Large Crowd of Cannabis Cultivators and Their Allies Ask for Relief From ‘Punitive’ Measure S Tax at Yesterday’s Courthouse Rally
Suspend Measure S rally at the Courthouse yesterday saw hundreds of cannabis cultivators standing in front of a mural depicting another Humboldt legacy industry and culture–that belonging to the timber workers. [Photo by Ryan Hutson]
With horns from supportive motorists at times drowning out the speakers, a series of farmers and their allies asked for help from the Board of Supervisors.
Natalynne DeLapp, Executive Director of the Humboldt County Growers Alliance, a trade association for the cannabis industry laid out the case to the crowd which included three county Supervisors–Michelle Bushnell, Rex Bohn, and, eventually, Steve Madrone. “These people are your friends and family members,” she reminded them. “This is your community and they are vital to our collective success…We are standing here today not asking for a handout, but a reprieve from Humboldt County’s flat rate cultivation tax–a tax that does not adjust with market conditions.”
Short interview with Natalynne DeLapp after the speeches at the rally.
She explained that Humboldt County’s Measure S tax is a marijuana cultivation tax paid in two installments on the area grown by the farmer and it has to be paid even if the crop fails or can’t be sold. No other crop in California is subject to a tax of this kind, she said.
DeLapp went on to explain the problem. The price of cannabis has plummeted because the market is flooded, she told a crowd that was feeling the pain. “Self-funded cannabis business cannot survive two years of deficit profits,” she pointed out. “The proverbial pickle barrels of cash have been long since depleted.”
She also noted that repealing this tax was not repealing any tax that other businesses had to pay. This, she said was a tax only for cannabis business. She pointed out, “Cannabis businesses do pay taxes–They pay taxes on their taxes” because, unlike other businesses, they can’t write off everyday expenses.
She and other speakers noted that more than $47.5 million has been paid to the county by growers under just Measure S alone and if the cannabis cultivators collapse, that money won’t continue to stoke the coffers of the local government.
“We are asking our community to give us a lifeline,” she said. “Suspend Measure S. We are asking for October 2021 payment to be forgiven. The May 2022 payment to be waived. Suspend Measure S for a year and then develop a new tax plan that is fair and equitable…Humboldt County we are telling you, there is no money left. You cannot squeeze blood from a stone.”
Laura Lasseter, spokesperson for the Southern Humboldt Business & Visitors Bureau, told those assembled there that cannabis along with the redwoods and the coastline brought tourists to the area. She argued, “For decades, the Humboldt County cannabis industry served as the underlying, driving force of the overall prosperity of the economy…the impact which spilled over and reached all industries throughout the county in some way or another. The cannabis industry is an asset to the County of Humboldt and needs to be treated as such… .”
Another speaker, Dylan Mattole, a legacy cannabis farmer who owns Mattole Valley Sungrown, argued that growers aren’t asking for handouts. He said, “We are asking that our businesses be normalized and treated with respect like the other businesses in our county.”
He went on to explain, “We are not asking for any [special] tax deductions or reprieve from our income taxes, our payroll taxes or our county land taxes or any of the other taxes that we all pay. We pay the same taxes as any other business. We actually pay extra…when it comes to our federal income tax.”
Mattole argued, “These special taxes were levied exclusively on cannabis because of prohibition…For over 100 years our government has been waging this so called war on drugs. But this has not been a war on drugs, it has been a war on people and culture.”
The Measure S tax, he argued was rooted in an “outdated bias.” He concluded, “We can’t tax cannabis punitively and simultaneously expect all the farms growing it to survive…End the war on drugs. Suspend Measure S now.”
After the speeches, Supervisor Bohn, spoke to our reporter, Ryan Hutson, saying he gets “daily phone calls and emails” about the situation and he understands the “turmoil” that a lot of the growers are going through. He told us, “I don’t know if [the cultivators] are going to get everything they want…I don’t know if we are going to get everything we want…I think there is going to be somewhere in there where we can meet in the middle.”
Below are more interviews with growers and, at the bottom is a video with most of the speeches given.
Two cannabis cultivators speak about their reasons for being at the rally.
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Drug growers glamourized again.
Your grandparents would tell you to go get a legitimate job, other than to get people high. Do you think you are saving the world?
Tell that to the beer and vodka dealers who sold drugs to my mother, rotting her liver and killing her 20 years before her time. Don’t get me started on how deadly cigarettes are.
Agreed. Alcahol. And tobacco. Caused. Untold. Countless and extensive damage. To many many ppl. So hey. I kno !!!!!! Lets expand drug use!!!! Then there will be more families destroyed. Health deminished. Medical costs. Great idea !!!!!!
Did they pour it down her throat?
Gotta say it:
Rex Bohn is a crook. He is paid off by millionaire growers.
Michelle Bushnell is like a deep mole from the wealthier side of the “industry”… She does not give a toot about you “small growers”, but I am sure that she is enjoying her office, salary, phones, copier/fax/laptop, and she is laughing up her sleeve that all of you are going broke.
Steve Madrone is the only Supervisor with a conscience, but he is not enough to correct the slide that Humboldt is in.
Virginia Bass, well, enough said already about crazy ladies, and Mike Wilson lacks the coordination and has marginal intelligence, inadequate to his role in government.
All of these people MUST be replaced and SHOULD be recalled.
Standing around with some hand-painted signs, begging for “tax relief” seems specious, but if you really want to make your living by growing pot in Humboldt (already a very dicey occupation which is sure to end) you should begin by electing some supervisors who have YOUR interests at heart, rather than just their own…
There are buyers out there, you just have to go find them.
