Acknowledging growing concern over the mistreatment of cannabis workers, California regulators have quietly assembled a team to pursue labor exploitation in the state’s burgeoning weed industry.

The new unit, housed within the Department of Cannabis Control, recently solicited help from law enforcement agencies statewide to investigate cannabis operators who coerce or threaten workers, subject them to hazardous conditions or deny them pay.

The April 13 bulletin, obtained by The Times, said the unit seeks to create a “central repository” of cannabis-related human trafficking investigations.

Its launch followed the December publication of “Dying for Your High,” a Times investigation detailing the plight of cannabis workers who are cheated, threatened with violence or sometimes die because of unsafe working conditions. The newspaper identified abuse allegations against nearly 200 cannabis farms or contractors — half of them licensed by the state— since legalization. It found 35 cannabis workers killed on the job in a five-year span, a death toll that has since risen to at least 37.

The story spawned a legislative town hall in March to gather information on exploitation in the cannabis industry, with the promise of further hearings this fall. It also has been taken up by others pushing for a centralized state agency to pursue labor trafficking investigations for workers in all industries. Though California banned human trafficking in all forms in 2005, a state watchdog agency found enforcement of the law is haphazard and often lacking, with no central agency for victims to turn to. [Read More @ The LA Times]