Letter to the Editor Says, ‘Watch Out for the Humboldt County Cannabis Reform Initiative’
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Please watch out for the Humboldt County Cannabis Reform Initiative, it is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The co-authors of the bill don’t realize the harm their wording will cause to the small cannabis farmer in Humboldt County. It will be expensive for all the small farmers. It certainly doesn’t protect them nor is it “good for the small farmer” as the website would like you to believe. It will also cause extreme financial harm to any ancillary business that profits off the cannabis farmer in Humboldt. This is anyone from engineers, consultants, farm supply stores, and even other small businesses that small farmers shop at. Thousands of hours of public comment have already gone into the County General Plan. These people could have chosen to get involved then, but they didn’t. This small group of people have chosen to rewrite the County General Plan without guidance from the small farmers, county officials, or anyone in the cannabis industry. The legal farmers in Humboldt county are already over regulated. They have had to meet with multiple inspectors for site management, water usage, and environmental worries. Many of the concerns listed by HCRI have already been dealt with, and these folks, who are not in the industry, don’t appear to be aware of all the requirements that have already been processed. In addition there are many details in this proposal that are alarming to current small cannabis farmers, and these added costs aren’t being explained clearly by the petitioners. It will also increase the value of the current larger cannabis farms in Humboldt county, as it hopes to cap the size of new permits at 10,000 sq feet, and only for farms or nurseries.
As a voter initiative, county supervisors will not be able to adjust this proposal in the future to make it more feasible. So while protecting the county from a corporate takeover sounds great, when you delve deeper into the proposal you begin to see it harms a very large group of Humboldt County businesses.
Some of the proposed changes are
- Changing the County definition of outdoor; farmers who currently pull tarps for light deprivation, but use zero electricity would be lumped in the same category as those who use up to 24 watts per sq ft. That would change a 10,000 sq ft farm from a current county tax bill of about $11,400 to $22,800 a year. This has the potential to encourage people to use the electricity to justify the increased costs.
- Requiring onsite visits from county staff before renewing permits; Current law requires annual compliance inspections,to renew permits each year, which includes aerial and satellite surveillance. Every permitted and licensed farm is subject to in-person inspections from the Department of Cannabis Control, Department of Fish & Wildlife, the State Water Board, and the County. The County does not have staffing capacity to put boots-on-the-ground at every single one of the 700+ farms each year that are spread around a county that is the size of the state of Connecticut. What would be the environmental cost of all the vehicle miles traveled for these inspections? Who is going to pay for the increased capacity, which would include staff time, vehicles, maintenance, fuel? The seemingly minor addition of the new language requiring in-person inspections, puts the onus of the farmer’s permit renewal on whether or not the county can physically get out their farm. The language also implies that those of us who volunteered to become the most highly regulated agricultural operators in the world can’t be trusted. When I asked the petitioners about this new language, they suggested that I sue the county if I couldn’t get them out on time. Yeah, because more lawsuits is a great idea, and the small farmer can afford all the associated costs plus the down time while fighting this piece of legislation.
- Requires any complaints from neighbors to be dealt with before permit renewals can be granted. Even if the complaint is filed the day before the permit is set to renew. With farms currently struggling this inability to continue the season would close their doors for good.
- Require new permits and category 4 roads to each new farm or any farm choosing “expansion” – (A category 4 road is a paved road with a yellow line down the middle)
This is the most concerning part. The bill defines EXPANSION as: ‘include, but are not limited to, an increase in cultivation area, water usage, energy usage, or the number or size of any structures used in connection with cultivation” So, if the farm would like to add extra water tanks/pond/solar panels/storage sheds they would have to apply for a new permit, be denied because they are not on a Cat 4 road, and would not be able to improve their farm. Many improvements are currently requirements of their permits..
- Lengthen the current forbearance period for an additional month. Currently cannabis farmers have to store the water they use from April 1- Oct, per Department of Fish and Game recommendations. But by changing the definition of “Expansion” to include water tanks this change would be near impossible to add additional water tanks to comply with. It’s a catch 22.