The Marijuana Industry is basically over for small players, and I have been saying this for years. The money, the real money, should have been in the bank years ago, and the real growers know this.
Humboldt is a mess behind the “Cannabis Industry”, and the entire county is corrupt past the level of what you would have found in Miami 40 years ago…
Taking away a single tax, is a bad idea. Taxes should have been levied back in the 90’s when “215” started. Stoners are a pretty ineffective group, politically, and “Marijuana Products” are sold for bargain prices in the cities of California, so no matter what you do, small growers are out of luck and soon to be out of business…
It’s America, you are free to do what you want, and if one thing ends, there’s always something else…
Even Trump is finally being examined for his corruptions and frauds, malfeasances and cons… Prince Andrew will stand trial for having sex with an underage woman, and, all those who stole the “CARES Act” money by various schemes, will be prosecuted.
Just because you did something for 40 years to get money, is no guarantee that you always will be able to continue…
The world changes daily, and you better be preparing for the next thing, because someone else is planning to take your share of the action!
Wake up, quit smoking that dope, and recall your Supervisors.
All should be replaced except madrone. He is the supe(soup?) for my district and its weird actually liking and appreciating my supervisor. Sundberg, while a nice enough guy, was terrible.
I have read and re read your entire post now five times. I have tried and I mean really tried to find one statement you made in its entirety that could actually be proven as fact. I have read a lot of garbage on here, hell I read Farce for a good laugh. But at least in Farces endless diatribes there are shreds of facts. But you have gone to a new level. Bonus points for somehow incorporating Prince Andrew into the mix, but a few minus for the Bohn poke. Its tired and played. We need originality. That being said Im giving 7 tin foil hats for content and 1 bonus tin foil hat for the completely out of the blue Prince Andrew reference! So its 8 TIN FOIL HATS!!!!! Go Little Rock Star!
Where is yourproof Bohn is paid off by millionaire growers.
Hi, I work at a legitimate job! Can I get you a coffee?
Hi I work at a legitimate job! I’m here at your office to give out free fentanyl pops, and take you to dinner, Doc.
Hi I work at a legitimate job! On lunch from noon til 1:00.
Hi I’m gonna work a legit job as a doctor, I haven’t yet, but almost out of school, I only start out with a $300,000 debt. Eager to get goin!
It’s Time for a flat land tax of $40k an acre. $80k an acre if you park your car in it. It’s about time the free loading citizens start paying their fair share!
My sciatica and osteoarthritis say fuck off. I most certainly enjoy the psychoactivity of cannabis, but folks like you have no clue on how important cannabis is to my health and wellbeing.
Our grandfathers brought back tons (literally!) of cocaine when we invaded Colombia. Our uncles brought back tons (again, literally!) of heroin from Afghanistan. Now, our grandfathers and uncles are working for pharmaceutical companies supplying us with fentanyl.
Your point?
drugee family
Drugee species
Wow! You come from some bad genetics! I grew up locally. Worked hard legally for my money paying taxes. It was hard to raise 3 kids as a single dad struggling to convince my kids that the other kids flaunting 60,000 trucks in high school was normal. Now that growers are expected to finally pay taxes they are up in arms. LOL We taxpayers have been paying for the births for decades around here. Suck it up buttercup! Sounds like the new taxes are make up time!
Yeah, if you want to sell drugs for a living go work for the CIA, like a man!
Just doing a job. Some will make it out and most will not. You either need this income or you can do without it. THe hungry will survive.
This is what you wanted ..
hey look what you got.
This is satire at the highest level.
If these farms don’t pay taxes NOW .. they never will.
It will just be more sanctioned overproduction. Supply exceeds demand and the price goes down.
Can’t pay taxes? You can’t grow legal weed.
Less supply, demand goes back up.
All the farms who paid taxes reap the benefit of less competition and higher prices.
If you don’t tax what the difference between your legal and illegal farms?
Superspreader event.
we’ll figure something out, find some middle ground.
Taxes are unAmerican and illegal for the government to levy on the people of the US.
Having said that, regardless of the taxes, haven’t the dope growers figured out the laws of supply and demand? Something similar to this happened almost 500 years ago in Holland when people though tulips were a valuable commodity.
The plunge in prices will weed out the cash-strapped, lazy or non-entrepreneurial individuals and a select few (or the cash-flush corporations) will supply the demand at a much lower cost than the falsely supported returns some saw during prohibition.
Any time government gets involved in the free market it’s a disaster.
I find this amusing. So many people wanted legalization but must have convinced themselves that the government wouldn’t get involved afterwards. You wanted legalization now put up with the government wanting a slice of your earnings.
“Once government is involved”, doesn’t mean things are set, and you walk away and suck!
Government was involved in the green sweep days, and with CAMP, government has been involved w your properties, roads, etc. Things change if they’re dumb. Government doesn’t go away, but we do have the ability to change laws.
And, it isn’t a flat tax. It’s been ratcheting up. it is designed to follow inflation, which is 7% this year. That is silly because, the excise tax doesn’t pay for the County to deal with permits. Every other cost of running a business, or home IS being affected by inflation.
“Once government is involved”, doesn’t mean things are set, and you walk away and suck!
Actually, it does. Like everything else, things in the weed biz were good before government got involved.
