Revolution, Evolution, and Devaluation: 27 Years of Medical Marijuana and 7 Years of Commercial Cannabis in California
An insect bee bows to a cannabis plant. [Photo by a reader]
We’ve asked industry leaders, advocates and stakeholders from Humboldt County to give us their perspective on the current medical and legal cannabis landscape, including Sheriff Billy Honsal, Dominic Corva Co-director Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research, Executive Director Cannabis and Social Policy Center, Dr. Jean Tallyrand, the Founder and Chief Medical Officer of MediCann, local attorney Eugene Denson, and one lifelong anonymous resident of Rancho Sequoia.
Brief History
We’ve come a long way since Cannabis prohibition began in America over a century ago in 1911. Decades of propaganda later in the 1960s and 1970s, we witnessed a significant shift in public perception, advocacy, and scientific understanding, challenging prominent misconceptions about cannabis’s “dangers.” As we know, local Emerald Triangle residents played a critical role in this revolution only to be met in the 1970s, by the Regan Nixon administration’s War on Drugs.
In 1996, California’s Proposition 215 marked a prominent turn, initiating a broader medicinal acceptance, later sprouting the legalization movement across various states. Today, thirty-eight states have either medical and/or recreational marijuana laws, with only twelve that still do not acknowledge the medicinal benefits of the plant; Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
While the aim of Proposition 215 was centered around “compassion,” the rollout was not without inconsistencies over two decades. Several court cases and senate bills helped to iron out the discrepancies in the medical cannabis laws including People v. Pebbles Trippett, People v. Patrick Kelly, and Senate Bill 420.
Contemporary Challenges and Developments
After legalization in 2016, patients in Humboldt hoped their medical gardens would be safer from enforcement than years past, however they were surprised to discover they were still being targeted by code enforcement with the cannabis abatement program, and law enforcement with raids, particularly between 2017- 2022.
A legacy medical cannabis garden in Southern Humboldt that was abated, raided, alleged to have committed felony environmental crimes, and no longer being cultivated
The intertwining of Proposition 64 and existing medical cannabis laws, led to confusion and legal complexities. For some reason during the five years after legalization, there was a common misunderstanding within enforcement agencies, policymakers, and even among cannabis advocacy groups, that 215 was obsolete after legalization (as reported previously). As a result, people with more than six plants sometimes faced enforcement actions alleging “commercial” cannabis cultivation, despite being medical. The stakes are high around this interpretation of the law, with fines that accompany cannabis that are so immense, they can lead to liens against one’s land, and even foreclosures (as reported previously).
This rumor of “six plants max for medical” is ongoing according to criminal defense and cannabis attorney Eugene Denson, who said clients are reporting to him that “Deputies are still saying 215’s don’t matter. There is no more medical exemption.” He added, “This is incorrect… Here we are entering our 8th year of legalization, and there are still issues with law enforcement and the county code about what is legal.”
Denson clarified medical cannabis law was not wiped out by legalization, writing, “Sheriff Honsal has agreed in a conversation with me that both 6 plant adult gardens and 215 medical gardens are legal. One unsettled issue that has not come up in court, so far as I know, is whether the county’s land use regulations on the limitations of the square footage the canopy of a medical garden can take up apply in any way to adult gardens.”
Screenshot of an email from code enforcement manager to a medical cannabis cultivator we discussed in a prior article.
Denson is referencing the 2018 code changes pertaining to the space one can cultivate medical cannabis, based on how large the parcel is. As it stands today in Humboldt, if one lives on a parcel that is five acres or larger, they may cultivate up to 400 sq ft with a doctor’s recommendation, 200 sq. ft. of canopy on parcels five acres and less and 100 on parcels one acre and less, in addition to six personal plants, according to Denson. The prior Humboldt County code enforcement manager Karen Meynell, also indicated this personal plus medical legal distinction in an email to an abatement recipient (more here).
Denson also said that indoor medical is also legal but there are limits of “50 ft 2 garden area x 10 feet tall, and look to your 215, which should give plant or weight limits.”
Prop. 64 gives counties the right to write their own cannabis laws. Since legalization, 302, or 56% counties in California were subsequently left out of all cannabis business development. Some counties have similarly conflated medical with adult use and commercial cannabis laws and banned outdoor medical. Experts and advocates argue that California county governments cannot restrict medical patients’ access irrespective of Prop. 64.
Dr. Jean Tallyrand, the Founder and Chief Medical Officer of MediCann and Founder of the Clinical Endocannabinoid System Consortium (CESC), member of the Advisory Board at the American Society of Cannabis Medicine, Appointed Member of the San Francisco Medical Cannabis Task Force and more, agrees with Denson and insists legalization has no impact on medical cannabis laws.
Dr. Tallyrand said the 400 sq. ft. cap on medical based on one’s parcel size, conflicts with the Patrick Kelly decision, saying,
“Prop. 64 and Prop. 215 are in coexistence… In the Patrick Kelly case his county was trying to limit his amount. The judge said the county was in conflict with state law…They are legislating a medical need… this has been argued in other counties and lost.”
Attorney Eugene Denson agrees, writing, “HCC 581-3(d) says given a physician’s recommendation that higher limits are necessary “a patient or primary caregiver may possess an amount of marijuana consistent with the attending physician’s written recommendation.” Does this increase the canopy permitted? Probably so.”
A medical cultivator has yet to challenge Humboldt county’s cannabis land use restrictions in the courts however, so attorney Eugene ”ED” Denson encouraged folks who wish to stay off the radar to stick to 400/200/100 with a 215 based on your parcel size. He added that “if you need more for your condition and per your doctor’s orders, you might grow more, but just know you’re in for a potential legal battle.”
