“Jiaai Zeng Died Weeks After Starting Work at an Oklahoma Marijuana Farm. His Family Wants Answers.”

…Jiaai Zeng had spent the past month working nonstop at a marijuana farm in Oklahoma run by fellow Chinese immigrants. The job was brutal…

…Zeng was unconscious and had no pulse…

“This death is not normal,” said his nephew, Westin Zeng, in an interview with ProPublica and The Frontier….

The farmworker’s story gives a glimpse into the harsh and often abusive conditions endured by the tens of thousands of Chinese immigrants who have quietly become the backbone of many U.S. marijuana operations…

…when voters in Oklahoma approved a law allowing the cultivation of medical marijuana in 2018, legislators didn’t develop corresponding regulations to protect employees….

The farm’s owners have not been sanctioned or charged with a crime in relation to the case. Jeffrey Box, a lawyer for one of them, rejected the Zeng family’s allegations that neglect and harsh working conditions played roles in the farmworker’s death….

…the lawyer representing an owner of the farm, disputed the family’s allegations about extreme heat and other conditions at the farm…

In 2022, Liu established a corporation with Zenith Top LLC…

Liu declined requests for comment…