Things were good in the weed biz because the government was involved. Prohibition, CAMP, and the war against foreign weed are what drove the price up. Eventually, there were so many growers that they couldn’t bust them all (or even a portion of them) and the prices started to drop. On a graph, it would show a steady decline.
I hope these folks get the tax relief they need. However, there’s nothing the county can do to prevent the tsunami of weed a’ comin.
I remember the Government getting involved a few times. The vehicle gettn tossed now and then, all the weed income for the year flying away. Every 10-15 years was your turn. Permitting is like a slow motion bust. And it’s Civil penalties, not Criminal, so you’re already guilty.
Yuk..Yuk…Yuk
A ‘Slice’ wouldn’t be so bad, BUT they don’t want just a slice, they want 90% of what you DON’T have!!!
It’s one thing to pay for a business license, but the egregious, onerous pre-tax on money NOT YET MADE was just the government gouging the hell out of people they consider to be inadequate as human beings. As was pointed out, nobody else has to pay taxes on money they did not make. You pay taxes on the wholesale transaction, minus legal deductions. Period.
you can sell fruit and veggies at a stand but not weed, even with ID checks.
Actually there is a precedent. The Plaza system, and later the Federal Judicial Police protection rackets in Mexico.
Rex Bohn said: “I don’t know if [the cultivators] are going to get everything they want…I don’t know if we are going to get everything we want…I think there is going to be somewhere in there where we can meet in the middle.”
Which half of the baby are they going to keep?
The half that benefits his son and his sons investors !
200 hundred people out of 130 thousand residents ?
Have you seen the price of gas? It’s enough to make one think twice about making a 120mi round trip from SoHum.
Since Measure S was passed by a county election, does it have to be changed by a county election?
Taxes in California have to be passed in elections. General taxes require a simple 50%+1 majority while special taxes (such as Measure S, I guess) require a 2/3 majority to pass.
Given that taxes in California have to be passed in election, do county supervisors have the legal right to reverse or modify tax rates that are set by elections?
I am nearly certain I must be wrong about this cuz otherwise the demonstrations would be pointless.
No vote needed, it is in the ordinance that the BOS can amend, alter or repeal Measure S without voter approval.
In 2016, the voters gave power to the Board of Supervisors to, “The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors may repeal this Chapter, or amend it in a manner which does not result in an increase in the amount of the tax or broaden the scope of the tax imposed herein, without further voter approval. If the Board of Supervisors repeals any provision of this Chapter, it may subsequently reenact it without voter approval, as long as the reenacted provision does not result in an increase in the amount of the tax or broaden the scope of the tax imposed herein. (Ord. 2567, § 1, 12/13/2016).”
That power was not written into the ordinance in Mendocino.
https://humboldt.county.codes/Code/719-9?fbclid=IwAR1sdBkdi0tNm4IOn2JY5QheZSf3cEKUMop4LRt-LgT-L4ruI5D1pvDBL_g
They get around this by calling the special taxes fees.
It seems overproduction is the problem unless some farms are allowed to fail this will happen year after year. Will cutting them slack on taxes actually help the over glutted market
i
To do that they would have to nuke Oregon
A revised tax could set a reduced rate for smaller farms, keep a higher rate for bigger farms who make up for lower margins with higher volume. It would be a small incentive to stay smaller. Right now, there is incentive to grow to make up for shrinking profits.
Revising the tax will require a new election, correct?
“keep a higher rate for bigger farms who make up for lower margins with higher volume”.
Yes, have the government intervene, that’ll solve the problem. That’s not Fascism or anything. In fact, lets apply that liberal logic to everything. Let’s ticket people with nicer cars more money for speeding, charge more money for the same meal at restaurants, grocery stores etc.
Liberals love to complain about “corporations” paying for government favors while begging government for favors. Then they act shocked when the government they endlessly extol, fucks them…..again. The inflation you lament is the price you pay for “free shit” from government. Suck on that ever trip to the grocery store/gas pump libs. Let’s invite the entire third world here and “pay” for that too while we’re at it. This destruction is just beginning. The masks outside are reason enough alone to hope they go outta business.
So are you arguing for paying more taxes? How is it the Titans of capitalism pay less taxes than you? Aren’t taxes for social programs in your fevered mind?
Yeah, reducing taxes won’t help with overproduction, it will hurt.
Pretty common for prices to drop while producers are trying to grab market share and drive their competitors out of business. The glut will sort itself out over time, most of the small farms will go out of business.
Thats a good point. Herb growing is a scale business now. Traditional will be run by org. crime. Legal will be run by corps. No future…
Why is this happening now? Hasn’t the tax always been punitive? This should have been pushed years ago, now it is too little too late. Tying this to the wholesale price drop is misguided and disingenuous.
The BOS should be ashamed to have been taxing businesses like this. More importantly, the local industry leadership has been asleep at the wheel. DeLapp should be fired.
Great article Kym!
DeLapp is a hard working bad ass! Shes not the one who’s asleep. The county stymies many of the improvements HCGA tries to put forth. TheBOS and planning comission are hesitant to make hard decisions and they deal with cannabis as little as they have to in order to get by. I’m tired of people trash talking Natelynne on here! She and all the others with HCGA work their asses off to make a productive change at the local and state level for the small farmer. And a 1 acre farm is actually a small farm, so many people in humboldt are too aloof in their little bubble to realize that. There are 50 acre+ cannabis farms growing year round in the southern half of the state, even a few over 100 acres. Many of them using illegal immigrant minimum wage workers. I would love to hear the comments on here if an actual mega farm set up around here.