How many medical gardens are allowed per parcel if there are several residences?
Denson said,
HCC 55.1.8.3 says each residence may have an indoor 215 grow. But no patient may have more than one grow. HCC 55.2.7.2 limits outdoor medical grows’ canopy to 100/200/400 ft [squared] per parcel. It does not limit the number of patients who grow part of that 400 ft [squared]. No patient may have both indoor and outdoor gardens, nor two outdoor gardens on two parcels. Nor two indoor grows in two residences. None of this applies to adult gardens which are limited by other law to one per residence and only that one by an adult resident. It’s possible that 6 adult residents of the same residence could grow one plant each I believe.
Chicken basking in the shade of a medicinal cannabis plant. [Photo by Nichole Norris]
Attorney Eugene “ED” Denson’s full updated medical analysis here.
Perspectives on Cannabis Enforcement and Impacts
As the legal landscape evolves, Humboldt County law enforcement continues to strive to adapt and refine their approaches in working with medical cultivators as well.
Though it’s a hard shift from friend to foe.Sheriff Honsal acknowledged last year that a “canna-bias” still exists within enforcement agencies. He said he is doing his part to correct the deputies’ possible misunderstandings around medical cannabis being obsolete. Honsal concurred with Denson’s analysis that 400 sq. ft. of canopy is lawful with a valid doctor’s recommendation on parcels five acres and greater. He did not confirm before publishing whether six personal plants were allowed in addition to one’s medical garden.
Sheriff Honsal further clarified,
“[Proposition] 215 is still a valid law on the books, the Compassionate Use Act is still there,” Honsal continued saying, “We just want to make sure that people are adhering to the law, not going outside of the growing standard here…. As long as you’re not damaging the environment or taking advantage of people and… doing everything by the law, we want to walk away. We don’t want to waste our time.”
Honsal highlighted his ongoing efforts to balance lawful cultivation with the need to eradicate illegal activities. He details his department’s goals for cannabis enforcement, stating, “Our marijuana enforcement team’s mission is to eradicate illegal cannabis cultivation…We prioritize the complaints we receive from our citizens, and we target the ones that are the most environmentally damaging, and/or related to organized crime, like human trafficking.”
There was a recent decrease in trespass grows and a reduction in organized crime patterns since legalization in Humboldt County, Sheriff Honsal said, however, “There are other counties that are not as lucky, they are experiencing a lot of trespass grows and a lot of drug trafficking organizations that have infiltrated a lot of their public land.”
Honsal describes the last few years in Humboldt as a “cannabis exodus” because the number of unpermitted grows continues to decrease. Once upon a time before 2017 there were said to be an approximate 15,000 farms. In last year’s interview Sheriff Honsal detailed there were 3,000-5,000 unpermitted farms remaining, but today he guessed there were only about 1,000 unpermitted grows left, with approximately 1,000 permitted cannabis farms, some of which are not in operation.
Not only has the number of cannabis farms decreased, Honsal said, but additionally, “[T]he amount of violence that…has occurred historically in areas of…southern and eastern Humboldt County in these rural areas has dropped drastically. We don’t have the…robberies, we don’t have the assaults, we don’t have the gunshot victims. We don’t have the homicides that we once did.”
The cost to county’s coffers is relatively minimal as well, Honsal explained. The marijuana task force (MET) has a total of five personnel, including two deputies, a sergeant, and two civilians assigned to the unit, and Honsal guesstimated, “It’s less than $200,000 a year that [Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department] spends on the marijuana enforcement team. Several of those people are covered by a grant so the cost to the general fund is very minimal. We have equipment grants from the federal government. We have Prop 64 money that also pays for a position and some of the operating costs. We also have other grants that have provided different support.”
The 2023 Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department (HCSD) cannabis enforcement data was not available yet, but Honsal shared his 2022 cannabis enforcement stats, saying, “We served about 80 search warrants…We also team up with Fish and Wildlife, so those aren’t necessarily counted in our search warrants…We eradicated about 75,000 indoor plants. Outdoor was 125,000. And then 11,000 pounds of processed marijuana, 24,000 pounds of [unprocessed] bud… and then another 17,000 in shake.”
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department also seized over 100 firearms with their cannabis related search warrants as well, Sheriff Honsal said.
Sheriff Honsal attributes cannabis regulations and enforcement over the past seven years for a reduction in crime. He states, “Crime has reduced drastically, over I would say half to three quarters of our homicides every year were contributed to drug related issues. And now we’re not seeing that. People used to kill people over marijuana.”
Lions, Robbers and Tweakers, Oh My
However, opinions vary with some locals and experts on how cannabis played a role in crime reduction and the cause. Additionally, some say the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the enforcement itself has left us with a new mess to clean up.
Dr. Dominic Corva, Co-director Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research, Executive Director Cannabis and Social Policy Center, and Research Consultant, California Center for Rural Policy Cal Poly Humboldt, said,
“The “cleansing fire” of the decade-long market crash combined with Measure S-tax funded enforcement and abatement has largely cleared the County of would-be profiteers with and without permits. It’s taken more than a few non-profiteers with them, people for whom cannabis supply chains created meaningful middle class livelihoods rather than get rich quick schemes.
It has left us, at the moment, with a remainder industry that is mostly (by number of people) focused on livelihood sustainability. The people that were here just for money don’t have that reason to be here anymore. [Those who are still here] are here for the place, and they aren’t interested in destroying the environment as a result. It has also left us with a lot of environmental messes in the hills that need cleaning up, and there are grants available to do that, although mostly for trespass grows [on] public lands, so far.”
