Cops: Waltham man traveling with cocaine, too much beer

A Waltham man is under arrest for allegedly packing his minivan with malt liquor that state police said he was planning to sell.

Edwin Loyola-Del Valle, 49, is expected to be arraigned today in Dorchester District Court on charges including unlawfully transporting alcohol and possession of cocaine.

Loyola-Del Valle was busted in Boston shortly before 12:30 a.m. yesterday by trooper Alan Pena Mejia and his field training officer trooper Matthew Kelley after they pulled his Toyota Sienna over for a motorvehicle violation.

Police said that while speaking with Loyola-Del Valle, the officers spotted a large amount of alcohol in the back of the vehicle.

State law permits the transport of up to 20 gallons of a malt beverage in combination with up to 3 gallons of alcohol without a license; however, police said Loyola-Del Valle had more than 30 gallons of malt beverage, nearly 9 gallons of alcohol and a bag containing what they believe is cocaine.

LOS ANGELES — More than one month after recreational marijuana became legal in California, less than 1 percent of the state’s known growers have been licensed, according to a report released yesterday by a pot industry group.

The 38-page report from the California Growers Association said 0.78 percent, or 534, of an estimated 68,150 marijuana growers were licensed by the state as of Feb. 7. The association cited such obstacles to licensing as cost and regulatory barriers.

A study published last year by the University of California Agricultural Issues Center estimated the newly created state market for recreational marijuana should produce $5 billion in taxable revenue this year.

At the same time, it estimated the market for medicinal marijuana, which has been legal in California since 1996, would decline from an estimated $2 billion last year to $1.4 billion in 2018, while about 30 percent of pot sales would continue through the black market.

If more of the smaller, independent growers are not licensed by the state, taxable revenue of recreational marijuana is likely to be lower than anticipated as the black market continues to flourish, according to the new report.

“The current system will not achieve its goals without fundamental and structural changes that allow small and independent businesses to enter into compliance,” the growers association report concluded.

The growers association, which identifies itself as the state’s largest association of marijuana businesses, said it hopes to work with officials in getting more growers licensed.