Measure A, known as the Humboldt Cannabis Reform Initiative, is shaping up to be one of the most controversial things on the March ballot and this afternoon a group of about 75 people got a close-up look at some of those arguing most vociferously for and against it. Held at the Baywood Country Club in […]
regulation
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Proponents Stand by Cannabis Reform Initiative, Warn County to Correct ‘Distortions’
Proponents of the Humboldt Cannabis Reform Initiative are standing by their proposal that would overhaul the county’s cultivation regulations if passed by voters next year, saying the county’s analysis of the measure is “packed with factual errors, untruths and distortions.” A county staff report on the 38-page initiative presented to the Humboldt County Board of […]
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Huffman Gets Bleak Input on Fisheries
Long before the first refugees from the city planted cannabis seeds in the hills of Southern Humboldt, fishermen braved the seas in summer and winter to bring back crab, salmon, rockfish, lingcod and a variety of other seafood. It was always considered a reliable — if dangerous — way to make a living. Things have […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Cannabis Raids and Our Economy
Speakers at the Sept. 10 Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting expressed concerns about recent sheriff’s office cannabis raids and the extreme costs and long timelines needed to get grows permitted. Humboldt County’s economy has taken a big hit with the onset of cannabis regulation, as evidenced by a 10-percent reduction in sales tax receipts […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
The High Price of Freedom
The libertarian Cato Institute released its annual report this week ranking the freest states in the nation and, perhaps unsurprisingly, California ranked among the very bottom, 48th out of 50. But the list, which ranked states through a libertarian lens based on personal and economic freedoms across 230 policy variables, including taxation, gun freedoms, civil […]
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 […]
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Humboldt Board of Supervisors to Consider Capping Cannabis Cultivation Licenses
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will consider next week whether to cap the total number of cannabis cultivation permits available in the county. County Planning Director John Ford says that when the board meets in a special session March 19 to consider approving an environmental impact report and a new commercial cannabis land use […]
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Sundberg: Pot Tax Will be on November Ballot
Humboldt County Supervisor Ryan Sundberg told KINS Radio this morning the county plans to put a medical marijuana cultivation excise tax on the November ballot. A projection tallied by the interim county administrative officer, Sundberg said, projects the tax earning $2 million in the first year, assuming a $1-per-square-foot fee and 10 percent participation from […]
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UPDATED: Gavin Newsom to Talk Pot in Humboldt
UPDATE: North Coast Congressman Jared Huffman issued a press release this afternoon inviting the public to join he and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom in Garberville on Friday afternoon to talk marijuana policy (full press release copied below). And Huffman spokesman clarified for the Journal that Friday’s forum isn’t officially part of Newsom’s committee work on […]
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Pot Regulation Bill Goes up in Smoke
A bill seeking to create a regulatory framework for California’s multi-billion dollar medical marijuana industry died quietly in an Assembly committee today, the San Francisco Chronicle is reporting. Hailed by supporters as an attempt to bring order to the current void of state regulations and vilified by opponents as a brain child of narcotics officers […]