The Buckeye Conservancy, a local nonprofit that represents large landowners in Humboldt County, has released an official position paper on the cannabis industry, censuring the “commercial farming, production and marketing of federally illegal marijuana in Humboldt County, and/or its neighboring counties.” The paper, published last month, continues to say: “We realize that the voters of […]
cannabis
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TL;DR: The Cannabis Issue
Busy week? We get it. Here are some highlights from this week’s cover package to get you caught up. Humboldt County’s biggest industry is in flux as it moves from the shadows out into the light. This week, in the Journal‘s first ever issue dedicated almost entirely to the industry, we look at various aspects […]
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Sessions: Marijuana Only ‘Slightly Less Awful’ than Heroin
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions tossed some more shade on marijuana this week, adding to growing concerns that a federal crackdown is looming for the $7 billion industry. Speaking about efforts to combat violent crime and “restore public safety” before a group of state and local law enforcement in Richmond, Virginia, Sessions spoke about the […]
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The Carrot and the Stick
By law enforcement estimates, there are about 10,000 marijuana farms in Humboldt County. About 2,300 of them have applied for the county permits needed to legitimize under local and state laws. Of those, about 400 have gone through the required permitting process by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Of those, about 200 are […]
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Culture Change
Mark Rowley has spent just about all of his 62 years in Willow Creek and says he’s never been tempted to move. That is, until now. Why — after having raised two kids and trading one successful business for another — would Rowley consider leaving the valley his family has called home for three generations? […]
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A Budding Industry
In marijuana country, you get used to not seeing your farmer friends for months at a time as they prepare their sites, tend their plants and deal with the stress of harvest time. But in the past year, thanks to Humboldt County’s compliance program and the passage of California’s Proposition 64, an entirely different group […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
The Strain Name Game
Quibbling over how we can brand cannabis using Humboldt as a signifier of the sticky icky is not new. In August of 2016 the county launched its track-and-trace program, allowing local growers to stamp their product with proof of origin. In January, state Sen. Mike McGuire introduced a bill that would strengthen existing wording in […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Yes, Another Pot Story
I can hear you groaning. Yes, not only is it another local media story devoted to cannabis but it’s virtually an entire issue on the subject. I get it. You’re tired of talking about it. We all are. But whether you smoke shatter on the hour or have never touched a joint, you need to […]
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40 Acres and a Permit
Kris Sundeen, who has worked in local real estate for more than a decade, clearly remembers the day he realized the market was about to explode. It was early last summer and he’d just gotten a call from someone with 40 acres in rural Humboldt who was looking to sell and asked what Sundeen thought […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
The Smell Test
What’s that smell? It’s a question that apparently carries a lot less legal significance than it once did. Up until recently in California, a whiff of the sticky icky was enough to give a police officer probable cause to search your vehicle or home. But Proposition 64 and the legalization of possession and cultivation of […]
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Medical Marijuana Tax Bill Goes Up in Smoke
The second bill by a North Coast lawmaker seeking to tax medical marijuana has died quietly in the California Legislature, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat is reporting. North Coast Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, had authored a unique bill aiming to tax the state’s booming medical marijuana market that appeared to have widespread support, passing the […]
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UPDATE: Medical Marijuana Bills Pass
The state Assembly and Senate approved a trio of medical marijuana regulations just before deadline Friday. The bills were the subject of some last minute tweaking, and reports of stubbornness regarding authorship began to leak out of the capitol in the days before consensus was reached (read more about that below). The bills will go […]