A lifelong Rancho Sequoia resident who wishes to remain anonymous for her protection, describes what she’s witnessed in her community since legalization, where no one is getting grants for clean up efforts.
She says,
“Our community is falling apart. Nobody wants to be here anymore. Comparing years past there’s maybe 15-20% of the number of residents left in Rancho. All the county did with cannabis enforcement was to get rid of the owners, causing property values to plummet to, I’d guess, to 30% of what they once were. This is all while our taxes are more than they’ve been, and the road is worse than it’s ever been, because no one can afford to pay road dues.
Every parcel that got abated, which is all but a few in my community, now look worse since. Bears and mountain lions have taken over and I believe are harming dogs, many have gone missing. There’s a feral cat issue too. There are a few tweakers who are up here who have taken over abandoned land. There’s a stolen car junkyard, and another parcel has become a landfill. We’ve had to kick squatters out of my neighbors house and they left garbage.”
This Rancho Sequoia community member does not feel crime has decreased in rural Humboldt communities and noted many crimes still go unreported.
“If there was a decrease in crime, it’s probably just due to a decrease in the overall population,” she said, adding, “People are getting robbed more than ever here, even with the prices so low. Buyers pretend to be interested and just rob folks, sometimes at gunpoint.”
Anonymous Rancho resident explained property owners were fleeing the area en masse, and continued saying,
“Things are not looking good for our mountain, or any rural mountain communities in Humboldt for that matter. It’s starting to feel like an undeveloped nation here. Property owners are all moving away, many are going through foreclosure, and there’s at least fifteen parcels for sale in the rancho subdivision alone. The county made the land worthless with the abatement program and people had to leave the area to get work.”
Dominic Corva similarly felt the “cannabis exodus” was more of a “displacement” that has “unacknowledged costs” for our rural communities.
Dr. Corva wrote,
How much of the reduction in unregulated (presumably [Honsal] specifically referring to outdoor greenhouse and dep) grows to which Honsal refers was due to the end of the prohibition price premium — plummeting wholesale prices starting in the early 2010s — relative to enforcement is unknown. The combination, however, has led to an undeniably significant reduction of both regulated and unregulated operations. I wonder if, on the whole, the reduction is about equal in both markets since 2018, which are Federally of course the same market.
2016-2018 was a “cash out” desperation era before regulations were implemented and enforcement returned, often legitimately based on environmental damage. There was definitely collateral damage as you’ve documented extensively… People chasing money left for places with lower enforcement risk and higher prices. The satellite program and punitive code enforcement did make a difference, at some yet-unacknowledged cost to Southern Humboldt communities. At the same time, many have been involuntarily displaced from their livelihoods because the transition to legalization bankrupted them. Ironically, these displaced community members tended to be the people who chose not to profiteer when the profiteering was easy.
Anonymous Rancho resident said “Most of us were not growing to get rich,” and,
“All we were doing before legalization was keeping our kids in shoes without holes in them, paying our land taxes, fixing our roads, and maybe doing something enjoyable with our family. It’s getting more difficult for families to stay together and survive out here now. It’s even hard for folks to start families and I see very few new ones. Without the industry people are just really isolated…it affects our health. It’s harder to survive…we are all getting older too and I don’t see a new community coming up after us, it’s dwindling. I miss my community and just hope someone will buy these parcels who wants to recreate what once was.”
Honsal shares the less than desirable side of what some term the “greenrush” that he says was significant after medical cannabis law changes in 1996.
Honsal said,
“Since 215 was put in place, organized crime became very much involved and we saw it here in the north state. What we know about organized crime is they’re here to make money… That’s their ultimate goal. If someone gets in their way, yes, they’ll use violence. They’ll use a lot of atrocities to get their way, but they want to fly under the radar and they use 215 as a way of flying under the radar, but making a ton of money. And we see because of the aggressive approach that we’ve taken here, a lot of those have moved on, interestingly to other counties that don’t have as much heat or attention, or out of state.”
When asked where Sheriff Honsal believed the underground cannabis market moved to, he stated, “Initially they were going to Oregon, but Oregon has since cracked down, and now we’re finding a lot of organized crime has gone to Oklahoma. Since legalization in Oklahoma for medical, they’re seeing exactly what we experienced in 1996, and their greenrush is going on right now.”
Dominic Corva says it’s critical to broaden our perspective lens on enforcement and cannabis related crime waves, which he explains began much earlier than 1996.
Dr. Corva wrote,
[We don’t want to give] too little credit to longer-term market dynamics; [and] not of course acknowledge the collateral damage of post-2018 enforcement (which seems to have wound down); and using “Oklahoma” as a catch-all for Green Rush destinations for profiteers and displaced livelihood entrepreneurs. Oklahoma, of course, is now going through a market collapse itself.
I would say that prohibition markets within which our state medical cannabis system operated brought a Green Rush here that always included a criminal (as opposed to community-embedded outlaw) element here, as it did in many places. That started long before medical cannabis here, in the late 1970s when sinsemilla prices went through the roof.
As enforcement let up and prices plummeted well before legalization, profiteers chased after the next Green Rush bubbles in other places where prices hadn’t crashed yet and Oklahoma certainly was the geographic archetype for that.
Small southern Humboldt medical cannabis and food garden. [Photo by Nikki Norris]
New Laws Create New Criminals
Denson explained that the laws changed around Proposition 64, suddenly requiring permits for domestic water use and hoop houses, which complicated matters for rural property owners who were targeted with enforcement, despite changing nothing on their property. The only thing that changed was the law.
