In California, the legalization of recreational marijuana has had many consequences, including the boom in boutique dispensaries, the proliferation of edibles and growing questions around the health effects for some users.

Add to the list a more unexpected effect, far from the industrial greenhouses of Northern California: an illicit export market for so-called Cali weed in Britain, where cannabis remains illegal.

California-grown marijuana, which has developed a reputation for potency and high quality, is so popular that it is being smuggled in suitcases from America with minimal attempts to hide it, according to British law enforcement.

Officials have intercepted a steady flow of cannabis-filled suitcases loaded onto passenger flights from the United States, with an average of five seizures a month in 2025. The drug is often vacuum-packed into plastic bags and crammed inside suitcases taken on commercial flights as checked baggage.

“What we’re seeing is Californian weed, which demands a price premium in the U.K.,” Paul Pantry, a senior officer at the National Crime Agency, where he oversees Britain’s border security issues, told The New York Times. “The different legal position around cannabis has been exploited by criminal gangs who see the dollar signs of the profit margin they can make by bringing that cannabis to the U.K., where there’s a very big market for it.”

Andrew DeAngelo, a dispensary owner in Oakland, Calif., and an industry adviser, said the reason for the demand is obvious: “California cannabis is the best cannabis in the world.”