The tax has been punitive and excessive from the beginning. But prices were higher 7 years ago and we paid the tax (in addition to all the other extortion like fees) in good faith to try and bring some legitimacy and respect to this industry. Now prices are through the floor and the costs are too much to for many to bear.
We pay more taxes than any other type of business and all we are asking for is to be taxed fairly.
You mean she works her ass off for issues that concern her. I have never seen Nancy at any community gathering unless it’s Cannabis. The community we speak of picks up trash, volunteers time to schools, supports after school efforts, write grants to improve telecommunications, participates directly in community issues like homelessness, drug abuse and veteran care. We step in when OGs who were forced to be legal and are to old to run their grow, we run it for them. Make land and home improvements for beloved members of our community at no charge. These are just some of the things we in this community do. I ain’t never seen or heard Nancy do anything but what is in her self interest. She should run for BOS she fits right in there with Bohn, Bushnell and Bass.
We don’t give any fucks if they blow it up to the south. We need real changes so small farms can compete fairly not your whinney ass tax break. All this shit goin on is because those corporations know if we can sell are goods directly to the consumer them and the mega grows are fucked! 1 acre is not a small farm. 10k is a small farm.
I don’t know Supervisor Bohn or Bass. And I don’t always agree with Michelle. But I know that she is a hard worker for the community and I don’t just mean the business community. Not that long ago but before she was Supervisor, I learned of a young homeless woman giving birth and she and I together reached in to help financially. I forget the details but if I remember correctly, she also worked with social services to figure out what was going on. When the Thottapilly family went into the water, she was at their family’s side helping them cope. Those are just two of the times that I know she has gone above and beyond to help others.
As to Natalynne, I know she worked with EPIC, a non profit environmental agency for several years. She also hosted a show on KMUD.
It really is possible to disagree with people without discarding the good they do.
Post script: I remember something I’d like to say about Rex Bohn. 1 year BC (Before COVID) my son was helping put on the North Coast Youth Conference (amazing event for youth from across Humboldt and beyond) Betty Chinn was there to speak to the couple hundred kids assembled there. I remember seeing her nervous before the event with a trusted friend reassuring her–Rex Bohn. He wasn’t there glad-handing. He was there solely supporting one of the genuine heroes of our community. Most of the people there were kids uninterested in a local politician. As far as I can tell, he had nothing to gain but supporting a nervous friend, a woman of another race and whose base of support is probably not voting for him.
I’m willing to bet Virgina also does hidden kind acts that are ignored by people who disagree with her politics. Let’s not dehumanize people just because we would vote against some or even all of their policies.
I know they have done good for the community. I will be much more fair, I was frustrated with other issues and posted this from a narrow perspective. I have dealt with them all in one capacity or another and Bohn and Connie Stewart were very helpful in helping me get a very important right-of-way through the politics . It was always the details since that is where my focus always was that was never addressed properly. Always leading to long delays in accomplishing the goal. Again, thank you for setting me straight, blessings.
Thank you. You’ve always struck me as reasonably fair.
I have a dream (to paraphrase MLK) that people will use this website to talk across lines and the only way to do that is we acknowledge when folks, no matter their politics, are kind and helpful.
Who’s we? What group are you with?
Many!!! The right side of good most of the time and an outlaw like many of my peers round here.
1 acre of weed might have grossed you $1,000,000 last year, $500,000 this year. An acre of pistachios might get you $12,000. An acre of beans, maybe $500-1000. So an acre can be alot or not, depending on what you put on it.
Yes, but a tax break should only be given for 10k and below outdoor only. Under 10k DEP and Indoor don’t need a tax break cause they can pull every 5 weeks on average. Since they have product all the time I see no need for them to not pay taxes. I am not opposed to giving them a break under certain conditions. Like if they are 100% of grid with no generator. Not one drop of water is brought in (purchased) for their grow.
Trucking in water for domestic use is also no bueno! Meet those conditions for DEP and Indoor and I’d be fine if they got a tax break if they 10k and under.
Suspend the tax for the small growers. Let them catch a breath and plan their escape from a game they cannot win. Anybody over 10 K can go kick rocks. Everybody I know with those big scenes bought permits to blast out a few more lucrative years. And they did! With zero concern for their neighbors or any of the little people around them. And they are still doing fine. They deserve no help from us. Of course having Bohn and Bushnell on the board…well, they are the biggest big grower helpers around.
The ONLY reason, Bushnell got in, was NO ONE wanted Estelle for another term!!! It was the all too familiar syndrome lately, of having to vote for ‘The Lesser of Two Evils’!!! Which do I want totally inept Estelle or possibly coherent Ms Bushnell!!!!???
True. Estelle was the known corrupt and inept face. Bushnell was the lesser-known but now revealed as corrupt and inept face…
Like hilary and trump
Precisely.
“Suspend the tax for the small growers. Let them catch a breath and plan their escape from a game they cannot win. “..
but the writing has been on the wall for several years.. everyone should have already planned their escape.. this is no surprise.
True- I’m just trying to be nice…
We must protect the impoverished grower! Without our help how will they afford a new 90k dollar grow dozer, 5k whippits, 4oz of blow and two months in Bali each year!?! I’ve heard of grower friends enduring the indignity of only going to Costa Rica this winter. You can only imagine the shame this brings on them and their families. (World’s tiniest violin begins playing)
Oh E H, you are a decade behind. This generation is talking balanced basics.
OMFG Laughing! Hard!