Attorney “ED” Denson wrote,
We don’t know how many illegal grows there were, and I mean not reasonably based on 215. But we do know that in the rural area of the county, there is no water district. People in subdivisions, even like Rancho have to tap local water for all their needs and it wasn’t until sometime in the 20-teens that that became an issue. Before that nobody got hassled over water like that. It wasn’t an issue for the court until legalization either because it was written into legal action, probably to make it more palatable for voters who worried about environmental effects [of Prop. 64]. Unpermitted diversion of water for cannabis made a very light penalty for growing, into a felony.
Pet duck drinks from domestic water used on abated and raided property facing felony water charges, [Photo by Nichole Norris]
The Underground Adapts
Sheriff Honsal said he felt Humboldt County was a leader in the nation for the rollout of cannabis legalization, due in large part to county laws and his Department’s partnership with Fish and Wildlife and Code Enforcement.
Sheriff Honsal said,
“We have hammered the landowners and the people responsible for these cultivation sites with massive fines, and this plan that we have in place with code enforcement and law enforcement and all of our partners has really made an impact here that people don’t want to grow here illegally, at least out in the open.”
But old habits die hard.
The underground market persists, Sheriff Honsal said, and elaborates,
“What we’re finding now is that people have gone underground again, under canopies, in buildings, they are not growing out in the open, so we’re back to the [pre-215] nineties again in a lot of areas. Pre 215, because of the CAMP days where they had a lot of the flyovers, everyone went under the canopy of the trees again and had these massive grow houses and diesel grows. [But because] diesel is so expensive now, and labor is so expensive that people are trying to find ways to cut costs. So we’re finding a lot of places that are stealing power from their neighbors [and] they’re stealing power from PG&E.”
Attorney Eugene “ED” Denson reminds us, “There is a federal class action lawsuit by the Institute for Justice working [its] way through the ninth circuit regarding one enforcement program. We might want to wait until we determine if the county’s abatement program is constitutional before anyone goes patting themselves on the back.”
Arrests and Felonies
Image of a local grandmother’s spring that came with her property when she purchased it, but caused her to receive a felony water charge, based on laws that changed right before Legalization. [Photo by Nikki Norris]
We asked the Sheriff specifically why people were getting arrested and/or obtaining felony charges for cannabis today, and he explained, any transportation across state lines is a felony which could lead to arrest, and environmental damage is what also leads to felony charges.
As far as felony charges, Honsal said opinions have changed in California courts, where once upon a time jurors tended to not want to send people to prison for a plant, however they have less quarrels now if environmental harm is alleged.
Honsal said,
“When they’re damming up a creek diverting water, sending pesticides and harmful chemicals into the groundwater, polluting, deforesting and all these things, people tend to become very upset because it is changing Humboldt County, and ruining our environment and everything that makes Humboldt County great, and so people have zero tolerance for that. So the District Attorney’s taking these on, and we’re finding that juries have zero tolerance for this kind of activity.
Honsal concluded by saying, “I’m very happy with where we are right now. We still have some work to do, but I just love the community involvement. I love the fact that we can respect the licensed cannabis industry, and the people that are growing under 215.”
He also commented on the sentiment that, “Farmers want to be left alone to do what they do best.” Responding, “ I completely agree with that. If someone is growing legally, then they should have all the respect from law enforcement.”
Honsal also touched on the trauma caused in the past from flyovers and he wished to ease the concerns for the lawful medical and commercial cannabis community by reiterating there is nothing to fear when black choppers fly through their neighborhoods anymore, stating,
“I just want to also acknowledge that I know black choppers scare a lot of people in Humboldt, but if you’re legal, we want you to wave at those helicopters. They’re not there for you. The Sheriff’s office [is]… not doing compliance checks, all we’re doing is looking for illegal activity and sometimes that involves some neighbors. Sometimes it follows rivers and creeks that go over properties but we’re not checking on any license or legal growers.”
Seven years into legalization and twenty-seven years post-Proposition 215, Humboldt County, California’s journey with cannabis reflects a broader shift towards acceptance alongside regulation, for better or worse, depending on who you ask. While some profess legalization was a mission accomplished for eradicating environmental harms and improving community safety; others consider it a threat to a novel culture that must be preserved.
One of the pioneers of solidifying medical cannabis rights, Pebbles Trippet, of People v. Trippet case, sheds light on the future of cannabis culture that honors its legacy.
In an interview from last December, Trippet states,
“We need to be more in tune with how we survive but with principles and standards and things that matter–values, with a system that will carry us forward and not hold us to the past. Carry forward through the legacy roots of people who have been there since back- to- the- land, and who won for us four criminal jury trials. In the [19]70’s people went through and one after another they were acquitted, because the juries– the everyday people, did not believe we were criminals. So the county was foolish enough to bring their test case to the criminal court and every time all four were defeated and grandfathered in. That group of people are the legacy owners, of the… future.”
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Good article, but I didn’t find the annonymous Rancho resident necessary, important or accurate.
Seems easy for anyone to complain and ‘sum it up’ far too conveniently to an angle that they already are skewed to.
Ya ya ya…
Pot is not legal.
10×10 plus 6 plants, as measured in “Cannabis Trees”= ?
Fill up the damn backyard, that’s what they do in Sutter County…
100 plants with a 215? “We can’t do anything”. YCPD
And she was complaining about bears and mountain lions taking over?
