Humboldt Cannabusinesses Say They Are Struggling to Comply With Regulations

mikal jakubal featured

The Briceland nursery owned by Mikal Jakubal in 2016 is now known as Plant Humboldt. [Photo by Mikal Jakubal]

While decisions about cannabis cultivation, distribution, and processing continue to be deliberated, many Southern Humboldt businesses say they are struggling with the regulations. Several established cannabis producers and distributors in Humboldt County are still waiting for legal permission to operate. A few business owners in Southern Humboldt discussed with us how they believe the County Cannabis Land Use Ordinance is obstructing progress.

According to Karyn Wagner who represents First MC Processing, the business cannot open a dispensary and manufacturing facility in Garberville because the Planning Department requires proof of ample parking. Although First MC Processing has been working towards legal compliance for about a year, they say recent attempts for permit approval were again thwarted. Wagner started the first branded Humboldt collective in 2010, but is not yet able to open Garberville’s first downtown dispensary.

Wagner says the business completed a parking study this winter, but the Planning Department found the survey inadequate because county parking ordinances have not been updated for 60 or 70 years, and so the Cannabis Services Division wrote to Wagner requiring, “a parking survey completed over a minimum of two weeks during a time of year with peak tourism and seasonal workers.” Wagner said her company has already invested about twenty thousand dollars in preparatory work and parking studies so far this year.

For Wagner and her associates, “It just means more time, more money, and a lost opportunity. A lost opportunity for growers that are anxious to bring their products to market and pay their taxes, a lost opportunity for businesses in Garberville where stores are closing, going up for sale, and business is so far down, people are not sure how they’re going to get through this season.” Wagner believes, “Humboldt is known for its values around sustainability, and of course urbanites are very used to having to walk two, maybe even three blocks to reach their destination. It’s just not a big deal.”

Making cannabis accessible is not easy given restrictions and regulations, and some established businesses are finding it difficult to distribute locally. For example, the Wonderland Nursery just outside of Garberville overcame parking hurdles by constructing their own parking lot. Even so, managing owner Kevin Jodrey explained the challenges he faces operating a dispensary and pursuing further legal capabilities. Jodrey said, “I’ve been in the dispensary industry for ten years in Humboldt… [It] is probably one of the worst places you could have a dispensary… if I didnt have five and a half years of previous experience, I probably wouldn’t even do this… Humboldt is unique, there’s no other place growing this much organic Cannabis. So the problem is, how do you sell an eighth for 50 to 70 dollars, in an area that traditionally grows cannabis?” Jodrey compared his work less to business, and more to community service.

Mikal Jakubal examining plants in his nursery in 2016. [Photo provided by Mikal Jakubal]

Down the road in Briceland, the Plant Humboldt Nursery is in the process of acquiring permits and managing customer requests despite unclear guidelines from the county. Owner and operator Mikal Jakubal said he was frustrated. “I still don’t know what I can actually legally do,” he explained. “The county regs are changing, the state regs are changing, it’s really hard to invest and to move forward in this rapidly changing economy when we don’t even know what the requirements are going to be yet.”

Jakubal believes restricting dispensaries is antithetical to business development in Humboldt County. He said, “There should be six recreational weed stores in Garberville. You think about the business that would be coming into this town. Yeah, parking would be a problem, but that’s a good thing… There should be lots of pot tourism companies… and it’s not as if you can just delay this, because other places in the State are actively pursuing it. Everyone wants to be sort of the pot destination in California, and Humboldt County has the name. Entrepreneurs need to grab that and run with it, and the County needs to actively encourage it and basically not be overly obstructionist.”

Some SoHum farmers say that the county government has worked with them. Mr. Bean’s Veganics, a cannabis farm, hopes to gain a permit after the latest Land Use Ordinance is passed. Farm owner Sawyer Bogle cultivates cannabis entirely with vegan amendments. Bogle said, “All inputs are vegan. There are no animal, no farm by-products, basically no livestock. I try to consciously think about where my inputs come from and the impact that has on the planet.” Bogle was pleased when the Board of Supervisors revised the ordinance, potentially allowing a permit for his less-than-an-acre farm in Myers Flat.

