A provision in Humboldt County’s cannabis land use ordinance has local school districts feeling caught between a rock and a stinky pot farm. The ordinance requires that cannabis grows, processing areas and other marijuana businesses be set back at least 600 feet from a school or school bus stop but provides that districts can waive […]
The Week in Weed
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Bait and Switch
You’ll have to excuse Humboldt County cannabis farmers if they feel they’ve been had. A trio of state agencies released emergency regulations Nov. 16 that will govern the launch of the state’s recreational and medical cannabis industries next year, dictating how cannabis products can be grown, manufactured, transported, tested, bought and sold (see NCJ Daily). […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Spoiler Alert: The Popular Vote Doesn’t Matter
Nearly two out of three Americans now support the federal legalization of marijuana, according to a new Gallup poll. That’s a staggering number, especially considering just 12 percent of the nation’s adults supported the concept the first time Gallup asked about it back in 1969. Today, 64 percent of Americans support legalization, including for the […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
On the Brinks
In a groundbreaking report released Nov. 7, California State Treasurer (and gubernatorial candidate) John Chiang is recommending that the state consider creating a government-owned bank that could serve the state’s estimated $7 billion, cash-dependent cannabis industry. As the Golden State hurls toward the opening of recreational cannabis sales in January, officials big and small are […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Sex, Lies & Where You Should Vape
Dear journalists and cannabis content generators, In previous columns, we’ve discussed how it’s irresponsible/dumb to do “stunt journalism,” like drinking entire bottles of weed lube, and reductive/boring to infuse every possible facet of modern life and cuisine with the phrase “cannabis infused,” but here we are again, critiquing some stupid, inaccurate, click-baity headlines. First, Gov. […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Illicit Grows Face $10K-a-Day Fines
After months and months of trying to use the proverbial carrot to bring Humboldt County cannabis farmers into compliance, officials are now turning to the stick. According to Planning Director John Ford, the county’s code enforcement unit — which was moved under planning’s umbrella earlier this year — has sent out abatement notices to dozens […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Up in Smoke
When surveying the neighborhoods reduced to ash in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties over the last week, I think most of us probably felt an acute vulnerability. The devastation was so complete, so widespread, with thousands of structures leveled, dozens killed and more than 200,000 acres charred. As I watched a group of volunteers load […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
What We Get from Oregon
Central Oregon, my friend and I agree, is a little eerie. It’s not the people; it’s the landscape. The land on either side of Interstate 5 is too flat, too barren, its forests mostly commercial timber operations that have been replanted with conifers all the same age, the same height, the same space apart. The […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Way. Too. Much. Weed.
California just has too damn much marijuana. Like, way, way too much. The California Department of Food and Agriculture recently commissioned a study attempting to quantify how much weed the Golden State consumes and produces and the results shouldn’t be surprising to anyone here on the North Coast — the numbers are totally out of […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Return on Investment
Twenty-nine states have now legalized marijuana in some form, including seven that have passed laws legalizing recreational adult use, and a host of recent polls show that about 60 percent of Americans favor just legalizing the plant and moving on. All that said, you’d be forgiven for doing a double take when looking at the […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
All Aboard
Legal recreational marijuana is barreling down on the Golden State, with retail sales slated to begin in January. And — along with all the edibles, smokeables and topicals one can imagine — it looks like we might get a new transportation option to boot when the Puff Bus comes to town. Yes, really. Loopr, a […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Things Stay the Same
Cody King made a hard decision. The lanky 28-year-old, born and raised in Honeydew, who came of age when CAMP helicopters still buzzed the hills, told himself there was nothing to fear when members of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office pulled up to his gate. This was in 2016 and King had a folder full […]