Wonder if she complained when all the people moved in thinking to make the big money growing instead of actually concentrating on homesteading.
That was a definite laugh out loud part of the article, laughing at – not with.
No she wishes the small scale growers were still there, that’s the point. Homesteading went along with it.
That’s interesting, that was one of my favorite parts. How is her account inaccurate? Sounds similar to my rural Humboldt community. It is easy to make up, but it’s sadly straight from a lifelong resident.
I laughed at the bears and lions comment, not general misery.
I guess to start with the innacuracy I’d like to say that she is representing one side of the coin; in other words – why were all the people there that have since moved there in the first place?
If people moved RS for views – they still have em.
If people moved to RS for retirement, enjoy.
If people moved there to make a living from pot, well, maybe they’re movin and they were there for money.
Which would be an accurate description of a boom and bust cycle, which cannabis was.
I do not deny the industry sustained the community, for better or worse. What’s concerns me is that the enforcement has rendered the properties worthless, so it’s a rural ghost town now that has other issues, including bears, squatters, and environmental degradation. when we think on the intention of this enforcement , we have to ask ourselves if we’ve made progress.
I guess we should mention violent crime is down for it too.
And consumers have waaay more access to quality ganja.
“What’s concerns me is that the enforcement has rendered the properties worthless, so it’s a rural ghost town now that has other issues, including bears, squatters, and environmental degradation.”
We see this in our neighborhood. Parcels abandoned, much like in the late 80’s when the CAMP had finally chased off most of the folks who had shown up at that time just to grow.(and rural properties prices plumeted) Except now instead of a few drying sheds and maybe a trailer or small cabin and some abandoned gardens, it houses and multiple greenhouse and lots of infrastucrture left to rot in the hills.
Exactly. Thank you for your comment. This anonymous report from rancho is reflective of so many watersheds across district 2.
this is what happens when you let government into your business.
100 in permitted grows? I find that hard too believe. With all of the raids this year I would have thought that number would have been much lower. The transition has been an raging success. I can buy four times as much medicine now as I could have just 5 years a go. For once gubment regulation’s has helped out the consumer’s. Let us keep the price down like this. May be the rest of the health care industry will get the picture of what competition can do. Three cheers for Biden economics.
I wonder what the water boards’ position is on the right to grow 400 sq ft ? My guess is you could easily get unwanted attention from those fake environmentalist police.
No mention of the 3rd arm of the regulation stranglehold: The Water Board is extremely clear on the issue. You can grow your 400 sq ft medical but you can’t use ANY diverted water to sustain it.
At one point a few years back, the Water Board put a couple watersheds under the radar and were complete PRICKS with blanketed letters, threats and demanding “inspections” and nit picking everyone’s springs, demanding diversion statements and annual reporting of use. And they actually threatened to demand water reg compliance & fees for puny med gardens , retroactively! Complete pricks.
County abatements are just one prong of post legalization fall out. The California Water Board and their unyielding power can put the real fear in you. I learned private property rights and prop 215 cultivation rights don’t exist. ?
I got one of those false blanket letters, claiming I was growing cannabis, even though they finally admitted their aerial map was wrong and I wasn’t a cultivator. But that didn’t stop the water board from sending three people in an SUV, from Sacramento (wonder what that cost), to examine the 60,000 gallon pond that has been on my property from long before I owned it. They informed me that if it wanted to keep that pond, which is for wildfire protection and wildlife, that I would have to pay $250, fill out some truly unwieldy forms every year, documenting my “use” of the water, and pay an annual fee…or they would have destroyed the pond. To be clear, there is no stream feeding the pond, just a seam in the hills above it that lets winter runoff into the pond. I do it, because I know my neighbors and I need all of the defense possible against wildfire, and because I don’t begrudge animals that source of drinking water, but it definitely lowered my opinion of the water board. It felt like a cash grab to me.
I believe your feelings were correct….
This is all too common, I’m so sorry. Makes you wonder how much actual environmental harm and water crimes are actually being committed v. What is alleged just to criminalize people who own property in “high cannabis concentration zones.” the state water law changes re legalization was strategic I felt and yes, incredibly profitable.
What’s really interesting is that the water board also appeared confused about prop 64’s impact on medical cannabis. In an article from last year I featured this letter from the water board where they say max six plants for non commercial, with no mention of medical.
Thank you- This is a good and balanced article! You could probably do another entire article on the State Water Board and their rules about weed growing…are they using it to expand their powers over private land? I suspect so…
Yes, you could certainly do an entire article on the SWRCB rules and regulations on the cultivation of cannabis and water rights. For example:
“Cannabis SIURs cannot be issued on Wild and Scenic rivers and streams, on fully appropriated streams, or within a CDFW Instream Flow Study area.”
https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/cannabis/cannabis_water_rights.html#:~:text=Cannabis%20SIURs%20cannot%20be%20issued,required%20to%20maintain%20the%20right.
However, the way they get around allowing cultivation of cannabis using water diverted directly from a Wild & Scenic listed river or fully appropriated stream, is using water provided by a public or private water district or community services district. Which is being done by GSD and RCSD from the South Fork Eel River, both Wild & Scenic and fully appropriated. Big loop hole…
Thanks Farce 🙂 &seriously. But have you ever called the water board? I’m still waiting on them to respond to the last article ha ha, it’s typically lost cause. I do intend to dig into it though yes. Ever seen the documentary on Netflix called “Water Power?” Definitely worth a watch!