When are these people going to realize that they can not complete with the big ass farms down south or Oklahoma for God sakes and leave our mountains alone.
Skedaddle scram go
Only entitled cannabis growers would plan a protest midweek when every normal person is at work. And stop with the legacy grower nonsense. Perhaps calling them lifetime criminal is more ftting. The while mom n pop grower thing is a myth too. .
It was not a myth. There was a golden age before slimey people with no concern for the land, plus CAMP, moved in. This “entitled” riff that so many are on seems to just be jealousy and envy. No, it was not perfect. Few things are.
All these “farmers” are just freaking out because they can’t afford their expensive trips, brand new cars/trucks or maintain/keep their grow hoes anymore. Most, if not all of them are money hungry snakes. I don’t feel sorry for any of you. But I do hear McDonald’s is hiring if you need a good career change.
Here we go again . . . . . Bad farmers . . . .BAD. Hate! bad!
The growers who pay these taxes have to charge $1200 per pound just to break even. That’s why the people’s market is still strong. Why buy from a dispensary when I can get the same strains at the same (or better) quality for $300 per pound?
Each of them say they wanna pay their taxes, lol. They are speaking at an event to suspend paying taxes.
Love how Rex stated “and we wanna help their affilliates,” uhhhh, Rex this is for suspending just the cultivation tax.
Like I said 10k a below, only, anything else is supporting corporate cannabis. We are well aware your 20% jumps to 60% regarding cannabis with Bushnell and Bass. The three B’s driving mom n pops back to the Traditional Market faster than you can say “I.” We who dominate this industry are watching and if you do not make it right we will decimate the affiliates, lol, that’s a promise, guaranteed!
What I don’t understand, is how can you be taxed for something you didn’t produce…
Potential production is taxable? Because you got a permit, once?
If I was silly enough to try to compete with Billionaires, I would move to a different County, a different state…
Nobody is making legal money, but they will drive everybody who thinks they can make money growing weed, straight to work in some other business…
Feed the Black Market, is the only answer in a country lacking cohesive and uniform cannabis laws. And like I said in 2016, it’s gonna take a decade to straighten this out, maybe longer…
“What I don’t understand, is how can you be taxed for something you didn’t produce…”
Just look at what happened o the ranchers in S.Humboldt from the late 50’s to 1976.
The advalorem yield tax, taxed standing timber even if you never cut a tree.
That is why many of the ranches had to sell because of the tax they to pay on some thing they didn’t produce.
The result was that so much timber was cut and the price dropped so low that much timber was burned once on the ground.
Salmon Creek is a prime example.
Another result was the environmental damage. The loggers to this day were blamed, but fault was State tax policy.
That policy was changed. You pay tax on the timber when you cut and SELL it.
It’s a schedule 1 narcotic and as long as it remains a schedule 1 narcotic the government controls every aspect. Including taxing a non existant possibility of the schedule 1 narcotic being produced. Legals even have to pay a fee to a government entity for water. In a few years corporations will be taxed for air. I would imagine they’ll figure out a way for citizens to be taxed for air as well. We only own the blood in our veins my dad used to say, “make sure a drop never goes to waste unless for good reason.”
I see a lot of positive actually. I did not expect it to happen so quickly though. We really had no idea how bad “Medical” fucked up our industry. Legal has actually been a great thing for our area minus the whinning by this group and a few other groups. At least 67%, if not higher, of the shit growers have left these hills. The wildlife around our grows have increased two-fold since OK legalized.
Now if we can get passed this pandemic. Get some entertainment for these young restless men and women who work hard all year long things will be just fine in the Triangle. I have noticed many young couples start new relationships during the last two years. It makes for a solid foundation like it did long ago.
Hi Mr. Auerbach. I think you should know something about me personally. Might save ya a few million, I passed my series 7 exam on the first try, lol, I was 22. I am in my mid 50s now. Time is ticking Mr. Auerbach and we both know that at this rate you can only sustain this for 3 years max.
I got a better strategy for you. How bout you take that $300+ million and put it to good use. The under 10k sq ft cultivators should receive $1000 a pound for their hard work. That will put their net at around $840 a pound. Seems fair and with all the money you’ve lost just in the past 5 days you could of purchased and sold for a profit to help pay them taxes. It would look better on your bottom line and show respect for the community we love. I promise we will back off and give back the market share we took recently. Otherwise, your gonna spend that $300+ million sonner than even you anticipated.
We know SISU is about to be acquired from the company who’s board you sit on. More security note shuffling, gotta be stressful, lol. Tick tock Mr. Auerbach Uncle Sammie only accepts cash payment!
I’m laughing myself silly with the people whining about how unfair the government is. How gullible, it will be great the government will make it all fair, while they line their pockets on your hard work and tell you have to pay pay.