- Limits new and expanded permits to outdoor/mixed light less than 10,000 sq ft of cultivation or nursery. Many farms have multiple permits. They need them to be viable businesses. New permits for Production, Distribution, Manufacturing, Eco-Tourism, Self-transport are all separate licenses that would then by excluded from the bill.
So be aware when you see these folks with their little “Save Humboldt from Corporate Cannabis” sign. They will show you a map of Humboldt County with 1,000 dots representing Humboldt’s legal cannabis industry density. Those are our family farms! We are the folks who came into compliance and are legally farming. Unfortunately, that number has dropped by 25% in the last few months due to market conditions. We are losing family farms every day; the industry is contracting, not expanding! The proponents will tell you that 2,700 new permits will be issued next year, which is inaccurate and demonstrates a lack of understanding that one permit does not equal one farm. One farm may have a half-dozen authorizations, which come as a permit. So the most likely number of new or expanded farms “in the queue” is less than 150, which may or may not ever get through permitting to be built.
Legal farms in Humboldt County are already the most thoroughly regulated and scrutinized industry California has ever devised. As a small farmer, I can state that remaining compliant means keeping my business and family safe. I do not believe that the changes to public policy that the proponents are seeking will result in a better protected environment, nor will it make for a better Humboldt County.
Allison Shore
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Big Pharmaceutical hates competition.
Prop 64 was written by corporate lobbyists.
They are putting independent livelihoods on the chopin block.
If you step back, you might almost think it’s being done on purpose.
Tom Amiano (sp?) and our local suits literally spent over three years crunching numbers to come up with the current framework for “legal” weed.
Then our local suits made it even worse.
Yup, definitely no accident that “the market” is more hindenburg than titanic.
It’s still a great time for home and hobby growers to make some spare cash selling to friends and family. LED tech is good enough nowadays to easily make a few hundred bucks a month with your spare closet if you’re dialed.
Marijuana should be completely decriminalized and free for everybody to grow and trade as they please.
Re, “They are putting independent livelihoods on the chopin block” …
His mastery at the piano dictates that he not be censored!
Thanks for the reminder! I need to get more copies of petitions to distribute. Already had a couple dozen friends who signed it but I have more friends wanting to sign and get it on the ballot. We have heard all the sob stories and we’ve been subjected to abuse from permitted/entitled growers so yeah we are ready to correct the county’s regulations and win back our neighborhoods. Nearly everybody who got abated is looking forward to voting for this…paybacks are a bitch!
Are you saying to vote for this one or you have a different one?
I said as loudly as I could “Do Not Vote For The Corporate Fake Legalization!!” It did no good. Now I just say what I want and I hope everybody votes their own heart. The ship is already sunk. I hope the decent and small people prevail but that’s not what I’m seeing…
If everyone in the triangle voted against prop 64 it would not have mattered. The large city and urban voters decided this issue without us. I didn’t like it either but there was no real way to stop it. We had a great run here. When the tides turned and the waves came crashing down you could either ride the wave, let the wave ride you or get out of the water. For those that choose to ride the wave it isn’t not their fault some people got crushed by the waves. That is just life.
You think your so high and mighty for telling everyone what it was and now feel empowered to bitterly denounce those who rode the last waves! I reject your tired and hateful rhetoric.
Well said
It’s more like bitterness I have it as well. Not a big fan of the hateful rhetoric however, it’s necessary sometimes. We been through a lot of shit for this plant. I think continuing to call us out is what is in order and I know I appreciate it when I have gone beyond. Make no mistake though the words might hurt but they are true. Blessings.
Thanks, I ignored you saying “you’re gonna have to do stuff I don’t want to do, so you suck”. So as payback, let’s make it worse.
You are paying back the small farmers who you claim to like. The very ones who didn’t want to get abated.
The California market was decided when we approved to change from Medical to commercial. California is competing with Oregon now and Oregon is getting $300 a pound. Cannabis farms are going out of business because the state approved legal million square feet grows in central and southern California after the vote but before the regulations started in the January after the vote. Yes we are being put out of business by over regulation but how can we compete with Oregon and their million pound grows that sell for $300 a pound. So Farce is a farce like the vote to legalize cannabis from medical to commercial. We will vote no on farce and their idea IF they get enough signatures. I saw the writing on the wall and after 42 years of growing commercially I am retiring to my favorite place in the hills.