My biggest problem with the Water Board is that even though they are “liberal” enough to allow you 6 legal plants they require you to file a permit for using your own water out of your own well/spring. You can grow any other plants from your own well/spring but they have this special rule for weed. I would never willingly sign up my own water source for their control- which is pretty much what people do when they file this permit. Call me paranoid but I have watched the ever-reaching arm of government control over private rights for over 50 years and it’s one of the reasons I ended up offgrid in Mendocino/Humboldt away from those guys as far as I can!
Absolutely no mention of the ENORMOUS money that came in after 2017 from US banks and corporations that set up shop here, hugely undervaluing employees, illegally suppressing unions, engaging in dirty and dangerous production methods, pushing out any hope of competition from the smaller local ops reeling from legalization – all the classic dirty tricks of predatory capitalism and none of the oversight expected from local government. The real story of change in the market is right here.
Exactly, the county was all Bout that ganja Chad money. I saw farms sold for millions with 5k sqft of greenhouses, looked at one off 299 yesterday on google maps, trashed greenhouses are collapsed, LLC is out of biz. What’s up.with all the empty buildings in the arcata innovationzone? What about that tortilla factory that was gonna become a ganja factory that was bought with investors money next to Costco in eureka, looks like it just sits empty. So many pie in the sky projects in the hills they all sit abandoned. Mom and pops never had a chance. The real ogs just went back to indoor on a smaller scale, if you are a talented cultivator you can still make a living but not many can make it work.
Sounds like the people are divided on what to do about dope. Time for a ballot initiative to make cannabis illegal again on a state level. Monetary penalties only. Let’s show the legal market how fickle the government is. Nearly every one from the triangle will agree, things were better when it was less blown out. At least bring back medical. Prop 64 killed medical.
“War on Drugs” was coined, not by Re(a)gan, but by President Richard Nixon.
It was a useful tool to disparage hippies and black people, (you know, drug users!) without actually saying it… a dog whistle to the silent majority in the 1972 presidential election.
I suggest you read John Erlichman’s eventual admission to that stratagem.
Oh my goodness, thank you for that Bill! I wasn’t born yet, and for some reason I always confuse the two. That will be corrected asap. Great catch.
Great article, looks like the beginning’s of a book? I liked the line you used “depending on who you ask”, its so true. I would suggest you do a little research and history on cannabis in Hawaii, along with what was called “Operation Green Harvest”.
In the 60’s and 70’s, Hawaiian weed was far superior than Humboldt weed. In fact, some Humboldt strain origins come from Hawaii. As a raised Southern Humboldt boy, 60’s & 70’s, and stationed in Hawaii for almost 4 years (75-79), I found out how much longer weed was grown in Hawaii than Humboldt, on a much larger scale. It also came with a heavy price to local Hawaiians, in the form of “Operation Green Harvest”, just like later “CAMP” would be in Northern California.
I got to see both sides of the story during my stay in Hawaii, the highs and the lows during those years and when they say it was a “War on Drugs” yes it was…
Well thank you kindly Ed! I do need to finish this book already. I’ve been in some ways waiting for an ending and that’s a lost cause ha ha. Thanks for the inspiration and insight! Should have mentioned green sweep of course too, but it was only a “brief history.”
True! Tricky Dick did it!! However Reagan/ Bushler sure amped it up. Little-known fact: Nancy Reagan was born Nancy Davis. Her Dad was the Davis in Parke-Davis Pharmaceuticals. Dan Quayle Sr. was Chairman of the Board of Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals based in Indianapolis. We used to say it surely was a Drug War! Their drugs( Pharma, Cocaine, Crack and Heroin) against ours (Weed, LSD, Shrooms and Ecstasy). Never forget- In the late 80’s it really got crazy w/ mandatory minimums that even judges didn’t want. 20 year sentences for “conspiracy” with no actual drugs present. And the guy pushing the most extreme and Draconian laws of all was Joe Biden as leader of the Senate. Harsher than Nixon, Reagan or Bush! Those of us who saw it on the front lines will never forget…
We will never forget or forgive! Amnesty and repealing the federal law is the only solution. The war will never stop until either is achieved.
Great article.
I am thankful for the changes and how the environment is the number one issue.
I am extremely sadden on how Humboldt County treated its own citizens during these seven years.
Legalization should have boosted our entire economy.
Napa County and Humboldt County have similar populations and share the same name recognition for the valued cash crop.
Napa has wine, although they barely supply the market they are among the best known regions for wine in the World.
Napa is in the top 10 wealthiest counties in California.
Humboldt County is world recognized as the best grown cannabis. Humboldt County is also in the bottom ten for wealth among county residents.
How did we blow this?
Where did the $50 million in measure S taxes go?
What about all those abatement fees? Where did that money go?
Humboldt County is $17 million in debt this year.
I never saw any ads promoting Humboldt County as a tourist destination.
Why did we have to fight public servants working for the county so hard? Why didn’t the county employees work with all the farmers and help them transition instead of fight them.
The idea was come in and get permitted, we will help you get legal but that’s not what happened.
Those that got abatement letters should have gotten an introduction letter on how to get legal or pay a fine.
We should have worked hard to get every farmer who wanted to continue to get legal.
Instead southern Humboldt made the top 5 in foreclosures in California
Time for change again
Interesting to compare Napa and Humboldt crop shares.
However the idea that Humboldt is the best place to grow has always been nothing but dreamy at best and cover for illegally working at worst.
Nobody is drinking 3 month grown greenhouse Napa wine.
If they were, then it really wouldn’t matter where it came from.
That’s not true at all.
Humboldt County had wine served at the White House this year.
Our region is unique and does wonders for the cannabis crop.