It’s really hard to have compassion for a small group of people who have been living large in every capacity with egos blowing up bigger than their giant grows. Yes giant, because the actual ‘real’ small farmers weren’t able to afford to go legal due to the fact that they chose a little humility over greed. We all know many of these “farmers” (and I say that with a huge eyeroll) and how they’ve rolled those big egos like their expensive bulldozers throughout our community for too long. For years and years now, they have been rolling fat and damn proud of it, bragging openly about how much money they made and without a care about the environment or their neighbors, and most especially their treatment of anyone else who wasn’t making as much money as they were. If you worked in town and had to deal with any of this obnoxious behavior on a regular basis you know exactly who and what I’m referring to. Even worse if you worked for them. It it some of the grossest, classism bs I’ve ever witnessed, downright shameless. Then having the audacity of shouting out to anyone of their philanthropic donations while simultaneously they deny their workers from money owed to them and then still going on their luxury vacation regardless. It is a known fact. We’ve all watched many of these people lie about how they operate so they can sell their products ‘legally’ on their websites as if that weren’t awful enough. The backbone of these surrounding communities have been the people that have been working all year long and living within their means. Now the one percenters of our area want the powers that be to supplement their rich lifestyle? They’ve had a free ride for many, many years now. Your pickle barrels of cash are gone? Who’s fault is that? This is as corrupt as the banks getting bailed out after ripping off their customers. These crybabies can still feed their kids and afford the roof over their heads, but just not those expensive extras they’ve become so addicted to. And the extras are hundreds of thousands of dollars they wasted on their ‘stuff’ that’s what they are crying about. Their vacations, plastic surgery, most expensive alcohol, big parties, cars, drugs, boats, etc. rather than preparing for what was the inevitable. Cry me a river, or maybe now the river will have a little more water from all the tears from these shamelessly entitled, spoiled and delusional people who don’t deserve more time, more money, and most of all, any of our sympathy.
Yes, many do know exactly what you speak. They are not supported by the masses. What will be interesting is if this group gets the measure suspended for cultivators above 10k. Then you can add sell out, carpet baggers and bootlickers to your list.
The People we would like to speak for the community often cannot or as in Kym’s case are already at 110% capacity for our community. We cannot ask them to give more or really step out of the shadows especially for a failing initiative. I do thank Madrone for stepping up but we all see how he is treated by the others with last names that start with the letter B.
Could not agree more. 100% accurate and true. The sheer delusion, lies and hypocrisy they’ve created within their culture is horrendous.
yep yep yep and yeppers
That and they’ve been voting all along for the people who did them like this.
Yes- it has been a horrific shit show. They were stealth invaders, parasites who used our vocabulary (community, family, eco-everything) and used the privacy and secrecy values we developed ( due to our outlaw status in a war to snuff us out). They talked the words while they grabbed all they could for themselves. They even flew the banners of Grateful Dead and Bob Marley as they dove deep into their greed and rolled over the top of long-term neighbors. Never saw any of them put together an environmental benefit or volunteer time to repair a watershed…but they talked like they cared. While they left on another “spiritual retreat” to Bali or a helicopter ski trip. Saddest part is …they won! They got $$$$!!! They will remain here with their extra properties lording it over the poor schmucks who never had that level of selfish greed. That is what Humboldt has become…again. Weed changed nothing. The human qualities of greed and extraction just used weed as their latest tool. These guys are not far removed from the Indian killers who first stole this land. Fuck them…
I’m not a cultivator, so I don’t have skin in this, but I’m quite cynical about the intentions of some of the speakers of the rally, given my encounters with them. It seems like the plight of the small farmers is being co-opted by larger business interests.
I’m equally cynical about our BOS and their intentions/ability to make positive change. I hope they prove me wrong.
That said, tax relief for 10k sq ft and below (except indoor) farms seems like a fair policy and is something I support.
I want our community members to be able to stay in their homes and to continue making a living. I know how hard that can be here, especially given the current conditions of inflation and low local wages, which are affecting so many of us.
I am cool with under 10k indoor as long as they don’t gotta truck in one drop of water! Gotta guide’em I feel with proper rules. You can begin adding renewable energy infrastructure as the years pass. Reducing generator noise ain’t a bad thing.
So one of the farm gals is worried about keeping all the money here locally and then goes on to state she has gone to Chile every winter for the past 20 or 25 years. So, tell me how all her money stayed local?
Logic in Humboldt west of the 101 is odd. If ya figure it out let me know. I been puzzled since the early 80s.
It *is* different over there!
It’s the salt air, rust.
And did she hire locals? Some do, most hire migrant workers for less.
Sorry, the BoS shouldn’t have authority to alter the deal approved by the voters. It’s a tough competitive world out there and not everyone survives. Just wait until it’s federally legalized and mega agribusiness companies start row cropping thousands of acres at a time
Cannabis farmers, who signed up for a permit have (generally) played by the rules and expected, like any other group, to be treated fairly. But that has NOT been the case, in so many ways!
The county cared more about the infusion of money from the (often) unprecedented fees and taxes, in addition to the ‘donations’ officials personally benefitted from, than the survival of and ability for the local cannabis industry to thrive.
SUSPEND THE MEASURE S TAXES ON CANNABIS FARMERS NOW!!
I would bet you a drink of your choice that most permit holders have sold out the backdoor to the black market. I think the statement that most have generally played by the rules is generally bullshit.
👍👏👏👏
The first thing Noah did in the Bible story is to plant a vineyard and get stupid drunk. The fun begins at Genesis 9:20.
And the mandrake bit at Genesis 30:14.
And the JC water to wine bit. They were already sloshed when JC arrived. John 2:10 “And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.”
Christ’s first public miracle was the water-into-wine gambit at the wedding feast at Cana. Some Bible enthusiasts suggest that it was J.C.’s wedding since the complaint of no-booze was directed at Mary, his mother. Why her unless it was her son’s wedding? J.C. Didn’t want to do it. But Mary just told the steward to do what her offensive son said. This led to the above quote.
so, J.C.’s first miracle was to provide a recreational intoxicant for a wedding. Funny, because He had to know how toxic alcohol is. Mohammad would pick up on that later.
would have been a much better world had Jesus had produced some good weed instead.