Other farmers say that they have had trouble complying with local regulations. For instance, at Riverview Gardens LLC, Brian St. Clair takes pride in creating cannabis flowers with homemade biodynamic compost teas. However, before the farm’s permit can be approved, county law now requires the farm install a metered water system and use Garberville city water, rather than utilize the property’s abundant spring water. The installation of a metered water system will cost St. Clair about $8,000, in addition to monthly water bills he did not have before. St. Clair shared, “I kept records of my water use last year, and… I averaged one gallon of water per plant per day. That’s ridiculously low, you know, but yet they want us to pay $8000 to hook up this water meter.”

The County denies that they are making the process unduly difficult. When asked if the Planning Department supports or is against cannabis businesses, Supervising Planner Michael Richardson wrote, “The Board of Supervisors is trying to encourage cannabis growth and distribution….the county encourages business in many ways.”

When County representatives were asked how much money does the Planning Department believe an individual would need to open a cannabis business, given the costs?  Richardson responded, “The costs vary from one applicant to another.  Given the relatively high rate of participation in the cannabis permitting program so far, the potential profits can often outweigh the potential costs.”

But the potential is not yet real in Southern Humboldt. At Riverview Gardens, St. Clair shared his uncertainty about County laws. “It’s always going to be hard when you have to abide by someone else’s standard, when they don’t know what they’re talking about. How do you follow the lead of someone who doesn’t know where they’re going?”

Local activist, Darryl Cherney, claimed those applying for permits are “paying for the bullets for their own firing squad. The homestead has become a business subject to inspection at any given moment. Anyone who signs up for this is in denial about the chance of succeeding. It’s a moving target… Farmers always get the short end of the stick.”

Several letters were written to the Board during the last period of public comment by Friends of the Eel River, the Coastal Commission, the Fish and Game Advisory Commission, the Humboldt Cannabis Manufacturing Association, Ag Dynamix, and many individuals requested revisions on the proposed ordinance. The Yurok Tribal Council made quite clear, they will have apriori authority over any permits affecting Yurok ancestral territory. Letters from the Humboldt County citizens suggested the proposed ordinance could have negative effects on wildlife, watersheds, businesses, communities, and socio-economic balance.

There are many different ways the proposed Ordinance may be revised.  All of the letters written to the Board are publicly available online in the April 10 Board of Supervisors meeting Agenda notes, at humboldt.legistar.com. The Board of Supervisors will be meeting again May 8th to discuss and possibly approve the County Cannabis Land Use Ordinance.

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Seamus
Guest
Seamus
5 years ago

Government regulations are impinging on your ability to do business? That is called redtape, welcome to the “light”. This is exactly why it is so hard to succeed in a small business in this country. Wait till the ADA lawyer shows at your door.

Brodie
Guest
Brodie
5 years ago
Reply to  Seamus

It won’t be long before the Gov. subsidizes the pot farmers because of to much being grown like they pay other farms not to grow wheat, corn etc to keep the prices up.

Maria
Guest
Maria
5 years ago
Reply to  Brodie

Myth: farmers are not paid not to grow crops

Neighbor
Guest
Neighbor
5 years ago
Reply to  Seamus

Micheal doesnt know what he legally can do? Read a little more. They tell you you can’t let your light bleed out into the night like you and Kevin both did last year. I bet you have mites constantly because of the bamboo. .

!
Guest
Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago

There shouldn’t be any waivers from requirements other businesses have. And six recreational pot retailers in Garberville – 2x or 3x more than needed. Besides, tourists already stopped at One Log House

Veteran's friend
Guest
Veteran's friend
5 years ago

It is about to get worse (or better, depending on POV) when the state testing regs ramp up and NO ONE’S weed passes.

HummingBud Farm
Guest
HummingBud Farm
5 years ago

Flowers from HummingBud Farm are 100% clean. Soon to be in a retailer near you!

farce
Guest
farce
5 years ago

Looks overdone, spindly and not very sticky. Good luck with your A-

~*~ free advice
Guest
~*~ free advice
5 years ago
Reply to  farce

I was thinking it looks overdone too. Brown hairs : Boo. 🙁

Read more: Sun grown outdoor , and deps for that matter, have a ++one week window+++ for peak thc/resin quality . A one week window to cut, hang it, and dry it efficiently and get that product properly cured and away from any heat and light ASAP.