And Oklahoma
And Mexico….
Our own Humboldt County Board of Supervisors threw every single one of their constituents under the bus when they created the local system of requirements. In a single sitting, they decided the fate of Humboldt weed for everybody, forever. As if the packaging requirements aren’t obscene enough, there is no justification for the set up costs and requirements, and there’s no way our supervisors didn’t know that.
The county was even taken to court over illegal taxation and lost, only to then add insult to injury through retroactive compensation requirements.
The county’s proven illegal taxation and the supervisors who made that mandatory should be much bigger news. They should have been forced to resign. Imagine any other ‘industry’ being so obviously ripped off by their own elected officials.
You are being put out of business by over-production. You just said that yourself. Why should the rest of us have to put up with your smug attitudes while you blow up generators all night, all year and destroy our night skies and our roads with your failing Hail Mary efforts. Many of us came here and fought hard to get a spot in paradise and the weed money came second. Sounds like you were always here for the $$$…Good bye!
I have very little sympathy for anybody over 40 who wants marijuana to cost a fortune. Where the heck was their head last century when we were all shouting “free the weed!”.
It can be said without hesitation that the vast majority of people want weed to be completely decriminalized. It’s what everybody’s talked about forever. All the current problems of overproduction and resource waste would disappear overnight, and government could focus on even bigger environmental and economic problems.
Mom and pop roadside flower stands and backyard bud at farmers markets are what the people want.
This is merely about control and power. It’s important that the corporate office controls this next billion dollar crop.
Take the plant from the people and make it an industrial product
You should probably direct your comments at the dispensaries then. Farmers are getting 250 a lb. That’s .55 a gram before costs of production. Dispensaries are still charging 10 dollars a gram which equals 4500.00 a lb.
Yep, farmers produce a commodity and it will never be valued enough without direct sales.
Of all places in the entire world, Humboldt County should have the most legal weed. Period.
Instead, it’s lettuce being treated like a pharmaceutical here more than most places in this state. It’s Tom Amiano and the suits being cronies for the plastics industry to require a ton of wasteful packaging for every “product”, and expensive chemicals from big pharma to “test” everything. Making sure law enforcement is going to make a killing searching and seizing. Etc etc…
…but everybody wanted the party to end a long time ago, and nobody should be hassled for weed. The weed should have been freed. There are laws in place for screwing up the environment and being a detrimental moron. The government tailored a discriminatory financial institution to profit from the peoples’ misfortune. Again.
I gotta agree with you Farce. I appreciate entrepreneurs but if anyone wants to farm then take your business down to farmlands and don’t disturb the peace and quiet (and dark) in the mountains.
Yes, if anyone wants to “farm,” they should take their business down to an ag-zoned area.
But if they want to raise plastic (the most often-seen product around big cannabis scenes) they should get to the industrial zone. There’s one on the outskirts of every city. They’d have everything they need for factory production, a lack of concerned nearby residents, and the infrastructure right there for transportation of materials and products to market.
Wanting to raise plastic (industrial volume and methods for producing cannabis) in the hills raises a red flag for me.
There are many ag- zoned properties in the hills Laura
Yep, lots of them. I assume other zoning that allow for agriculture activities as well.
True. If actual farming of plants or feeding of animals is involved, then why not on a slope or off the roads… so i could scratch my first few lines in that response. Guess i was just trying to agree with the gist of MLR’s comment (about not liking the noise or lights) but could have said all that with the bulk of my comment concerning what’s called a “farm” but is more like a noisy, bright, plasticky manufacturing zone having very little to do with interaction with the land and love of what we once called “rural values.”
Although I do not farm in greenhouses many do. The authors of the bill just constructed a massive greenhouse. They look out from their porch and adjust their blinders to conceal exactly what they are pissed about on an adjoining property. So ask yourself what’s the difference? Many farms tried what you are advocating for. They returned their TPZ property to a pre cannabis state and brought their square footage downtown to an ag zoned property only to see backlash from the nimbys. We should all be having a conversation about what is fair. This bill will crush small farms whose only recourse will be to sell their land to corporate interests that extract all proceeds from the county.