This parable was drummed into me in Catechism as an example of following your mom’s orders.
They’re farmers…they don’t work 9 to 5.
Those are monocrop growers, not farmers.
I was a vegetable farmer for 10 years. We worked sunup to sundown, 6 days a week. If we were to go to a protest, it would have to be on a Sunday afternoon.
What! That ain’t true, lol. If you had a reason to protest the day wouldn’t matter. Vegetables are not a schedule 1 narcotic, tabacco farming (try and call them growers, lol) is as close to weed as it gets and that ain’t close either.
Farmer is a term used by the new generation cause calling them just “feeders” apparently is rude. I call myself a grower cause that is what we used to call ourselves cause we actually grew the plant from seed in the ground. The guy who writes the articles “Casey” is a farmer and a great grower. He keeps raisin livestock we might tag on rancher for him as well, lol.
Since when was “farmer” a term only for a grower of multiple crops? If an Ohio farmer chooses to grow nothing but corn s/he is still a farmer. It amazes me the contortions people go through to de-legitimize cannabis farmers.
Thats BS.
I wake up every day and make way into the fields and move through my routes before planning other tasks that require attention. Forget about calling every distributor in town and telling them to buy more of my product. That happens after noon.
Like when I started my first business. I was pouring coffee and making burros while the folks next door were at a ” meet your neighbor meeting”. THey went out of bus. I sold to a guy from AZ who paid me wisely.
you can bitch and moan or you can
GET BACK TO WORK
Look I don’t work 9 to 5. But I work harder that almost anyone I know. It’s 1:50 a.m. and I’m still working. But like a farmer, I have flexible hours and can rearrange my schedule if need be to occasionally be at a rally etc.
Cannabis farmers have paid the county 47million from measure S ? And what about all the other fees associated with becoming legal? What I want to know is what have those funds been used for? Not seen one improvement in this county , literally! Time for an audit !!!!
Growers have a relatively low cost of production. If they’re spending $1 more than $300 per pound produced they deserve to fail for stupidity. This is not an entitled free for all anymore. It’s a weed that any idiot can produce. Obviously from the current state of the market. Get your shit together and realize business is about competing against other business to do better. Do better than your friends and your neighbors and you will win.
It’s 300$ for cleaning and the per lb tax alone….. so please elaborate on how to decrease that cost ?
Boom! lol
Ben, did you get the new State Water Board permit fees? Apparently those are now increased !!!!
Pick up some scissors and trim your own bud?
One or two people can’t trim a large amount quickly. Here we have the usual assumption that there’s no work or skill involved.
Exactly!
Haha! I’d still be trimming! Would you like to help me? Because you apparently are clueless about the industry, stay in your lane maybe?
But then then the grower wouldn’t be able to feel important anymore without micromanaging your trimming.Boring you with how ‘important’ they are and all their even more boring self-aggrandizing stories.Or just being creepy while you try to do your job.Or asking you to help them with other things other than trimming.Or just wasting you time because they think they are better and more important than you…because they don’t know how to do anything else.
Most owners I know can trim circles around most trimmers ! We had to be covert back in the day, we didn’t get trim crews, you cleaned quietly. You must of worked for newbies.
More lies.
Explain yourself?
You know it’s a lie. You explain yourself. Give an accurate, line itemized cost breakdown based on your annual production and DO NOT include the state flower excise tax that you’re not paying into that. Unless you can provide a receipt from the CDTFA for those payments. Also provide how many square feet your permit is approved for vs. what you are producing annually so we can see how much you are diverting and how that is actually affecting your cost of goods on paper.
Sure Hostile Consultant Person, I’ll get right on that ….You HAVE to pay the state excise tax for any lbs sold legally, it comes out of our payment from the distro .
I math! Just roughing here but not far off on an annual basis.
Let’s see we will go with outdoor, in 100 gallon pots on a 7500 sq ft grow for a total of 200 plants decently spaced.
9 bags of soil x $8 = 72 x 200 = 14,400
Amendments for 200 pots = 12,000
Pots @ $20 each = 4,000
Purchase plants, hmmm, a little tricky here clones or tap root let’s go tap root = 10,000 clones would be 2000.
So far we at 40k for taproot and 32k for clones and we still gotta grow. I suggest another 4k for supplies and maintenance during grow season.
County permit 7,500
State permit 3,500
Water board 700
Various 500
Total 12,200
That’s 56,200 for taproot and 48,400 for clones. We have not harvested yet. Assuming each plant will produce 50% flower, 25% smalls and 25% shake. Each plant produced 1lb of material.
Trimming 100 pounds 13,500.
Total ready for market. I did not include testing which is another 1500 to 3000.
Taproot total out 69,700
Clones total out 61,400
100 pounds of flower @ 500 a pound = 50,000
50 pounds of smalls @ 150 a pound = 7,500
50 pounds of shake @ 25 a pound = 1,250.
Taxes $161 a pound flower x 150 = 24,150
Shake ain’t worth selling. It was trash we had to bury when I was younger we’d make honey oil out of some.
Gross sales $57,500
Taxes $24,150
Net $33,350
Profit.
Taproot -36,350
Clones -28,050
You can play with the numbers all you want but bottom line it don’t pay to be legal!
