worker for 30 years. For the past decade, Alanis first worked in a flower nursery in the Ventura area, and then glasshouses transformed a large greenhouse housing complex with cannabis.
On Monday night, his family woke up for him in Oxnard, where he lived. Camino del Sol’s funeral home was filled as many families held each other tightly and cried. They remembered him as a hardworking and fun man. He danced at the party and enjoyed all the meals he shared with his family.
State Sen. Monique Limun (D-Goleta), who led the Senate in Alanis’ memory last week, told the Chamber of Commerce how he climbed the roof of a greenhouse to escape federal officials. From 30 feet above, he called his family to tell him what was going on and to report “how scary he is.”
“Jaime’s life was dedicated to providing for our land, our crops and his family,” Limon said.
She added, “his final moments on Earth were full of fear.”