Newsflash newbys: Your buds don’t keep improving. Watch the tricomes +with a microscope​+ learn how they should look, and learn the number of days between changes. On top of know when to cut curing is so crucial. A person can bring amazing weed in from the field only to absolutely fuk it up in the drying /curing process (which is an intuitive art.) Color goes off, buds flatten , smell evaporate and molds run rampant. To see folks come so far to only ruin it then, pains me.

IMO, farming is at least 50% intuition (coupled with good work ethic, cleanliness, bomb genetics, mental clarity and focus, re$ources , sun exposure, water, etcetera ) That’s why unless managed by the rare farmer that gets it with an absolutely stellar crew under him or her, most mass-produced weed looks inconsistent and always somewhat “eh.” And when trying to pump out a quantity even the Tru Masters have tunnels that go south for one reason or another: Lines too full; can’t cut when ready; weather shifts; 60% molds in the hoop; another 20 turns to garbage on the line.

An intuitive farmer can walk into a grow or drying room and “sense” what is going on with those plants or product moisture/ nutrition/ light/&circulation -wise.

Bummer is you can’t impart that ability to another person. Someone either gets it or they don’t.

Humboldt Hillsman
Guest
Humboldt Hillsman
5 years ago

Look closer, only about 50% of that hairs are brown and on many just the tips. That bud still has 3 or so days left til harvest. Btw all cannabis has brown hairs at harvest. What other color would you evpect them to be?

Grower's guide said so
Guest
Grower's guide said so
5 years ago

Not more than 50% brown lol ..

Don’t forget it’s the ripeness of the “tricomes” that determines readiness of the herb .
And tricomes can be well mushroomed, cloudy and –“turning ” amber well ahead of browned out hairs ..

Just my experience .

Tdlobmuh
Guest
Tdlobmuh
5 years ago

This isnt a weed thing, its a county thing.

They did the same crap to the Solar building across the street from KMUD. Made them pave the existing gravel parking lot and wouldn’t issue business licenses to anyone in that building until it was finished.
In the end, after the paving, that place ended up with less parking than they started with.

Not allowing people to open businesses and generate money into the county. madness!

Ben Round
Guest
Ben Round
5 years ago

The problem is less the regulations per se, than the changes in the regs. Businesses can not count on the rules they are told they need to abide by because…soon….. it……….. CHANGES! And consistently, the changes have been as a loss to the landowner/ (small) business people.
State agencies are guilt of this too. For instance, the Water Board originally said, ‘there is jurisdictional and non-jurisdictional water’ on local properties, then, after we started to distinguish the 2 (losing 95%+ of my/our waters to their jurisdiction) they then said, ‘It’s all jurisdictional!’. To which I called BS!! And lawyered up to protect MY VITAL RESOURCES. (See CA’s Porter Cologne Act). Fuck them!…..Ok. I got off on my fav rant. Lol.
They are killing the Golden Goose. And Humboldt county officials have no (citizen-centric) excuse for that!!

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Ben Round

The golden goose was already on life support. And the killing of it started when the number of irresponsible growers exceeded the ability of the environment to cope with them.

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

And yet there’s loads of clones rolling the highways. Some people can’t accept reality.

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

There is never an end to irresponsible people with dollar signs in their eyes. This is going to be a Dutch Tulip Bubble Collapse. There is nothing special about Humboldt for growing that other places can not replicate and improve on. Humboldt specialized in turning a blind eye to the law with a product not at home in our chill and damp climate. Without the law that shielded it from competition, what need is there to grow in land resistant to mass agriculture?

Earthgreen
Guest
Earthgreen
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

It’s a world renowned Cannabis cultivation climate. Every plant that isn’t GMO has a place in this world where it grows the best!! This is North America’s best climate for Cannabis. Fact for people who know nothing about growing Cannabis but insist on showing their intelligence of the subject.

CoveTroll
Guest
CoveTroll
5 years ago
Reply to  Earthgreen

As u show me nitrogen deficient plants! LMAO

Emily
Guest
Emily
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

I don’t know who guest is anymore. But I actually agree with this one this time 👍

CoveTroll
Guest
CoveTroll
5 years ago
Reply to  Emily

I always agree with guest!