I am strictly speaking on behalf of full sun outdoor grown herbs.
Of course Green House and indoor can be grown anywhere.
My farm ranges from 100° during the day and usually cools off to high 40’s at night. That is huge for organic growing. It’s too cold at night for mites to spread.
I wake up to my girls covered in dew only to watch them sing from the morning sunshine.
You can’t duplicate that process anywhere.
Our region is unique and does wonders for the cannabis crop.
I’m just not buying that.
California is a growing region.
I’ve grown fire in Marin, Sonoma, Shasta, Trinity and more.
It’s really not hard or special.
You don’t get. It’s not about you and your ability.
Wine is grown in Mendo, Sonoma and many other regions yet Napa has marketed it’s wine as the best in the world.
So has Humboldt.
Now when that Japanese buyer one-day sees a label from Shasta and Humboldt 9 out of 10 he buys Humboldt because he has heard of it.
I may not be getting it.
The reason Napa wine is marketed as such is due to many factors including geological history.
None of the factors include “easy to hide from the law”.
Maybe Humboldt failed the marketing that you suggest because it just doesn’t apply in reality.
If you’re simply suggesting that Humboldt failed at falsely advertising their product, I can get down with that.
Humboldt County has some exceptional cannabis growing land. Really, much of north western California has wonderful growing climate.
It’s not that no where else can grow good weed, but this area can grow exceptional weed more easily than many other places. And other places in California that are well suited to weed growing are already valuable food growing areas, unlike this area
I heard a wonderful show kerry reynolds did with Kevin jodrey on KMUD where Kevin detailed the unique climate and bioregions here and how they impact the unique terpene profile and overall product. It was Something about the extreme temperature changes and elevation. Let me see if he will give us more information be right back.
It was Something about the extreme temperature changes and elevation.
Something about being similar to where half of cannabis originated on earth?
Not surprising.
I always figured it had mostly to do with our 40° +- latitude, and how that related to day length by date, and the corresponding rate at which the day lengths lengthened and then shortened, and how well that matched the requirements of high quality cannabis as it grew and then flowered….
Add to that the corresponding day/night temperature changes, and the somewhat unique local climate conditions like relative humidity that exist near the Pacific Coast, such as possible Chinook winds in the summer and fall which would seem likely to potentially delay mold growth and increase rates of water and nutrient uptake and therefore potentially increase quality considerably…
Also, for a time, there was probably more efforts to crossbreed and hybridize all the different high quality cannabis strains in Humboldt, resulting in some significant improvements, along with the not so great results, of course.
Any really high quality strains which were developed HERE, that were successfully grown ELSEWHERE, by you or anybody else, should be attributed to the conditions here, not wherever else that they were subsequently grown, regardless of climate, latitude, or growing conditions.
That would just be growing piggyback on our area, and on our legacy grower’s coattails, without giving them proper credit.
And that would just be being ungrateful and conceited.
Anyone who uses the word fire has never grown it
That’s not a bee. Looks like a hover fly.
I noticed that, too…
Definitely not a bee…
It’s “wringing” it’s “hands” like a fly…
I noticed these insects in my veggie garden this year, and wasn’t sure what they were…
Definitely not a bee.. They are called “Hover Flys”.
Really? News to me, definitely not my area of expertise. I’ll check on that, thanks!
Hoverfly (Top)
vs.
Honeybee (Bottom)
A bumblebee motionless warming up on a late October morning in the hills of laytonville
Meanwhile… (SF Gate/Molecular Psychiatry)
——
Cannabis Use Linked to Epigenetic Changes, Scientists Reveal——
Using cannabis may cause changes in the human body’s epigenome, a study of over 1,000 adults suggests. The epigenome functions like a set of switches, activating or deactivating genes to change how our bodies function.
—–
“We wanted to further explore whether specific epigenetic factors were associated with marijuana and whether these factors are related to health outcomes.”
—–
They found numerous DNA methylation markers in the 15-year blood samples, 22 that were associated with recent use, and 31 associated with cumulative cannabis use. In the samples taken at the 20-year point they identified 132 markers linked to recent use and 16 linked to cumulative use.
—–
Multiple epigenetic changes associated with cannabis use had previously been linked to things like cellular proliferation, hormone signaling, infections, neurological disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and substance use disorders.
Meanwhile……
https://mjbizdaily.com/cannabis-multistate-operators-exit-more-states-in-latter-half-of-2023/
https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/failed-california-cannabis-distributor-18496585.php
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ganjapreneur.com/california-regulators-embargo-cannabis-products-from-3-companies/amp/
The war rages………
A minor correction to the opening sentence:
In 1996, Arizona voters also passed Proposition 200, which allowed doctors to prescribe marijuana under very limited circumstances.
This part of the law was rescinded the following year, though.
https://ndsn.org/mayjun97/arizona.html
I Appreciate the heads up! I suppose it being rescinded also left it out of the historical references. What was the date?
It was passed on the same election cycle, so same date as 215.
215 was the first medical legalization that stuck.
It just seems fair to give honerable mention to the voters of Arizona.
Underlying all this, historically speaking, was the early 20th century fear of Mexican immigration, propaganda like Reefer Madness, and the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 that effectively made it illegal nationwide. When there is public demand for something illegal, a black market is generated, with a price structure that reflects the potential legal trouble involved rather than an actual open market cost. Things are slowly changing, but in an awkward way. At least part of the falling price is the situation trying to find equilibrium, though the jungle of conflicting laws and regulations that currently exist don’t make the process very smooth or fair. And government, always looking for revenue, still sees it as a possible cash cow. If other agricultural enterprises were regulated like this, we would have a hard time affording food.
