This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Law enforcement raided the illegal cannabis operation in Shasta-Trinity National Forest months before, but rotting potatoes still sat on the growers’ makeshift kitchen worktop, waiting to be cooked. Ecologist Greta Wengert stared down the pockmarked hillside at a pile of pesticide sprayers left behind, long after […]
pesticides
Posted inNews
California Poised to Restrict Bee-killing Pesticides
Widely used insecticides that harm bees and songbirds would face far-reaching restrictions in California under regulations proposed by the state’s pesticide agency. The new limits would be among the nation’s most extensive for agricultural use of neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides used to kill plant-damaging pests like aphids. The highly potent pesticides have been shown […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
HumBug: The Current Mass Extinction
There have been five major mass extinction events in the fossil record. Some folks claim the human race is causing the sixth right now. Dumping massive amounts of greenhouse gasses, saturating the world with never before seen chemicals and introducing all manner of non-native species willy nilly are touted as the major causes. I have a […]
Posted inNews
NBC News Investigation Finds Vitamin E, Pesticides in Illicit Vape Cartridges
An investigative report published by NBC News this morning seems to underscore the dangers of vaping cannabis products purchased on the illicit market, as reports of serious vaping-related lung disease continue to increase nationwide. The news outlet purchased 18 THC vape pen cartridges — three from licensed dispensaries and 15 on the unregulated, illicit market […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Collateral Damage
It would appear Humboldt County remains a cannabis trendsetter. Leafly is reporting that Humboldt County’s controversial strategy of dealing with illicit grow operations through civil code enforcement abatement notices and fines of up to $10,000 per day, per violation has caught other jurisdictions’ attention. A similar program is already in place in Sonoma County, according […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Failure to Thrive
California’s cannabis industry is experiencing some test anxiety. The state Bureau of Cannabis Control reported this week that almost one of every five products submitted for testing under new regulations that took effect July 1 have failed. It’s news that underscores the growing frustration among growers, distributors, manufacturers and retailers. “Testing is currently costly, slow […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Brave New World
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Drug Enforcement Unit has been busy. Over the course of about a week, the unit reported serving a dozen search warrants in southern Humboldt County, resulting in the eradication of more than 46,000 cannabis plants and the destruction of more than 1,400 pounds of processed weed. Working with the California […]
Posted inNews
Marijuana-related Pesticides are Killing Even More Fishers
The rodenticides used on marijuana grows are posing an ever-greater danger to Pacific fishers, according to a recently released study by University of California Davis researchers and Integral Ecology Research Center Director Mourad Gabriel. Gabriel has been studying the effects of pesticide use on the medium-size weasel-like species for several years, and concluded that “increasing […]
Posted inNews
HumBug: Don’t Worry, Bee Happy
With great alarm, many articles have informed us that honeybees are dying out in record numbers. The phenomenon is called Colony Collapse Disorder. There are numerous theories from over use of neo-nicitonieoids insecticides, GMO crops, mites, climatological stress and a combination of all of the above. Like a plague, it has wiped out many hives […]