Veterans friend
Guest
Veterans friend
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

There is no “going to be”
It’s here, now.

Ben Round
Guest
Ben Round
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

And the Napa area doesn’t offer anything special to the growing of grapes???

CoveTroll
Guest
CoveTroll
5 years ago
Reply to  Ben Round

Napa is clean and incorporated. Has a business council and makes hundreds of millions in tourist revenue a year. People actually want to go to Napa. I do. Garberville and humboldt is a s$!thole! No one wants to come here except to exploit it

timmay
Guest
timmay
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

What you trolls want is for everyone to move out of the hills and into your corporate shanty towns… You aren’t liberals and you aren’t conservatives. You are NEO-HATERS!

Perspective
Guest
Perspective
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

The black market is still alive and well. Lots of people never signed up, so it’s business as usual. Some people have applications in and are still going to do black market. Youre only screwed if you are 100% legal, which might only 1 or 2 % of the farms.

Emily
Guest
Emily
5 years ago
Reply to  Perspective

Am I remembering right? Has your perspective on permitting changed? I thought u were the guy all excited about getting permitted a while back 🤔

Cove broseph
Guest
Cove broseph
5 years ago

“A lost opportunity for growers that are anxious to bring their products to market and pay their taxes”

Lol , nobody is “ anxious “ to pay their taxes

farce
Guest
farce
5 years ago

It’s all over anyway! These same businesses will not last 5 years, even with a permit. Enjoy your “legalization” everybody!

CoveTroll
Guest
CoveTroll
5 years ago
Reply to  farce

That is true. As there is one farm outside of LA with 60 acres of automated deps pumping out 10,000 lbs a month. Compete with that humboldt!

spells
Guest
spells
5 years ago

Title spell check … businesses …

Kym Kemp
Admin
5 years ago
Reply to  spells

Thank you. Fixed.

Grow Something Different
Guest
Grow Something Different
5 years ago

With marijuana production not slowing down & the whole state catching up maybe it is time to grow a different crop. Marijuana prices will continue to decline. Instead of racing everyone to the bottom why not think outside of the box. You already have an awesome farm. Why not get creative and start growing something else you can sell. Lots of ways to profit if you are smart. By the way I heard magic mushrooms have actually increased in value. While the price per pound for marijuana has plummeted people are actually getting more for shrooms now than they did 20 years ago. Granted I haven’t consumed mushrooms in 20 years, but you get my point. Maybe grow vanilla or tomatoes. Think outside the box.

Grow Tomatoes
Guest
Grow Tomatoes
5 years ago

Grow Something Different!

Ed Voice
Guest
Ed Voice
5 years ago

“Other farmers say that they have had trouble complying with local regulations. For instance, at Riverview Gardens LLC, Brian St. Clair takes pride in creating cannabis flowers with homemade biodynamic compost teas. However, before the farm’s permit can be approved, county law now requires the farm install a metered water system and use Garberville city water, rather than utilize the property’s abundant spring water. The installation of a metered water system will cost St. Clair about $8,000, in addition to monthly water bills he did not have before. St. Clair shared, “I kept records of my water use last year, and… I averaged one gallon of water per plant per day. That’s ridiculously low, you know, but yet they want us to pay $8000 to hook up this water meter.”

So who lobbied for that County requirement? Another net lose for the South Fork Eel River. It sounds like low water use, but how many plants? Is Riverview Gardens LLC in the GSD District Boundary or SOI? Do they currently have a GSD residential metered water connection?

If Riverview Gardens LLC does have an “abundant spring” on their property, how come they didn’t get a water capacity study on the spring? It would be difficult to organically certify anything using GSD water, given the high chlorine residual.

CoveTroll
Guest
CoveTroll
5 years ago
Reply to  Ed Voice

It’s designed to fail. Only after everybody pays up though! I belive they call it “planned obsolescence “.