Well said. Yes that part got chopped, it was too long as usual :/ the story is less about where we’ve been, but more about where we are at now.
Let’s say you own a property worth 80k, and it’s raided, by the time you add up all the fines from the multi agencies brought in to raid you, you now owe over a million $ in fines.
What to do?
Pack up and head to Oklahoma, let the county auction off your house, and then the county can charge the next owner for cleaning up the mess left behind.
If that doesn’t work, just change the laws again.
Hmm, is that how it works?
Very interesting analysis. What happened in 1911? I thought the big brouhaha started with the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, which was opposed by the AMA since use of an effective medicine would be hampered by the Feds?
“In 1911, Massachusetts became the first state to prohibit marijuana possession and use in the United States. This was done as a result of increased public sentiment against the influx of Mexican migrants who brought their marijuana-smoking culture into the United States during the Mexican Revolution.
https://massachusettscannabis.org › l…
Massachusetts Marijuana Laws | MassachusettsCannabis.org”
So, the Massachusetts precedent for marijuana prohibition had racist roots?
Sounds like any and all marijuana prohibition that stemmed from that Massachusetts law needs to be challenged and rescinded based on that alone…
Kinda makes one wonder how many marijuana prohibition laws that followed in other states used the original racist Massachusetts marijuana prohibition law as a precedent…
Any, and all, that do, should all be thrown out…
Most (maybe all) anti- drug narratives have racist roots. So do cultural conquests. It’s an old tactic, All those in power do is say the people in the hills are greenrushers, or the Chinese in garberville had opium dens, or that white women were being raped and made crazy by the devil weed from black and Mexican men etc. Then everyone lines up behind it, and justifies taking an entire people down no matter the cost. Many stereotypes fueled our community and state to walk right into legalization.
If there are only 1000 illegal farms, why is the black market supply at an all-time high and prices at an all time low? Are the “legal farms” really legal farms if they are dumping all of their product onto the black market?
“If there are only 1000 illegal farms, why is the black market supply at an all-time high and prices at an all time low?”
Because Humboldt isn’t the only place in California that weed is grown illegally. There are by far way more illegal grows elsewhere in California than there are in Humboldt. Let’s not forget about all the ganja coming into California from Oregon too.
And these illegal grows in Oregon and so cal are bringing their pounds to Hayfork to sell?!
I don’t know how legal farms could survive the costs to produce legal cannabis without running some out the back door. It’s sad but the permit seems to be a ticket to be left alone to some degree. Not entirely of course, but you are In better shape than anyone else in rural Humboldt.
Pot is legal for me. I’ve grown 6-8 plants decades before the disastrous Prop.64 without any issues and it always meets my needs.
In the beginning of the cannabis abatement program there was a 120 sq. Ft garden with about that number in it, didn’t stop them from getting abated. Today that has stopped thankfully.
$10/eighth, sun grown, good quality weed. It is over for people farming in the forest, period. Even blackmarket weed can’t compete.
It’s selling for 200 an ounce in the mid-west and we are getting 100 for every ounce sold. In this state an easy 100 to 140 an ounce depending on supply chain, we get half. NY/NJ and FLA is still buying Cali (humboldt) weed for 300 to 400 an ounce.
that is the price I just paid at dispensary. You are talking black market prices. It is illegal to sell weed across state lines. Ounces of good requality sun grown weed will be 15-25$ by the time the bad business models have been winnowed out.
The legal market will crash long before the traditional market. Also, over half the state’s have some form of a regulated weed market which also jeopardizes the federal policy against marijauna not to mention the FDA’s lies to make it a schedule 1 narcotic. Clarence Thomas made it clear in 2019 that any case reaching the Supreme Court would alter the federal government’s prohibition of weed. It’s the reason papa Biden started the inquiry to reschedule.
The constitution states “we the people” for a reason and the commerace clause is specific in states rights against the federal government restrictions.
I think you’re wrong, but I’ve learned never to make predictions on this subject.
The back to the Landers that drove the initial green Rush many/most long gone. Once everyone got so comfortable exposing everything it was the end of it. Taxation without representation, clout that comes with control, a handful of shiny participants that raked in a lot of the cash held tight to the fame and popularity. Now they all sold out. It’s no coincidence that many are snuggled up in cozy homes nice and warm while those that were formally underneath them struggle so. 40 plus years in the industry for myself walked away disgusted because of all the turmoil. I always call it the ever-evolving never resolving circle of cannabis. Good luck to everyone who still has their toes in the water. You might be able to build a raft out of the shards of bamboo that are left.
The fake environmental concern is sickening. Meanwhile Green Diamond and others continue terroristic treatment of our forests. Just check out the aerial/parcel maps. But juries and many well-meaning have a knee jerk reaction to images of small scale “environmental crime” on grows; seems like Honsal is capitalizing on that while our forests continue to be decimated.
Thanks for taking the time to write such an in depth article.
I couldn’t agree more. All but 3% of all growth is gone and most of the rest of the forest are just tree farms. Traditional ag has disgusting impact on the environment. In no ways this about protecting the environment.
Scroll back in these articles 10 years and you’ll see that even the feel of what once was so special about this area is no longer felt.
When you get in bed with the government you are the one getting screwed.
Thanks for smiling us all into legalization!
I feel it every time I go into town.
It’s almost the feel of an open wound.
But at least everybody is now Free and Safe and that black kid selling weed on the corner in LA won’t get in trouble anymore…We Won!!! Yay for us…