General Lee
“Well, the tourism factor,” he said. “You got beautiful redwoods, you got beautiful country up there. You have stuff to offer that we don’t have.”
But what about our marijuana? Good old Humboldt County/Emerald Triangle sinsemilla, organic and grown in the sun — the variety that made our name? Indoor, energy-intensive pot, with its exotic varietal names and chemically engineered effects, has already taken most of the medical dispensary market, and looks to take even more with legalization.
“The outdoor, I was thinking they’ll have to start making a lot of hash out of that,” he said. “Bring a hash resurgence to the country. We haven’t seen hash in the United States to any degree since the ’70s, since it was coming into the country from Lebanon. Midnight Express. That holds a lot of history, right there.”
To people who take pride in Humboldt County’s reputation in the world of weed, such an idea is a slap in the face. There are local efforts to adapt to the coming reality; a group called the Humboldt Medical Marijuana Advisory Panel has been holding forums around the county to seek ideas, and another Southern Humboldt group, treading in Lee’s footsteps, has formed something called the “707 Cannabis College.” People are starting to talk more openly about forming growers’ cooperatives, organic or “salmon-safe” certifications, promotion of “Humboldt County” as a marijuana appellation a la Burgundy or Bordeaux. But almost no government action has been taken to date, and while the local industry has plenty of ingenious business people, none of them have pushed beyond the gray market to seriously imagine the day when the internal contradictions of the war on marijuana inevitably fall apart.
Oaksterdam is drinking our milkshake.
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on the cover
Railroad!
Proposed lines ‘set rich blood a-tingling’ in early 1900s
Some Other Proposed North Coast Railroads
Choo-choo Fantasies
Exposing this east-west rail nonsense
seven-o-heaven
Undeterred Will
Will chides Andrew for lack of attention to detail and makes plans for his inevitable victory.
Recent on the cover
May 17
Ring of Fire
Sun and moon will perform a rare pas de deux in Humboldt skies on Sunday
May 10
District Soup
Racing for the top county seat in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd districts
May 3
A Place in the Woods
As park closure deadline nears, a scramble to save what we can
Today
44th Annual Kinetic Grand Championship Race
STAFF PICK / events, art, outdoors, sports, for kids, free / 9 a.m.-6 p.m. A 3-day, 42-mile kinetic sculpture race over land, sand, mud and water! LeMans start at the Noon Whistle on the Arcata Plaza. Follow the race through Manila, Eureka and into Ferndale on Memorial Day for the Glorious Finish. kineticgrandchampionship.com. 889-3024.
Flow 2012 Fashion Show
STAFF PICK / events / 8 p.m. Arcata Theatre Lounge, 1036 G St. Student designed and produced clothing. Fundraiser for Arcata Arts Institute. $35/$25 students. artsinstitute.net. 822-1220.
Woodside Preschool's Rummage/Bake Sale
events / 8 a.m.-noon. Woodside Preschool, 900 Hodgson St, Eureka. www.woodsidepreschool.com. 445-9132.
Lanphere Dunes Restoration
STAFF PICK / outdoors / 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Meet at Pacific Union School. Help remove non-native invasives at the Lanphere Dunes Unit of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Tools and gloves provided, wear work clothes and bring water. Carpool to the protected site. 444-1397.
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NINE Comments
Comment / By Antonio / July 29, 8:42 a.m.
Legalize it 2010
Comment / By Richard Lee is an idiot / July 29, 3:14 p.m.
Richard Lee is an idiot.
“If the narcs don’t kill me, the growers will,” he said. “Or these hippie peace and love kind of guys from the ’60s and ’70s: ‘We don’t want to be regulated and pay taxes. It should just be free for everybody to grow! Peace and love!’”
Comment / By Thirdeye / July 29, 4:11 p.m.
If legalization ends the self-entitled, want-it-both-ways Humboldt pot culture, that’s a good thing.
Comment / By Neal Latt / July 29, 8:10 p.m.
Excellent article, Hank. Good job!
Comment / By Arum / Aug. 1, 10:29 a.m.
As someone who lives in the Bay Area part-time, I am most put off by the trotting out of local law enforcement officials to badmouth Prop 19. They have no facts or studies to back up their rhetoric - just a bunch of slogans that persist unchanged from “Reefer Madness.”
Comment / By Immature Law / Aug. 1, 1:02 p.m.
The whole thing to do with marijuana and “minors”…people under the age of 21….stinks. In my opinion, people should be allowed to be present in the experience of all that surrounds them. The clause lacks common sense, and will only serve as a tool for descrimination and unecessary prosecution. A parent is not doing anything wrong by smoking marijuana in the presence of their teenage children, let alone a 21 year old. I would argue at any age…there’s some common sense involved, that’s all there is to it.
Comment / By Reader707 / Aug. 3, 12:01 a.m.
Boy oh boy. Are you ever playing to your advertisers and losing your readers …
Comment / By Ben Masel / Aug. 3, 7:08 a.m.
The Rand study ignores the (illegal) export market to States that have not yet legalized, which will set a floor on wholesale prices. Already, the California production, with the recent slump in price, has become competitive with Mexican here in Wisconsin, taking perhaps 1/3 of the market vs 10% a year ago.
Lee’s hash suggestion sorta makes sense, as the condensed product’s easier to conceal and ship.
Comment / By nico / Aug. 11, 10:26 p.m.
I find the most interesting fact in the article to be that former clinton and obama politicians are involved in the effort. I submit that this shows a direct link to the desire for MAJOR corporate players to create a market where they can test study their extensive cannabinoid drug pipeline. This is a VITAL fact to understand going forward. Marijuana will be legalized as it is not longer more profitable to keep it illegal.
Humboldt will make more money off surfing, mountain biking and wine than pot in 5 years time! I may be back then to snatch up the cheap land but certainly no sooner!