Once you get your roof fixed, and the plastic tarp off, take a trip down the central valley. In the meantime, avoid strawberries (plastic sheeting), cherries(plastic bird netting) and Cuties, or Halos (plastic bee netting). No commercial flowers on Mother’s day! People overdo the plastic thing, but weed still produces more revenue per SQ. Ft. Of plastic used than typical ag., And covers a much smaller total plastic footprint.
I grew up in Fresno. Most strawberry girls do not use plastic sheeting. I never once saw a single orchard of cherries with plastic netting on it.
Yeah! Save the hills for the yarders, skidders, and log trucks! If you want to farm cows get em out of the Alps, and raise em in Hanford! Quit disturbing the peace and quiet(and dark) of the shores of Humboldt bay. No more streetlights! I’m pulling down the mall lights tonight! Prior to Eureka, this was pure Wildlands. If you want Walmart move to Fayetteville, AR.
Your petition will be just as worthless as our Hail Mary efforts, until then, enjoy the sound of that 25k next door
It doesn’t seem that unreasonable.
Having to see that a neighbor object is rectified prior to permit renewal sounds like an extortion racket in the making. Anyone who authors a ballot measure claiming to protect the small farms from corporations, but is not in the industry, is exactly a sheep in wolfs clothes. The authors are liars.
The authors are two grumps that live in kneeland. They are pissed that people dare make a living on property surrounding them. They don’t really give a shit about anything other than their own little backyard. Typical nimby hippocrates!
They’re mad because the environmental concerns they claim to care about moved the country to encourage remote timber land farms to relocate to their ag zoned neighborhood.
Listening to them talk about their initiative is embarrassing. People who clearly have no idea what is gone on except that they are suddenly inconvenienced by a working farm next door.
Learning to be a good neighbor is one thing you newbies never got good at.
Haha you don’t know me or my ways. But nice big fat try!
Rules #3 & #4 are a joke! You can’t seriously make farms comply with those rules. I’m all for getting the legal market in a better place, but this isn’t the solution. Can a 2nd initiative be written to compete with this? Why doesn’t Allison, the author of this article, and her colleagues write better legislation to pass. We need a realistic compromise that works for everyone. The way this current thing is written I’m going to vote no even though I’m the one who coined the phrase “Corporate Cannabis Out Of Humboldt “………
Yes, #3 to a an extortionist dream and #4 is so misguided as to intentionally put people out of business. Authoring a measure claiming to protect people they don’t like is a deceitful act.
One of the workers on my farm signed this thing when he was at the farmers market. We were listening to the Cannabis Show when they were talking about it. He was like, “ Wait a minute… this thing sounds bad. Is this what they were having people sign at the farmers market? Shit, I signed that thing! Those fuckers tricked me!”
I said, “Way to go dude! You know that’s why you’re always supposed to read things before you sign them!”
Signing the petition just gets this on the ballot (if it succeeds). You can still vote NO
Classic scenario of a grower signing something that they don’t read. Being presented at one of their ideological self identifying establishments . “Farmers Market” pffttt. You are what you eat. 99% of growers claim to be Democrats too so that should sum things up.
He’s a Bernie Dem, not Biden Dem. I’m a Trumper myself. I thought my trim crew was literally gonna stab me to death when the presidential winner was announced. They were all pissed off, I was laughing and said, “Sounds like none of you voted for the winner, huh?” They fucking lost it! Haha!
To be fair the majority of Americans did not vote for the winter.
It was a laborer Macy
Only Pat Murphy and his EFF disciples could be responsible for this initiative. Haha. Hard to run a Humboldt based business from Palms Springs.
Falcon Brands does it. Well Cathedral City, not Palm Springs. I met with them at their Eureka facility. They wouldn’t take my trim or smalls because it was too small of an amount(145# trim and 35# smalls) and also because it was too old(from last fall). They only take product if it’s 60 days old or fresher. Older product sells for too cheap or sits for too long for them to bother with.
I’m a small farmer and I’m gonna grow this year. We are expanding because we sold all of our 2021 crop and could have sold it 10 times over. The game is only over if you don’t have the skills to keep playing. We only grew 225 pounds last year, but I could have sold literal TONS if I would have had it. Prices are at historic lows, but I’m still feeling blessed!