Veterans friend
Guest
Veterans friend
5 years ago
Reply to  Ed Voice

You are absolutely correct. Now this “farmer” will be forced to do reverse osmosis filtering to get rid of the chlorine which will cost another fortune, and chances are that simple “dust” contamination will render his crop unacceptable anyhow. The state regs on contaminents are brutal, and will require a sterile, airtight, filtered enviornment….no one seems to understand this. 90% of people with permits will be out of business by this time next year. Watch.

Pb
Guest
Pb
5 years ago

Organic Outdoor canbabis can pass the testing no problem

farce
Guest
farce
5 years ago
Reply to  Pb

Cool! So in a couple years you’ll be getting….$300 a pound for your premium product? Congratulations! And that was worth giving up your water rights to your own water source on your own land?!

Pb
Guest
Pb
5 years ago
Reply to  farce

I was not commenting on price, I was commenting one facts

Pb
Guest
Pb
5 years ago
Reply to  Ed Voice

You obviously don’t know anything about cannabis water laws. If you are growing cannabis you will not be allowed to divert any surface water from May to November. Springs are being called surface water, it doesn’t matter if you do a water capacity study or not. All of you cannabis haters should start to pay attention, this is a resource grab from the state of California. It will start with cannabis growers and move to every industry. Then to private homes. It’s called regulatory creep.

Ben Round
Guest
Ben Round
5 years ago
Reply to  Pb

I agree in part. It’s a grab. Yet a lot of what they are subjecting the cannabis industry to is due to their decades of distain for growers who were getting away with it. Much of what they are doing is in part punishment and borne from deep-seated jealousy. And, as to water regs being subjected to other companies, I don’t think other farm businesses, most of which have strong lobbies, will roll over and give up their water rights, like many cannabis farmers have.
As to water use. If you have non-jurisdictional (non-j) water, you can use it as you chose. I have both non-j* springs and ponds. I can use those waters how I want all year long. And will use a non-j pond this summer for all my farm water needs. So. I get the satisfaction to say, ‘Screw your regs!’ and at the same time, allow more water into the watershed this summer. Win win!
* – Haven’t had my F&W inspection yet, so they may not agree. And if they don’t and we can’t work something out, they can deal with my lawyers. (Any money I pay attorneys will be well recouped by property value….. as long as I prevail, of course. Lol!).

Pb
Guest
Pb
5 years ago
Reply to  Ben Round

Good luck with your fish and wildlife inspection, I hear they are calling every spring jurisdictional. The swrcb says “a percolating spring the doesn’t otherwise flow off your land does not require a water right” who has more power? Fish and wildlife would be happy if we all moved out of here.

Pb
Guest
Pb
5 years ago
Reply to  Pb

And we all, means everybody, not just cannabis farmers

CoveTroll
Guest
CoveTroll
5 years ago
Reply to  Pb

Yep. And there tax u for burning wood in your wood burning stove because your not buying fossil fuels to heat with…..it’s coming.

timmay
Guest
timmay
5 years ago
Reply to  Pb

The cannabis haters aren’t loggers or conservatives… THEY ARE THE RESOURCE GRABBERS, TROLLING

Brian
Guest
Brian
5 years ago
Reply to  Ed Voice

We have had members from gsd water board come inspect the spring water, and yes Riverview Gardens is inside the service district. Hooked into the municipal water supply for years but not used for farming until now. You can see for yourself how much water is coming off the property simply by taking a stroll down Sprowel Creek, as all the spring water is being returned to the Eel. I’ve repeatedly asked about using the spring and am constantly told it would be more hassle involving several agencies, red tape and cost to use the spring. Maybe I’m missing something but I don’t think I am. I had 110 plants last year, every time I filled my water tank I made a note, more to prove to myself than to anyone else. The one gallon, per plant, per day is an accurate number.

Ed Voice
Guest
Ed Voice
5 years ago
Reply to  Brian

Thanks Brian, is this Riverview Gardens?

Dinks
Guest
Dinks
5 years ago
Reply to  Ed Voice

This place is a fuckin pig stye and fnw are ok with this and water board is on board to?? And they have encroachment permits are on file with Co rd department??? Hmmm… Probably all in the file with there grading permits too ?? Oh did someone say you need a permit for a fence 8 ft or above? Hmmm.. Boy this Cat must be killin it in this market i can tell that by my observation of that beautiful motor home tilting over the bank there.All they need is just a little excavation and it will all be down in the river with a view. Gravity is none forgiving and please tarp that tunnel , have consideration for your neighbors and everyone who is sick of your mess.

