State law enforcement is trying to mitigate damage from illegal marijuana farms. Experts said these operations cause major harm to the environment and pose safety risks to people. The problem captured the attention of state lawmakers.

Lawmakers held an interim study this week to learn the scope of the problem. Their goal is to draft new legislation to help law enforcement clean up these operations and hold people accountable.

“What do we do about it as a state? Who is responsible? Is it the city? Is it the county? Is it the state? There was no blueprint for this,” said Mark Woodward, public information officer with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. “It’s draining resources.”

Woodward said the illegal grow farms his agency shuts down, and farms left abandoned, leave b

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