Actually the small cultivator was screwed over because of the cap. As well as the falsehood equity of giving dispensary/distribution permits to those most harmed. They were easy targets to sell quickly to corporates flashing cash. Now only a handful are private equity owned 95% is now corporate ran or funded. Those corporations are vertically integrated with their own brands. They need these farms to sell their goods to the corporations for $300 a pound. Easiest way to do that is shut them outta the market claim a false oversupply. It’s happening in Michigan, pretty soon Illinois and then Florida. Corporations need cash to pay taxes what better way than forcing legals to sell their hard work for cheaper than a vertical integrated corporation can produce. The strategy is brilliant.
Just few tinsie weensie issues with that strategy they failed to take into account. It’s a schedule one narcotic, lol. It’s a lot of work to go from plant to what the consumer expects and learning strategy from growers in the medical cannabis side of the industry. It’s easy to dominate a closed market especially since we were not gonna interfere in people getting medicine.
I like the save our arms sign
I grew up on a dairy farm (B grade creamery) .
If a pot smoker were to be in charge of the show, it would have folded.
7 days a week, twice a day, (4:45 A.M. and again at 5;15 PM), everyday of the year. If you fucked up, the milk truck drivers that rolled up the driveway twice a day, seven days a week could have given zero fucks.
Have you ever seen a pissed off Holstein cow that hasn’t been hooked up for her milking?
Now tell me how hard it is to grow dope.
No doubt, dairy farming is hard, demanding work. More work than weed, but cannabis farming still demands equipment, skill, responsibility and, yes, work. Again the incessant hate and bitterness.
Very little. Growers work 6-8 months out of the year. Max. They only period of time that requires a full work day is planting and harvesting. Everything in between is minor maintenance. They’re tending to a weed which grows itself. Obviously it’s very easy according to the state of the market. They very quickly grew 10 times what the National market could support.
Year around now !
Absolutely true. The growers are so deep into their lies and deceptions they actually believe the crap coming out of their mouths. They’re failing because they’re not competent or capable and instead of taking massive action and fixing their flawed business model, they’re blaming everything and everyone else other than themselves for their stupid decisions and behaviors. Pathetic.
People actually hire you as a consultant or is that just what you call yourself?
You are clueless about the workload, and probably most other things that have to do with farming.
Operated a 29,000 acre beef ranch, also huge alfalfa farm, now 10k cannabis farm. ALL require a huge physical amount of work if not hired out . Don’t knock it till you’ve done it .
The 2022 season is just around the bend. Going to be interesting to see how this plays out. My guess is it will be business as usual. Every sf allowed will be stuffed. More weed will be grown and believe it or not the quality will drop, again. Owners will be pinching pennies in the last place the should be, like labor. Quite frankly, most of these “farms” should just close up shop. They barely survived the 215 days and are just hanging on by a thread. Retire from weed, save what money you have.
How many of the supervisors have a direct conflict of interest in voting to eliminate the tax?
Hundreds? I drove by. There were maaaaaynr 100 people
I just wonder how many folks on here who bad mouth the government and talk about how you any trust em and follow the money are also out there supporting the govt and their overreach concerning the “pandemic”? Double standards at play
.. you think they actually give a fuck about you on any level? Laughable. Wear a mask and shutnthr fuck up
What they should do is waive the taxes for small mom and pops and make people who are over something like 100,000 sqft basically whatever these big Corps are trying to do here be taxed. Indoor should be anything over 200 lights or something. That’ll control these big guys and help the littles.
well, if that’s so, be more competitivehttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/recreational-marijuana-sales-ballooned-in-2021/ar-AAT1ma2
//Nationwide, those sales generated more than $3 billion in tax revenue for 11 states, including California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan and Nevada. That’s higher than the $2.7 billion collected from the 10 states that allowed recreational marijuana sales in 2020, according to a report from the Marijuana Policy Project.//
Oh, ballooned huh, lol. Cause they added another state recreational. However, the policy project uses data for both medical and recreational. Which last year was 6 states. So, out of 7 new states they generated 300 million. Which is less than 10% and they were expecting 25%. Guess that balloon just went flat. This is to get investors and is just media hype for corporate cause they gettin their asses handed to’em by us hill folk!!
The Old Guardians never left the industry. When medical came in with their fancy grow’in style we just retreated back into the hills. The California market was never the biggest player in comparison to the nation. We all knew they were gonna fuck the California market all up. So, we went about doin what we do best to supply not just a nation but we began venturing out beyond our borders. Now here we are watching corporate decimate the post ’96ers with their fancy grow’in style.
Interesting though I see an opportunity for small outdoor craft farms to dominate the legal side of the industry. Scares the shit outta corporate cause they see it as well. Corporates burn’in cash at a much more rapid pace thanks to the fact paying the government requires cash. This year is very interesting and setting up very well so far for a possibe rejuvenation of the mom n pops of the Emerald Triangle. Those SPACs gotta buy a business and pay taxes in cash this fiscal year. They also have to pay their loans that come to term this year otherwise they face delisting off the exchanges. Being delisted means the pipeline of money is shut off! A couple of right strategic moves this year and we may be able to catapult the mom n pops to their rightful place in the legal industry.
We need 6 million dollars and we can make a huge difference for all the growers in the triangle. So if we can pull that together we’ll make things right on our own. I wouldn’t under estimate us either it’s possible, just a matter of when and we ain’t it any rush. Just grow Humboldt, it’s what we do, no matter which side your on just grow!!!
Yep. Just grow. Everyone keep growing. More and more. And the price keeps dropping. Unless you wanna drive it to the Mormons or more po-dunk Midwest towns. Sounds like a sustainable business model. But hey, whatever it takes to sink stupid corporate weed and sink all the big ballers down the drain. I’m in…