CoveTroll
Guest
CoveTroll
5 years ago
Reply to  Ed Voice

Lmfao!!!!

Diesel Dually
Guest
Diesel Dually
5 years ago

So sorry the rules are too hard for you! Struggling businessmen everywhere want you to know that: you are special because you grow a useless product for people who like to be intoxicated… So, tell you what, you can go back to growing illegally, anytime you like!

AND: if you can’t follow the rules and still make money, you can go into ANY other business you like, whenever you want!

It’s America! Enjoy!

Thanks very much, and would you like a bit of cheese to go with your whine?

Emily
Guest
Emily
5 years ago
Reply to  Diesel Dually

You always say the same negative comment every time there is a posting about marijuana growing. I’m sure you are a very successful business person, so get back to what you do best, everyone knows your position on this subject.

Diesel Dually
Guest
Diesel Dually
5 years ago
Reply to  Emily

OH! Em, it’s time to water the drug crop in the van…

Emily
Guest
Emily
5 years ago
Reply to  Diesel Dually

You know I only pick on you cuz you can take it.

fuckwalterwhite.com
Guest
fuckwalterwhite.com
5 years ago
Reply to  Emily

I agree with DD

timmay
Guest
timmay
5 years ago
Reply to  Diesel Dually

Small businesses don’t follow the rules, they expense EVERYTHING, they declare NONE OF THE CASH….

So funny all these holier than though “business people” who hate weed. They troll this blog from their SACTO politburo office… meh

James Martinez
Guest
James Martinez
5 years ago

Diesel dually we all know you have a black dodge stop, hiding. Silly we know you aren’t profiting much. At all that’s why you get on here an talk smack

Diesel Dually
Guest
Diesel Dually
5 years ago
Reply to  James Martinez

Dude, I get my Social Security and investment income whether I work or not. And my house, it’s paid off. That’s cause I worked for it.

And I wouldn’t drive a Dodge for any reason.

CoveTroll
Guest
CoveTroll
5 years ago
Reply to  Diesel Dually

Ford. For Only Redneck Dicks

ED Denson
Guest
ED Denson
5 years ago

The county government’s agencies are greedy, so even when the board tries to do something useful, like pro-rate cultivation permits for “new” cultivation, you end up getting a license December 28, and “only” having to pay for the 4th quarter of the year. You have 3 days in 2017 to use your license and only have to pay for 90. And that’s the government “giving you a break”.

i believe people in the other agricultural fields had better look out because cannabis regulation is a testing ground for regulating other crops. “First they came for the pot growers, but I didn’t care because I was not a pot grower…” You probably remember how this quote ends.

The Hermit of Grizzly Mountain
Guest
The Hermit of Grizzly Mountain
5 years ago

Well, golly, I guess decriminalization might have been preferable to legalization after all! Who coulda thunk to predict all this bureaucratic red tape and excessive taxes? CAMP was less stressful than this!

Coletta A Hughes
Guest
Coletta A Hughes
5 years ago

This is Humboldt… the mom and pops had a very mild carbon footprint compared with the corporate geared mega grows that are destroying our beautiful forests. They should be growing down on farmland where everything else is grown, not in our forest. I was pro 420 before this crap started, now I say tax them to death until they move to an agricultural area. We are sick of it in our backyards… All you need do is google Earth Humboldt to see the damage corporate pot is doing to our forest.

jojo
Guest
jojo
5 years ago

There is actually no damage at all, these folks have the right to make a 3 acre clearning on there properties, its allowed for them to live there. if you dont like this you should of taken it up with the county supervisors years ago.

Emily
Guest
Emily
5 years ago
Reply to  jojo

Well…. just cuz you’re allowed to do something doesn’t mean ‘there’s no damage at all’. I think the constant driving back and forth on muddy roads spreading port orford root disease and other stuff (and muddying up creeks) is worse than the three acre conversions.

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  jojo

Those down hill will notice the increased run off next winter during heavy rains while the creeks will dry off sooner as the holding power of the woods is gone. And in my area this logging is going on parcels already having a residence. Now though they are a residence in a clear cut rather than a residence in the woods.