If you make your points with memes you already lost the argument.
Cognitive dissonance is sexually transmitted disease.
That’s what all the old people think.
yawn
Pretty sure if you make zero point at all you’ve lost the argument.
It was 85 billion left behind I’m Afghanistan that was the biggest red flag
Social security is a Ponzi scheme.
Ya mean all those IOU’s from the government to the government aren’t real money? Does that mean the million dollars of IOU’s in my safe that I wrote to myself aren’t really a million dollars either?? So I’m not a millionaire??? I’m shocked……shocked!
The many new states going the legal consumption route have supposedly strict requirements for all products to be grown, extracted, packaged and taxed within their state!!!
In other words None of Humboldts Finest!!!
The market?
It’s not going to “come back” next year like I’ve heard a few delusional OG pals confidently exclaim!!!
All the homesteaders who developed actual living soil will have tasty veggies to eat!
All those hillside grow bag “farms” ?
Not so much.
So far it’s been fun waving goodbye to the flood of green rushers!
The bummer is lots of OG homesteaders are going to get washed away with them…..
//The bummer is lots of OG homesteaders are going to get washed away with them…//
Not if I got any say. It ain’t over. Some yes cannot compete in the market. Mainly due to the grow scene wasn’t in the best spot. Not so much an industry issue as it was a pure business foundation issue.
Now, I see only two (not a big fan of either) Humboldt products in LA, Long Beach, Orange County, Riverside or the Coachella Valley dispensaries that’s Papa and Barkley and old pal. Humboldt is being purposely stymied and it was made easy when the cap was removed and with the slimyness collaboration of our Board of Supervisors. This can all be overcome and I see a huge gap that the triangle growers might be able to make their way back up that industry ladder. My group is goin for it!! We will let you know our progress.
Speaking to new cannabis regulations; did you know, the Garberville Sanitary District (GSD) has implemented a new ordinance that requires people using GSD water to buy a separate ag meter for $8,000 instead the using the water supplied by GSD for your residence to grow cannabis. If you do not comply, GSD will charge you 3 times more for your domestic water use if used for cannabis cultivation and or turn off your water completely if you don’t comply. You can Thank Rio Anderson and Doug Bryan who are both on the GSD Cannabis Committee and GSD Board members for those recommendations, along with Ralph Emerson, GSD GM.
https://www.garbervillesd.org/cannabis-water-requirements
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sSyDtLVmpe_zYHT5ThVJih7o887L3PtO/view?usp=sharing
…but if you want to build a sprinkler system for a baseball field in a forest, they’ll be happy to work with you to make it happen.
For once I’m gonna agree with you Ed.
I don’t understand. Obviously the METER doesn’t produce the water..is 3x the cost of your normal rate add up to be greater than the $8,000 ag rate meter? Sounds maybe easier to just twist the valve from your water district than pay, and deal with the State Water boards for the right to access water originating on your own property. Any farm requirements for storage, or forebearence when purchasing water from a water district? Whether Garberville, or Salinas? Those tanks I bought cost money too.
Looks like a straight forward bill well worth supporting. It looks out for mom and dad farms while slowing down the intrusion of big government. I hope y’all join me in supporting this well crafted bill. Finally an elected official helping out her constituants. Well done sir.
@freebrandon
NLM
Obvious sarcasm.
I stopped reading at “(Humboldt) county … the size of the state of Connecticut”.
Humboldt is about 3/4 the size of Connecticut.
The county needs to condemn / bulldoze the buildings built without permits on the drug grow sites as well.
Sure once they condemn / bulldoze all the building built without permits on all non-grow sites which by the way Hector is probably 80% of the buildings built in Humboldt.
Watch out for some out of the area yahoo coming in and starting up a grow by setting up a meeting with a cannabis promoter/advisor and blowing off the residents concerns, increasing traffic, and changing the entire character of the neighborhood.
Dude. You fell asleep in 1982. It’s 2022. They already skipped out, owing everybody money.
Rip Van Seth.
They won’t have to start up a grow or consult with the neighborhood. They can just buy an already permitted grow and act as they please.