Guesst
Guest
Guesst
5 years ago
Reply to  jojo

“There is no damage at all” I’m sure all the water you’re using would have normally ended up in the creek that is now devoid of any fish.

farce
Guest
farce
5 years ago
Reply to  jojo

There is actually NO damage at all?!! Did you actually post that statement?! You usually have something intelligent to add here. Habitat fragmentation is the leading cause of biodiversity loss in our current extinction event. And that’s only one big factor in the very much damage we have inflicted in our local area…I know most people don’t want to get any education in anything that might challenge their ignorant perspective because then they might have to consider that what they are doing every day is not good. But you’ve had some smart things to say on here. Not this time!

Pb
Guest
Pb
5 years ago
Reply to  farce

What is your education? How Can you prove where the environmental damage came from? 80 years of logging? Or you making unproved claims from your computer? The biggest problem with all these anti cannabis studies is there is no science to back it up.

Pb
Guest
Pb
5 years ago
Reply to  Ed Voice

I actually did, it’s easy to place blame on the cannabis industry. Logging destroyed this environment, most of these roads are here from logging, there are lots of endangered species from logging. When all the large trees got cut down it screwed up the water, there’s more little trees taking water now, more sediment in the rivers. I don’t need to read your biased articles paid for by anti cannabis money. I could dig up thousands of articles on how logging destroyed the environment.

Ed Voice
Guest
Ed Voice
5 years ago
Reply to  Pb

Really, did you go to South Fork, I was class of ’75, what year did you graduate?

If as you say; “Logging destroyed this environment, most of these roads are here from logging”, So if not for logging people could not have purchased dirt cheap clear cut land and would not have had access into the hills via the “roads are here from logging”? I guess they totally didn’t destroy all the environment, or no one would be growing weed up in them hills. Not that I’m a fan of what logging did do, maybe those “thousands of articles on how logging destroyed the environment” were written with anti-logging money? You need to smell what you’ve been shovlin…

Tanya Horlick
Guest
Tanya Horlick
5 years ago

I highly recommend anyone empassioned by this lawmaking process, check out the public comments submitted to the Board of Supervisors like I explained at the end of the article. There are even more provocative messages by tribal representatives, scientists, members of government, environmentalists, and citizens. I wish their words were applicable to the article because every letter is worth reading. The supervisors’ choices somewhat reflect the public interest.

Also, please notice the simplifying effect of Planning Department responses to what were elaborate questions…

Ed Voice
Guest
Ed Voice
5 years ago
Reply to  Tanya Horlick

Thank you Tanya, very well said. I wish more people would read through the public comments and stop denying the direct, indirect and cumulative adverse effects that degrades watersheds and wildlife from growing cannabis unsustainably, e.g. South Fork Eel River watershed.

RT
Guest
RT
5 years ago

Selling an 1/8 ounce for $50 to $70? Good luck with that. Pot shops in Eugene Oregon are selling ounces for that amount, and less.

Mendocino Mamma
Guest
Mendocino Mamma
5 years ago

Pot shops in Oregon are at $1.00 a gram. So that is $454.60 a pound.

fuckwalterwhite.com
Guest
fuckwalterwhite.com
5 years ago

“There should be lots of pot tourism companies… and it’s not as if you can just delay this, because other places in the State are actively pursuing it. Everyone wants to be sort of the pot destination in California, and Humboldt County has the name. Entrepreneurs need to grab that and run with it, and the County needs to actively encourage it and basically not be overly obstructionist.”

Not everyone you damn stoner

fuckwalterwhite.com
Guest
fuckwalterwhite.com
5 years ago

Go to any farm town in the valley and ask how big their weed facility is.

I just saw a facility for 200+ employees,already going…

Nobody is going there to visit for weed. They might visit the redwoods here though.

~*~ free advice
Guest
~*~ free advice
5 years ago

Lol it’s funny, the humblt legacy will now be hinged on pot staycations? Who really signs up for that? Describe the experience; will they feature a demo greeny and tarp pulling? Smoke weed and dabs as part of a PKG stay? Idk I just don’t think it is that glamourous or captivating. And may present liability issues. Then after no one kills it in the Cannabis camping schemes, or loses everything from huge lawsuit when some over-stoned guest hurts themselves or someone else, then our final revenue grab is farm logo tshirts and cutsie packaging for what was once a unique commodity . Oh dear .

Ed Voice
Guest
Ed Voice
5 years ago

Ask any winery or vineyard in Napa or Sonoma County how long it took them to establish their winery tourism industry. Southern Humboldt has had tourism and people coming from around the world for literary decades, since the 1930’s, to see some of the world’s tallest and ancient trees. And you think, in just a couple months, if you grow it they will come?

Pb
Guest
Pb
5 years ago
Reply to  Ed Voice

ED Voice you answered your own question. People already travel here, to see the big trees. They also want to smoke trees. When people drive by they are travelers, when they stop they are tourists. Wine country makes more on tourism then wine sales. In my generation cool people smoke weed and.

Cove guy
Guest
Cove guy
5 years ago

Nobody gives a crap about the”HUMBOLDT” name anymore. There was a time that it mattered but now you can get weed cheap and just as good or even better in any dispensary down south. I checked a few out and made a purchase or two because I never thought in my life time it would happen. My point is that when I talked to the shop keepers they laughed and showed me weed that was nicer than anything I saw grown up here and they got it elsewhere. Unfortunately Humboldt is going to be a victim of our own greed and the rest of our state don’t give a damn all they want is cheap good weed

John grey
Guest
John grey
5 years ago

Garberville just wants small business to pay for all new roads. Wish the city would start at Dazeyz Hardware, need a rally car to park there.

Dede
Guest
Dede
5 years ago

I have so many laws and regulations on my business, sorry, but I have no sympathy

orwell
Guest
orwell
5 years ago

Environmental government regulation is awesome; if you are big enough to comply. This is because nothing can more efficiently and effectively destroy your competition, than environmental government regulation. The regulators are inevitably lazy, careerist hacks who are focused on their pension, vacation time, government holidays and an easy work day. IF you can survive the crushing moronic regulation, you can sit back and happily watch your competition get obliterated. Then, and only then, can you really watch the money roll in. Look at any industry. The surviving players may act like the regulation is brutal and punitive and on and on they go; but at the end of they day, as all the small, conscientious, weaker players get picked off, the survivors are left chuckling at the irony: nothing is worse for the environment than asking the State to step in. No one picks winners and losers more efficiently and heartlessly than the State. And the environmental movement, now fully coopted, has failed to protect a single thing, except the environmental regulatory industrial complex that they helped to create.

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  orwell

It always picked winners and losers. Government regulated profitability into pot growing in the first place. It’s just changed who those winners and losers are. Are you one who scoffed at the complaints of the “small, conscientious, weaker players” who were regulated in other businesses before you and allowed environmental regulation to become such tool in the first place?

Ah if only government always targeted only the evil and left the good to survive. But government is very, very, very bad at doing that because government exists to be an impersonal rule enforcer. It rains on the righteous and unrighteous alike because that is what people want. They call it equal treatment even if the result is very unequal indeed.

George Shieman
Guest
George Shieman
5 years ago

“KEEP IT SIMPLE” Yep, 58 County’s, ?gazillion Towns, Cities, all making their own rulesLawsTaxesFeesPermits² Friend says he wanted to start business ~ heh, all you need is Lawyers, Guns & Money & accountants, more lawyersTaxesxTaxesxTaxes – the EastBayExpressPart2 link below is one town Oakland, scroll down in article until you see where they talk taxesFeesPermits They did not + cannot list all of those completely ~ WHO COULD? The first part, 1 of 2 is much about Humboldt. More $$ legal trauma – https://m.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/growing-pains-part-2-back-to-the-underground/Content?oid=15223810&showFullText=true >>>>>>Part 1 of 2 https://m.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/growing-pains-part-1-nipped-in-the-bud/Content?oid=15025611

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[…] market allege that the county’s Cannabis Land Use Ordinance is obstructing progress, according to Redheaded Blackbelt, a news website that reports on the Emerald […]

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[…] activist Darryl Cherney told a Humboldt County webpage that those applying for state permits are “paying for the bullets for their own firing squad. […]